Grants for Community Centers in Illinois

Grand Victoria Foundation

Grand Victoria Foundation catalyzes racial justice in Illinois by cultivating the voices, power, and aspirations of Black people for collective liberation.

We envision a just and vibrant Illinois rooted in abundant health, wealth, and joy, where communities of color can flourish.

What We Fund

The central focus of our grantmaking is on investing in community power building. This involves enabling communities most affected by structural inequities to develop, sustain, and expand an organized base. These organizations work together to shape agendas, shift public discourse, influence decision-makers, and build enduring, accountable relationships that drive systemic change and advance equity and justice.

Additionally, our grantmaking is dedicated to advancing systemic change. This refers to efforts that address and improve the underlying conditions perpetuating social and economic inequities. We support nonprofits that deliver solutions responsive to, and directed by, the communities most impacted, aiming to enhance the quality of life across Illinois.

To achieve these objectives, we fund a variety of strategic actions including:

• Community organizing
• Advocacy
• Policy analysis
• Research
• Culture shifting
• Narrative change
• Coalitions and collaborations

We view these strategies as essential levers for change, playing pivotal roles in forging a robust ecosystem for racial justice and equity in Illinois.

Building Community Power

We are deeply committed to racial justice, focusing our efforts on empowering Black communities to shape the policies and practices that affect their social, economic, and political lives. Our grantmaking strategy centers on building community power, a critical lever for achieving racial justice and systemic change.

Our Strategic Approach

• Through our strategic pillar of community power-building, we direct resources towards enhancing and expanding Black-led and centered community organizations.
• These groups are at the forefront of organizing and advocacy, striving to create significant impacts in their communities and beyond.
• By promoting their influence and enhancing their agency, we aim to strengthen leadership and grassroots movements within Black communities, recognizing their essential role in advancing racial justice for all.

Key Initiatives in Community Power-Building

• Grand Victoria Foundation supports a variety of efforts aimed at advancing community power-building in Black communities:
  • Grassroots Organizing
    • We support grassroots organizations that mobilize and unify people most impacted by systemic inequities, facilitating collective strategies to enact meaningful change and transform society.
  • Policy Influence
    • We fund organizations that shape public discourse and policy decisions to advance racial equity and justice, ensuring these groups are accountable to the grassroots communities they serve.
  • Integrated Voter Engagement
    • Our support extends to grassroots organizations working towards a vibrant, multiracial democracy through comprehensive voter engagement strategies.
  • Strategic Collaboration
    • We encourage effective partnerships, collaborations, coalitions, or networks that align with grassroots efforts to promote shared community goals, particularly those focused on systemic change.

Land, Health, Community-Chicago (formerly Aspiramos Juntos) is a grantmaking program offered to organizations in the Chicago region by the Lumpkin Family Foundation.

Land, Health, Community (LHC) is the Foundation’s primary and largest grantmaking program that has centered its giving in East Central Illinois. Through this grant program, the Foundation works toward a long-term vision of holistically healthy communities. As a reflection of our commitment to this vision, the Foundation has decided to strategically align its giving in the Chicago area to this long-standing grant program.

The Aspiramos Juntos program has been renamed Land, Health, Community—Chicago (LHC-C). In addition to a new name, the program has refined its focus areas to reflect our commitment, as a Foundation, to supporting holistically healthy communities. We believe that a community’s health is rooted in its ability to access and obtain life sustaining resources for all its residents without undue burden, systemic barriers, and inequitable opportunity.

To this end, we make grants in the Chicagoland area that align with this greater vision. Specifically, we look to fund projects and organizations that support the following vision:

• Our communities are physically active, value healthy eating, and prioritize overall wellbeing. 
• All communities can thrive. Communities that have faced and continue to face inequitable and unjust policies, laws, and practices will be equipped with the resources needed to realize their full potential.

Funding Priorities

• Opportunities for children in/out of school to engage physically with and to learn about the natural world, to eat well, and to care for the planet.
• A community and/or multi-generational approach to addressing the mental health and wellness of youth.
• Efforts to increase access to healthy and sustainably produced food.
• Grassroots and community led initiatives centered on the pursuit of food justice.

Special Funding Opportunities

• Community Garden Grants: Community Gardens which are defined are small patches of land that are used to connect community members to nature. These gardens are engaged in minimal food production (as opposed to larger urban farms). The maximum award for this type of grant is $5,000 per garden. 
• Inspiration Grants: Inspiring proposals that center a collaborative approach to the pursuit of equity, justice, and restoration (please note that the maximum award for this type of grant is $10,000).

LHC-C Grantmaking Guidelines

In an effort to be more transparent and provide access to a wider range of applicants, the following guidelines will govern our grantmaking strategy. Taking our funding priorities into account, the LHC-C funding committee with review applications for our fall funding cycle within the following parameters:

Community Garden Grants: This project-based funding is for those organizations looking to establish community gardens on previously underutilized green spaces or to improve upon and/or expand existing gardens. This could be patches of land connected with schools, houses of worship, community centers, etc. Organizations can apply for up to $5,000 per garden. An organization is eligible to apply for support of multiple gardens in one application.  

Inspirational Grants: We recognize that there are organizations throughout Chicago that are doing some amazing work in efforts to bring equity, justice and healing to communities that have been systematically neglected by unjust policies, laws, and practices. We are offering grants of up to $10,000 to fund inspiring proposals, that are collaborative in nature, that are designed to foster healthy, vibrant and thriving communities. Proposed projects should be able to be completed using the amount of funds that are being requested. Projects have a greater chance of success if they showcase multiple community partners working together to accomplish a common goal.

Supporting Golf's Fine Traditions

John T. Holmstrom Jr. died on July 20, 2010. He was born on December 19, 1920 in Rockford, Illinois. He attended Jackson and Lincoln Schools, and graduated in the last class of Central High School. He received his bachelor’s degree and law degree from the University of Illinois. He served as a captain in the U.S. Army Signal Corp in the Pacific Theater during World War II. John was a law partner at Holmstrom & Kennedy. He was a member of Second Congregational United Church of Christ.

He faithfully served his community by participating in numerous civic and political activities, including: Rockford Area Chamber of Commerce, United Way, SwedishAmerican Hospital, SwedishAmerican Medical Foundation, Community Hospital Council, P.A. Peterson Center for Health, the Rockford Pro-Am, and many more.

John was devoted to the growth and development of the Rockford Community Trust, now the Community Foundation of Northern Illinois. His service to this institution will always be remembered.

John was an avid golfer, winning five City Junior Championships, the State Amateur Championship, the Western Junior Championship, three Men’s City tournaments and serving as the captain of the University of Illinois golf team that won two Big Ten Championships in the 1940s. John was a member of the Rockford Golf Hall of Fame. His memory and spirit live on through his wife, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, friends and colleagues.

Purpose

John’s love for golf defines the mission of the John T. Holmstrom, Jr. Memorial Fund - to support golf’s fine traditions by promoting junior golf in Rockford and by providing resources that enable young people to play golf.

Grant awards from this fund may be used for green fees, golf lessons, golf equipment, and similar golf-related expenses. It is the wish of the Holmstrom Family that young people throughout the Greater Rockford area have an opportunity to play golf due to John T. Holmstrom, Jr.’s legacy. 

Community Involvement Program Guidelines

We believe that the well-being of our communities has a direct bearing on the success of Hallmark and our employees.

The mission of our Community Involvement Program is simple. We want to help create communities where:

• All children have the chance to grow up as healthy, productive and caring persons;
• Vibrant arts and cultural experiences enrich the lives of all citizens;
• There is a strong infrastructure of basic institutions and services, especially for persons in need; and
• All citizens feel a responsibility to serve their community.

Organizations that serve the communities where we operate facilities and that share this same mission may apply for the following types of support from Hallmark:

• Cash contributions for specific programs, capital improvements and, in some cases, operating support.
• Volunteer assistance. Organizations may request assistance in recruiting Hallmark employees for board membership, program services and other meaningful volunteer experiences. We cannot guarantee that Hallmark employees will agree to volunteer; volunteering is an individual, personal decision made by each employee.
• Product donations.
• Fundraising event sponsorship for organizations based in Kansas City only.

Cash contributions are provided by both Hallmark Cards, Inc., and the Hallmark Corporate Foundation, an endowed foundation funded solely by Hallmark. Although there are some legal restrictions on how funds from the Hallmark Corporate Foundation may be used, the Foundation supports the same mission and employs the same online application process.

 Communityworks Grant Competition

The Community Foundation of Kankakee River Valley’s mission is to build endowment funds for our region over time, and it strives to bring together individuals and organizations to assess community needs, to build greater endowment funds, to convene area leaders around important issues, and to distribute grant awards to worthy nonprofit organizations. The Foundation also serves as a neutral leader with no direct affiliation with any group, religion, political or governmental entity.

The goal of the Community Foundation is to improve the quality of life in both greater Kankakee and Iroquois Counties by supporting initiatives that are not currently being adequately funded. Grants awarded by the Community Foundation originate from income generated by our Communityworks Endowment Fund, a visionary initiative to help the Community Foundation build endowments for making grant awards, particularly in the following focus areas:

• Early Childhood Education
• Land Use & Protection
• Workforce Development

Grant-funded recipients of the Communityworks Endowment Fund are encouraged to address one or more of the above-identified focus areas and to make it publicly apparent how it is accomplished. 

Focus Areas

Early Childhood Education

• The community has determined that the Community Foundation can have the greatest impact on Early Childhood Education (birth to age 8) by supporting:
• The improvement of the quality of child care;
• The support for parent education;
• The improvement of the quality and accessibility of early childhood education services, and
• The improvement of opportunities to access children’s mental health services.
• More specifically the Community Foundation seeks to:
• Land Use & Protection

The community has determined that the Community Foundation can have the greatest impact in these areas by:

Workforce Development

Our area’s communities have determined that the Community Foundation can have significant impact by supporting:

• Increased work opportunities for unemployed/underemployed youth through collaboration with the Workforce Board and other governmental and community-based organizations.
• Youth programs that prepare entry-level employment through the development of soft skills and work experience.

More specifically the Community Foundation seeks to:

• Increase Work Opportunities for unemployed/underemployed community youth through collaboration with the Workforce Board and other governmental and community service providers via training partnerships, work experience, resource identification, workshops, surveys and other information-gathering efforts as well as through coordinated partnerships for workforce development strategies, initiatives and sponsorships.
• Prepare youth for entry-level employment through the development and sponsorship of programs designed and implemented to prepare youth with employment soft skills, job-seeking and job-retaining skills and youth work experience. The Community Foundation also seeks to collaborate and coordinate efforts with appropriate community partners to seek external funding resources or to underwrite costs as well as to assure quality employment preparation of youth including supportive, on-the-job work experience and workplace expectations.

Background

Every community faces unique barriers that require collaborative solutions to thrive. The Dow Promise Program supports educational and economic challenges Black youth and adults face in the United States by addressing community-identified needs and advancing equitable opportunities. Through grants of up to $10,000 towards social, economic or environmental initiatives, Dow Promise not only fosters a thriving community, but a shared future.

Since 2000, this annual competitive program has committed to uplifting communities in which Dow operates by supporting their needs and investing in positive social change for long-term success.

About the Foundation

The Kjellstrom Family Foundation was established in 2004 and sustains Janet's memory and philanthropy. With assets over $10M, the foundation contributes over $600,000 annually to local charities.

The Kjellstrom Family Foundation seeks to be flexible for grantees seeking award opportunities. Currently the Foundation will award grants which might be classified as:

• Programmatic
• Capital expenditures, or
• General administration or overhead
• Capacity Building

Challenge Grants

The Foundation will award challenge grants for endowment or capital expenditures. The Trustees have agreed to allocate no more than one-fourth of the annual grant guideline to fund these opportunities.

The organization defines the terms and time frame, with the challenge grant funds being awarded when the match is achieved. (i.e. match ratio of $2 raised to $1 challenge grant, etc.)

The Foundation will also consider grants which would serve as matching funds to a challenge grant. (The Foundation will not match funds toward meeting a Community Foundation Carroll H. Starr Endowment Challenge.) Particularly, the Foundation would be inclined to consider a match to challenge grants issued by an out-of-community entity or person.

Capacity Building

Capacity building grants help leverage other funding, create or sustain better systems or processes, build partnerships or efficiencies and/or enhance knowledge for improved operations or governance. Through KFF's collaborative partner, the Northern Illinois Center for Nonprofit Excellence, capacity building supports can strengthen organizational systems and build competence and professionalism. Examples of fundable capacity building supports include: board and staff development, strategic action planning, fund development planning, mergers, collaborations, technology, marketing/communications, etc.

Funding

In general, individual grants will not exceed $40,000. Grant awards which match a challenge from an out-of-community entity or person will not exceed $25,000. On the other hand, the Foundation may issue challenge grants for endowment or capital expenditures in an amount not to exceed $50,000.

Our Mission

Illinois Humanities is a statewide nonprofit organization that activates the humanities through free public programs, grants, and educational opportunities that spark conversation, foster reflection, build community, and strengthen civic engagement for everyone in Illinois.

Our Vision

An Illinois where the humanities are central to making the state more just, creative, and connected.

Founded in 1974, we are the state partner for the National Endowment for the Humanities and supported by state, federal, and private funds. We provide free, high-quality humanities experiences throughout Illinois, particularly for communities of color, individuals living on low incomes, counties and towns in rural areas, small arts and cultural organizations, and communities highly impacted by mass incarceration. 

Envisioning Justice Grants

These project-based grants support collectives, non-profit organizations, and other groups that use the arts and humanities to work toward a truly just society. Prison education programs, independent media, community dialogues, and conferences are just a few of the impactful initiatives we fund to create understanding about mass incarceration and its impact on communities in Illinois. By supporting those doing this important work, we build more affirming, engaged, and empowered communities.

Envisioning Justice grants have been awarded since 2017, and we work diligently to ensure that the organization will continue to offer this funding opportunity. 

Priority will be given to projects that are:

• regional or statewide in scope
• partnership oriented
• centering impacts of mass incarceration on the following populations:
  • currently or formerly incarcerated individuals
  • people serving long-term sentences
  • young people, particularly those who are justice involved
  • women, particularly women of color and/or impacted by gendered violence
  • LGBTQAI+ community
  • migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, and immigrants
  • elderly populations
  • people with disabilities
  • Indigenous populations
• Or that focus on communities that are:
• The site of a prison or jail
• Experiencing significant incarceration; and/or
• Experiencing significant demographic change as a result of the criminal legal system

Guidelines

• Organizations can apply for grants of up to $10,000.
  • No matching funds are required.
• Optional Accessibility Fund
  • An additional stipend of up to $250 for services such as American Sign Language interpretation or captioning to help make events more accessible to everyone.
• Optional Media Fund:
  • An additional stipend of up to $100 for services such as documentation, photography, videography, etc.

About Us

Illinois American Water, a subsidiary of American Water (NYSE: AWK), is the largest investor-owned water utility in the state, providing high-quality and reliable water and/or wastewater services to approximately 1.3 million people. American Water also operates a customer service center in Alton and a quality control and research laboratory in Belleville.

With a history dating back to 1886, American Water is the largest and most geographically diverse U.S. publicly traded water and wastewater utility company. The company employs more than 6,400 dedicated professionals who provide regulated and market-based drinking water, wastewater and other related services to 14 million people in 24 states. American Water provides safe, clean, affordable and reliable water services to our customers to help make sure we keep their lives flowing.

Environmental Grant Program

Our commitment to protecting the environment runs deep and we’re proud to support the efforts of local organizations that share our vision.

Established in 2005, our annual Environmental Grant Program offers funding for innovative, community-based environmental projects that improve, restore or protect the watersheds, surface water and groundwater supplies in our local communities. Project activities and outcomes should address a watershed or source water protection need in the local community within American Water service areas. Source water protection projects are activities that result in the protection or improvement of the community’s public drinking water supplies. Watershed protection projects should focus on activities that improve, restore or protect one or more watersheds.

Examples of Activities:

• Watershed Cleanup
• Reforestation Efforts
• Biodiversity Projects (habitat restoration, wildlife protection)
• Streamside Buffer Restoration Projects
• Wellhead Protection Initiatives
• Hazardous Waste Collection Efforts
• Surface or Groundwater Protection Education (i.e., designing and providing workshops for citizens and local officials)

Selection Criteria:

• Clarity of project goals and projected impact.
• Innovation and strength of project design.
• Nature and strength of collaboration with other community and/or municipal organizations.
• Likelihood of project’s sustainability after the American Water funding ends.
• Evidence of community engagement.
• Plan for assessing the project’s impact and capacity to measure project outcomes.
• Assessment of budget as reasonable and cost-efficient

Ms. Foundation for Women

The mission of the Ms. Foundation for Women is to build women’s collective power in the U.S. to advance equity and justice for all. We achieve our mission by investing in, and strengthening, the capacity of women-led movements to advance meaningful social, cultural and economic change in the lives of women. Ms. has six grantmaking initiatives, one of which is the Birth Justice Initiative.

Birth Justice Initiative

Our Birth Justice Initiative aims to:

• advance equitable birth outcomes and experiences;
• strengthen the capacity, organizational infrastructure, and financial stability of grassroots Black, Indigenous and women of color-led birth justice organizations; and
• expand the frame of birth justice to support intersectional movements and strategies that recognize the full spectrum of experiences and identities in birthing, parenting, and family building.

We believe that Black, Indigenous, and women of color (including trans women and non-binary people) are key experts and should be decision-makers in shaping policy and culture change around birth justice. By investing directly into organizations led by and for women and girls of color, we are ensuring that the movement to address racial based disparities in healthcare, including birth outcomes and experiences, is led by those who are impacted most. Strengthening the collective power of communities of color is critical to addressing the root causes of these disparities and advancing birth justice for all.

The U.S. has one of the highest maternal mortality rates of all developed nations and Black women die at three to four times the rate of white women in birth – one of the widest racial disparities in women’s health. Systemic racism, implicit bias, and anti-Blackness all contribute to the significant disparities in birth outcomes among Black, Indigenous and birthing people of color. Moreover, the spectrum of intersectional issues that comprise birth justice and the ability to have children and parent with dignity, are not only limited to the birth process.

As such, the Ms. Foundation’s Birth Justice Initiative invests in organizations who represent the full spectrum of birth experiences including–but not limited to–preconception health, mental health and wellness, infertility, abortion access and abortion care, comprehensive sex and sexuality education, non-racist culturally affirming and gender expansive healthcare, access to birth workers of color, access to lactation support and services, postpartum health and wellness, grief and loss care and support, and sexual assault prevention and survivor support services. Organizations supported collectively utilize a range of movement building strategies to advance birth justice—such as narrative change, policy and systems change, advocacy, leadership development, direct service among others. And finally, they work at the intersection of birth justice and other movements, such as disability justice, youth justice, LGBTQIA+ justice, environmental justice, economic justice, and criminal legal reform.

Funding

During this cycle, Ms. will provide one-time grants ranging from $50,000 to $100,000 to selected organizations not currently receiving funding from Ms.’ Birth Justice Initiative. The grant period will comprise two years.

Background

Formed in 2020 in response to the uprisings against continued police violence of Black people across the country, the Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund is designed to provide additional funding to Black-led organizing. The Fund provided grants to Black-led community organizing groups as well as allied community organizing groups addressing anti-Blackness. In this context, community organizing means bringing people together who individually may lack power but collectively can build and wield power to advance racial justice.

The Chicago Racial Justice Pooled Fund will raise and move $5,000,000 to Chicago organizations building and sustaining movements for justice that center Black lives and address anti-Blackness.

Community organizing in this context means: Building movements and collective power to dismantle the systems, structures, and institutions that are rooted in white supremacy and perpetuate anti-Black violence.

Community-led Movements

While $5,000,000 is not enough to address the ongoing violence that racial injustice inflicts, this is the first step of many needed toward a more just Chicago.

Justice is only possible through community-led movements. Chicago has a long history of community organizing which has evolved considerably. In the Black Lives Matter era, many Black-led organizations are building intersectional campaigns which understand the complexities of Black life and illustrate that no one is free until we’re all free.

Longstanding, deeply committed community organizations are amplifying their tenacious racial justice work while newer organizations are developing another generation of leaders ready to transform Chicago. They are all bringing expanded understandings of leadership, a different sense of priorities, new perspectives and new imaginations.

The Fund welcomes grassroots organizing that addresses white supremacy and systemic racism in the criminal legal and policing systems as well as organizing that seeks to create alternative economies, affordable housing, equitable public education policy, accessible healthcare, and worker justice.

The Jeffris Family Foundation invites applications for grants from the Jeffris Heartland Fund, to support the development of important historic preservation projects in the states of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin.The decision to pursue a grant from the Jeffris Heartland Fund must be made in consultation with a Director of the Foundation to discuss your project and request a Jeffris Heartland Fund application form.Directors can also assist grant-seekers with the application process, provide related technical assistance to guide wise and constructive use of the grant funding, and administer grants once awarded. Applications, once invited, are accepted at any time.  Award notices are issued within approximately 30 days of receipt of the application.Grants will be made in the range of $5,000 to $50,000 to cover 50% the cost of an Historic Structure Report, and must be matched dollar-for-dollar with cash from sources unrelated to the Jeffris Family.

Historic Significance of the Site

• Priority will be given to sites of documented national and then state historic significance. Sites with local significance only will not be eligible for funding.
• Priority will be given to sites associated with prominent figures of national, regional, or statewide importance, or with events of national, regional, or statewide significance.
• Priority will be given to sites with significant architectural merit, including association with designers of national, regional, or statewide importance.
• Priority will be given to sites with strong elements of the decorative arts.
• Priority will be given to projects involving historic resources that are extremely rare and/or unique.
• Priority will be given to projects with a high degree of historic integrity, and to work relating to the restoration of original elements. While work to accommodate contemporary usage is acceptable, all work on the property must conform to The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties.

Proposed Project and Plan

• Priority will be given to applicants that can best demonstrate that a Historic Structure Report or other detailed planning study for which funding is being requested is critical to the accurate and appropriate restoration of the property.
• Priority will be given to applicants that can best demonstrate their intended use will be financially viable and operationally sustainable over time.
• Priority will be given to applicants that can assure that the project will fully comply with The Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties through review and oversight by a local historic preservation commission, state historic preservation office, or preservation consultants thoroughly familiar and experienced with those standards.

 Organizational Excellence

• Priority will be given to applicants who can demonstrate a pattern of programming and services connected to the site and their stated mission (e.g. educational programs, events, hospitality).
• Priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate a broad base of membership and community support.
• Priority will be given to applicants with demonstrated success in past capital fundraising efforts.

What We Fund

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation supports innovative, cost-effective civil legal aid programs that help people in crisis address life-changing problems and improve their lives. These programs offer:

• Legal representation to people who can’t afford a lawyer
• Easy to understand legal forms and information
• Easy to access legal aid hotlines
• Legal self-help centers that help people understand their rights
• Mediation services that help people resolve conflicts and avoid court

New Leaf Illinois Grant

The IEJF awards grants to organizations to provide legal services to help people clear cannabis convictions off their record as part of New Leaf Illinois. New Leaf Illinois is a statewide network of nonprofit organizations who are committed to equal justice for all those who were previously arrested or convicted for cannabis use, production and sale.

The Illinois Equal Justice Foundation will make New Leaf Illinois grants in four categories:

Telephone Advice & Referral Services

Grants will be made to support the operating expenses of legal services hotlines. These operating expenses include staff salaries and benefits, as well as other costs directly related to providing advice and referral services to callers, including technological infrastructure costs or maintenance.

Legal Services

Grants will be made to support direct service staff positions at eligible legal services providers, including attorneys, paralegals, legal assistants, intake staff, and/or pro bono coordinators. Grant funds can be used to pay for salaries, benefits, and limited overhead, including administrative costs, not to exceed10%. The applicant must demonstrate how the proposed staff position(s) will help the organization provide efficient and effective legal assistance to persons seeking cannabis expungement. Grant funds may also be used for client costs associated with accessing cannabis expungement relief, such as criminal history reports, required court documents, or other necessary expenses to determine eligibility or file for relief.

Community Outreach

In the Community Outreach category, the IEJF will make grants to support:

• Operating costs for community outreach projects, including personnel costs, marketing, and related events costs.
• Technology investments to provide for the registration of individuals for New Leaf Illinois.
• The creation, distribution and delivery of legal information and self-help materials.
• Marketing materials for events and other associated costs related to public forums.
• Projects that will offer printed, video and/or web-based materials on cannabis expungement and related topics and how individuals access services through New Leaf Illinois.
• Projects can include the preparation and distribution of materials; targeted outreach to community organizations and members; legal information classes taught by attorneys or under the supervision of a licensed attorney; know your rights or community education events conducted by staff with approved materials; and/or other creative efforts to help give Illinois residents the information and resources to seek legal relief through cannabis expungement.

Technical Assistance

In the Technical Assistance category, the IEJF will make grants to support:

• Training and supportive materials for New Leaf Illinois grantees.
• Consultation services for network organizations.
• Communication to network grantees on status of cannabis-related
• Personnel costs to provide technical assistance, in addition to travel, meeting and other associated training costs.

Mission

The mission of the Network of the National Library of Medicine (NNLM) is to advance the progress of medicine and improve the public's health by providing U.S. researchers, health professionals, the public health workforce, educators, and the public with equal access to biomedical and health information resources and data. NNLM’s main goals are to work through libraries and other members to support a highly trained workforce for biomedical and health information resources and data, improve health literacy, and increase health equity through information.

Purpose

The NNLM Regional Medical Libraries (RMLs) and Offices rely upon partnerships. The award’s primary aims are to widen access to and awareness of health information resources, with a focus on those resources provided by the NLM. The programs are intended to help a variety of users:

• With a focus on minority and other underrepresented populations and the healthcare professionals who serve them
• Make the most effective use of information and decision-support resources to promote healthy behaviors
• Prevent costly and debilitating illness
• Improve health outcomes when disease occurs

Potential Project Ideas

Potential projects might include but are not limited to this list:

• Training underrepresented healthcare professionals or professionals that work with underrepresented populations in the effective use of electronic health information resources for evidence-based practice with an emphasis on NLM databases and NNLM resources.
• Placing web-accessible devices in locations where they can be used to research health information needs by unaffiliated healthcare professionals such as free clinics, community health centers, etc.
• Improving access to health information and technology for those groups without adequate access to information services.
• Exhibiting or presenting at local meetings or organizational events to share completed outreach projects and promote NLM products and services.
• Evaluating health information and training needs of a target audience and implementing a training plan for that audience.
• Programs on locating and evaluating authoritative consumer health information.
• Incorporating NLM health and science information resources into new or existing health programs. See National Health Observances for some ideas.
• Development of supplemental educational materials using NLM resources.  
• Train-the-Trainer projects that enhance the skills of the service-providing staff and other consumer health information intermediaries to train participants on locating and evaluating health information.

The Field Foundation of Illinois

The Field Foundation of Illinois is a private and independent foundation which, along with its strategic funding partners, distributes more than $4.5 million annually to organizations and leaders working to address systemic issues in Chicago’s most divested communities.

Mission

Centering racial equity to achieve community empowerment through Art, Justice, Media & Storytelling, and Leadership Investment.

Core Values

The Field Foundation is guided by the core values of equity, respect, transparency, trust, and kindness.

A Road Together (ART)

In partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, the Field Foundation has launched a new grantmaking program. This program—which we’re calling A Road Together (ART)—is designed specifically for small and mid-sized arts and culture organizations with annual operating budgets up to $1 million and with a strong commitment to equity that are reflective and inclusive of Chicago’s diverse and historically underserved communities. Through this initiative, there will be opportunities to apply for multi-year general operating grants using a participatory grantmaking process, as well as single-year general operating grants outside of the participatory process.

Funding

• 3 year grant range: $25,000 - $100,000
• 1 year grant range: $10,000 - $50,000

Program Areas

At Toyota, we believe an auto company can also be a vehicle for change. That’s why Toyota is proud to partner with nonprofit organizations across the U.S. in the local communities where we live and work. Toyota and affiliates support programs in key areas:

Primary

• Education – Special consideration is given to STEM programs as we continue to develop our future workforce.
• Inclusive Mobility – Connecting people to opportunities by developing inclusive mobility solutions.
• Community Resilience – Building resilience by investing in needs required to thrive, specifically relating to environmental sustainability and driver/passenger safety.

Secondary

• Health and Human Services
• Arts and Culture
• Civic and Community

Toyota considers funding requests that:

• Are geared towards benefiting a large number of people
• Offer participation in local educational programs
• Exhibit clear, measurable and realistic goals and objectives
• Establish the means for evaluation and reporting after a program is completed
• Provide leadership and development programs for participants
• Target youth within any of the funding priority areas
• Include financial and other strategic commitments from other funding organizations

About

The Illinois Department of Human Services was created in 1997 to provide our state's residents with streamlined access to integrated services, especially those who are striving for economic independence, and others who face multiple challenges to self-sufficiency.

SNAP and TANF E&T Training and Technical Assistance

Program Overview

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) Program is a voluntary program designed to help customers become more employable and find career pathways that lead towards self-sufficiency. The goal of the Illinois SNAP Employment & Training program is that everyone who wants to work, has the opportunity and support to do so. TANF Job Placement with Retention Programs are operated by the Department of Human Services under the Office of Workforce Development Bureau of Employment and Training for persons receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families benefits. Customers participate in a variety of activities, similar to SNAP E&T, that are countable in the federal participation rate while searching for unsubsidized employment. Both programs are administered through cooperation between the State SNAP E&T Office, Family Community Resource Centers and Community Based Organizations who provide employability assessments and personalized services based on those assessments.

Program Goals, and Objectives

Maintaining the quality of service delivery is a key role of SNAP & TANF Employment and Training. To ensure that employment & training programs are providing exceptional services to SNAP and TANF customers and their families in Illinois, E&T Training, Technical Assistance(E&T-TTA) is provided to community-based organizations, direct service workers, units of local government, system stakeholders, etc. in regard to Department program models, data collection systems, best practices in collaborative career planning, employability assessments, employment placement, education & training, trauma-informed motivational interviewing, principles and practices of racial equity and various other provider identified trainings and support activities. These services build upon provider capacity and capabilities and are delivered through a variety of venues and techniques which may include training conferences, meetings, workshops, video and web trainings, etc. Additional E&T-TTA functions include an online resource center, networking activities, a training advisory group and the capacity to provide the staff support for various ad-hoc committees to ensure provider input related to program development and improvement activities.

About

The Illinois Department of Human Services was created in 1997 to provide our state's residents with streamlined access to integrated services, especially those who are striving for economic independence, and others who face multiple challenges to self-sufficiency.

Teen REACH Training, Technical Assistance and Support TR-TTAS

Program Summary

The Division of Family and Community Services, Office of Community and Positive Youth Development (OCPYD), Bureau of Youth Intervention Services (BYIS) administers the Illinois Teen REACH program. Teen REACH (Responsibility, Education, Achievement, Caring and Hope) is an out-of-school time program serving at-risk youth between the ages of 6 and 17. The purpose of the program is to expand the range of choices and opportunities that enable, empower and encourage youth to achieve positive growth and development, improve expectations and capabilities for future success and avoid and/or reduce risk-taking behavior. Specifically, this means providing youth with safe environments, caring adults, guiding them toward marketable skills, and opportunities to serve their communities. Teen REACH is not a drop-in program, rather it is intended to serve the same youth every day. The program is a year-round, 12-month program requiring services on average 3 hours per day, a minimum 240 days per year. Teen REACH requires programming in 7 CORE Service Areas.

Maintaining the quality-of-service delivery is a key role of BYIS. To ensure that Teen REACH programs are providing exceptional services to youth and their families in Illinois, training, technical assistance and support (TTAS) is provided to current and prospective Teen REACH program providers and staff in regard to Department approved quality program standards, best practice program models and standards, data collection systems, best practice models for out-of- school programming, youth assessments, youth screening, youth safety, youth employment, brain development, trauma, principles and practices of positive youth development and various other provider identified trainings and support activities. These services build upon provider capacity and capabilities and are delivered through a variety of venues and techniques including training conferences, meetings, workshops, video and Web trainings, etc. Additional TTAS functions include an online resource center, policy/legislative news center, networking activities etc., and the capacity to ensure provider input related to program development and improvement activities.

Illinois Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC)

Program Purpose

The purpose of 21st CCLC programs as authorized by Title IV Part B of the ESEA, as amended by ESSA (20 U.S.C. 7171-7176), is to provide opportunities for communities to establish or expand activities in community learning centers that:

• Provide opportunities for academic enrichment, including providing tutorial services to help students (particularly students who attend low-performing schools), to meet challenging state academic standards.
• Offer students a broad array of additional services, programs, and activities, such as youth development activities; service learning; nutrition and health education; drug and violence prevention programs; counseling programs; arts, music, physical fitness, and wellness programs; technology education programs; financial literacy programs; environmental literacy programs; mathematics, science, and Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs; internship or apprenticeship programs; and other ties to an in-demand industry sector or occupation for high school students that are designed to reinforce and complement the regular academic program of participating students; and
• Offer families of students served by community learning centers opportunities for active and meaningful engagement in their children’s education, including opportunities for literacy and related educational development.

The purposes listed above for 21st CCLC are aligned to ESSA. The allocation of funds to State Education Agencies (SEA) continues to be appropriated by formula. There are several changes in ESSA requirements. Among them are requirements that SEAs use 93 percent of their state formula grants to make competitive subgrants, that SEAs give priority to partnerships between LEAs receiving Title I Part A funds and CBOs or other public or private entities, and that federal funds must supplement and may not supplant state and local funds. Section 4204 of ESSA requires that SEAs make awards only to eligible entities that propose to serve (a) primarily students who attend schools eligible for schoolwide programs under Section 1114 or schools that serve a high percentage of students from lowincome families, and (b) the families of the students to be served by the program. In addition, the requirement to provide equitable services to eligible private school students in Section 8501 of ESSA may not be waived.

Program Description:

The program is designed to provide academically focused after-school opportunities, particularly to students who attend high-poverty, low-performing schools, to help those students meet state and local performance standards in core academic subjects and to offer families of participating students opportunities for literacy and related educational development.

Funding

The number of awards will be determined by the number of applications received and the needs of the seven areas of the state. ISBE reserves the right to determine the number of awards and the amount of the awards. As a result, applicants may not be awarded for the full amount of requested funding. No applicant will receive less than $50,000 or greater than $600,000, with individual awards not exceeding $150,000 per site.

Prevention Initiative -Center Based RFP

Purpose

To provide funds for early childhood and family education programs and services that will help young children enter school ready to learn. This application provides funding for birth to 3-year-olds served in the Prevention Initiative DCFS-Licensed Child Care Center or DCFS-Licensed Family Child Care Program.

Program Objectives

• Illinois’ neediest children will be identified and served.
• Families will receive intensive, research-based, and comprehensive prevention services.
• Children’s developmental progress will be regularly monitored to inform education and to ensure identification of any developmental delays or disabilities.
• Families will receive services that address their identified goals, strengths, and needs.
• Families will receive comprehensive, integrated, and continuous support services through a seamless and unduplicated system.
• Families will be engaged in the program and community systems for infants and toddlers will be strengthened.
• The evaluation will provide critical data and information that is used for continuous program improvement.
• Staff will have the knowledge and skills needed to create partnerships to support the development of infants and children.
• Staff will continue to gain skills and knowledge based on current research and best practices to improve outcomes for families.

Career and Technical Education (CTE) Education Career Pathway RFP

Purpose

The Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) is committed to providing students with a wellrounded and relevant education that includes equitable opportunities to participate in CTE. CTE programs prepare students for both the workforce and the pursuit of postsecondary opportunities by offering them opportunities to develop technical and employability skills while also strengthening core academic skills and abilities. CTE programs are expanding nationwide and realigning Programs of Study to include pathways that respond to current and future economic and occupational needs. This grant will be an avenue to recruit students, including minority students, into the field of education, thus addressing the teacher shortage in Illinois. It will provide funding to eligible applicants to support the development and implementation of CTE Education Career Pathways or Programs of Study in specific partner districts and schools.

Program Description

The CTE Education Career Pathway State Grant will provide funding directly to eligible recipients to support planning and implementation of a CTE Education Career Pathway or Program of Study. Programs will include coursework designed to prepare students for matriculation into and success in a postsecondary teacher preparation program. It will afford students opportunities to participate in field experiences and/or work-based learning to begin to hone their craft and gain experience in different educational settings and content areas. Additionally, program participants will have opportunities to earn dual credit; industry certification, such as para-professional licensure; the State Seal of Biliteracy; a College and Career Pathway Endorsement; and micro-credentials to demonstrate teaching competencies acquired through the program. ISBE and the Illinois Community College Board achieved a major milestone in their efforts to expand dual credit access with the adoption of the Model Partnership Agreement and the passing of the Dual Credit Quality Act (PA 100-1049). These resources offer local districts support in ongoing efforts to establish robust partnerships with higher education and engage in collaboration to further increase educational equity and access to CTE programs.

Eligible applicants must identify one to five local schools in which programs will be implemented. All applicants are required to form partnerships to  strengthen programs. Priority points will be given to applicants who meet at least one of the following additional criteria:

• Rural district(s) as defined by the National Center for Education Statistics.
• Districts that fall at or below 70% for funding adequacy under EBF.
• High schools whose teacher vacancy rate is 5% or more.
• High schools where the percentage share of students of color exceeds the percentage share of teachers of color by 25% or more.

Program Description

In an effort to support the maintenance of cognitive and mobility skills, the Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Healthcare Regulation (OHCR) announces an opportunity for certified facilities to submit applications for projects that must provide the residents of long-term care facilities with a program or project deliverable that meaningfully improves the quality of life or quality of care for residents in the facility. These projects should deliver direct improvements to quality of life, direct improvements to quality of care, alternatives to pharmacological interventions, alternative behavioral management, training programs, and implementation.

Through Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) funds provided by the Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program (CMPRP) through the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), IDPH OHCR is able to fund opportunities such as this and others that benefit residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Assistance is tailored to issues which present in multiple facilities throughout Illinois. It seeks to build quality care and experiences in LTC facilities to residents as well as provide staff with training to ensure improved care.

Each grant award will be for a single project to be completed at one or more facility(ies). Grant applicants may submit proposals for multiple projects, but they must be separate application submissions. The participating facilities will report quarterly of its projects to the IDPH CMPRP Specialist the aforementioned information to gauge the viability of utilizing a similar program in other LTC facilities.

The Illinois Department of Public Health places health equity as a top priority. Health equity is the “basic principle of public health that all people have a right to health”. Health equity exists when all people can achieve comprehensive health and wellness despite their social position or any other social factors/determinants of health. Most health disparities affect groups marginalized because of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability status, geographic location, or some combination of these. People in such groups not only experience worse health but also tend to have less access to the social determinants or conditions (e.g., healthy food, good housing, good education, safe neighborhoods, disability access and supports, freedom from racism and other forms of discrimination) that support health…. Health disparities are referred to as health inequities when they are the result of the systematic and unjust distribution of these critical conditions. The department’s efforts are committed to addressing health through an equity lens by empowering communities who have been historically marginalized and developing intervention strategies with the end goal of furthering health equity among all Illinoisans.

The purpose of the Older Americans Act is to maximize the quality of life of older persons. The Illinois Department on Aging (IDoA) provides federal Older Americans Act funds (Title III) and State General Revenue Funds (GRF) to regional Area Agencies on Aging for this purpose.

The grants fund a broad array of services that enable older adults to remain in their homes for as long as possible. These services include, but are not limited, to:

• Access to services such as transportation, case management, and information and assistance;
• In-home services such as personal care, chores, and homemaker assistance; and
• Community services such as legal services, mental health services, and adult daycare

This program also funds multi-purpose senior centers that coordinate and integrate services for older adults such as congregate meals, community education, health screening, exercise/health promotion programs, and transportation.

The State of Illinois is divided into 13 Planning and Service Areas (PSAs), each with its own Area Agency on Aging, to stimulate the development or enhancement of coordinated community-based systems, resulting in a continuum of services to persons age 60 and older. These services help seniors stay as independent as possible in their homes and communities, and avoid hospitalization and nursing home care. Using an intrastate funding formula, IDoA awards sub-grants under each approved Area Agency on Aging Area Plan. The funding formula reflects the proportion among the Planning and Service Areas of persons age 60 and over in greatest economic or social need, with particular attention to low-income minority individuals and those at risk of institutionalization. The Area Agencies on Aging in turn make sub-grants to local service providers, while advocating and representing the best interests of older persons and their caregivers.

CMP Long Term Care Resident Enrichment- Wellness (NOFO) (IL)

 In an effort to support the maintenance of cognitive and mobility skills, the Illinois Department of Public Health, Office of Healthcare Regulation (OHCR) announces an opportunity for certified facilities to submit applications to implementation changes to increase the quality of life within their facility. This grant seeks to provide facility staff training in the areas of;

• showering and personal care,
• nutrition, choking, and dietary issues,
• social interaction / social isolation, and
• showering and personal care.

By addressing each topic individually for two hours bi-annually, the overall quality of life within Long Term Care facilities will increase.

Through Civil Monetary Penalty (CMP) funds provided by the Civil Money Penalty Reinvestment Program (CMPRP) through the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), IDPH OHCR is able to fund opportunities such as this and others that benefit residents in long-term care (LTC) facilities. Assistance is tailored to issues which present in multiple facilities throughout Illinois. It seeks to build quality care and experiences in LTC facilities to residents as well as provide staff with training to ensure improved care.

Through this funding, the facility would be reimbursed for cost of the materials produced for the training of facility staff. Funds can only be used for the production and distribution of training materials for facility staff. The participating facilities will quarterly of its sessions to the IDPH CMPRP Specialist the aforementioned information to gauge the viability of utilizing a similar program in other LTC facilities.

The Illinois Department of Public Health places health equity as a top priority. Health equity is the “basic principle of public health that all people have a right to health”. Health equity exists when all people can achieve comprehensive health and wellness despite their social position or any other social factors/determinants of health. Most health disparities affect groups marginalized because of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability status, geographic location, or some combination of these. People in such groups not only experience worse health but also tend to have less access to the social determinants or conditions (e.g., healthy food, good housing, good education, safe neighborhoods, disability access and supports, freedom from racism and other forms of discrimination) that support health. Health disparities are referred to as health inequities when they are the result of the systematic and unjust distribution of these critical conditions. The department’s efforts are committed to addressing health through an equity lens by empowering communities who have been historically marginalized and developing intervention strategies with the end goal of furthering health equity among all Illinoisans.

Funding

• Award Range: Up to $240,000.00 
• Number of Anticipated Awards: 1

Harm Reduction Community Linkages Project (IL)

Program Description

The Harm Reduction Community Linkages Project is to support capacity building at harm reduction organizations statewide to expand their client base and develop more comprehensive linkages to prevention, treatment, and harm reduction services for individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), including prescription opioids as well as illicit drugs such as heroin. This project is funded through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Overdose Data to Action – States (OD2A-S) Cooperative Agreement and Illinois General Revenue Funds. Organizations selected for this funding will need to demonstrate success in engaging individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD), including prescription opioids as well as illicit drugs such as heroin; have experience in linking individuals to opioid use prevention, OUD treatment and injection harm reduction services through community referral networks; and show capacity to cover large geographic regions in Illinois focusing on communities that demonstrate a high burden of opioid overdose. These funds will be used to strengthen partnerships between injection harm reduction community stakeholders and providers of OUD treatment and other needed social services to improve local coordination, connect more individuals to the appropriate support services and treatment for OUD, and provide case management as needed among persons who use opioids.

The Illinois Department of Public Health places health equity as a top priority. Health equity is the “basic principle of public health that all people have a right to health”. Health equity exists when all people can achieve comprehensive health and wellness despite their social position or any other social factors/determinants of health. Most health disparities affect groups marginalized because of socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, disability status, geographic location, or some combination of these. People in such groups not only experience worse health but also tend to have less access to the social determinants or conditions (e.g., healthy food, good housing, good education, safe neighborhoods, disability access and supports, freedom from racism and other forms of discrimination) that support health. Health disparities are referred to as health inequities when they are the result of the systematic and unjust distribution of these critical conditions. The department’s efforts are committed to addressing health through an equity lens by empowering communities who have been historically marginalized and developing intervention strategies with the end goal of furthering health equity among all Illinoisans.

Funding

• Award Range - $27605 - $240961
• Anticipated Number of Awards - 9

Cultural Sustainability: Equity-Based Operating Grants

Arts Midwest is now accepting applications for Cultural Sustainability: Equity-Based Operating Grants, a pilot program that offers grants of up to $67,000 to small arts and culture organizations that are rooted in communities of color.

What is it?

Cultural Sustainability: Equity-Based Operating Grants is a general operating grant pilot program that offers grants of up to $67,000.

About Cultural Sustainability: Equity-Based Operating Grants

Cultural Sustainability: Equity-Based Operating Grants is a pilot program offered by the six U.S. Regional Arts Organizations (USRAOs) in partnership with The Wallace Foundation. It will give general operating support grants to arts and cultural organizations rooted in communities of color with annual operating expenses up to $500,000.

In total, Arts Midwest will be awarding 18 general operating grants across our nine-state region.

• 9 Organizations (one per state) with operating expenses between $0-$249,999 will receive a $55,000 general operating grant.
• 9 Organizations (one per state) with operating expenses between $250,000-$499,999 will receive a $67,000 general operating grant.

Over the 15-month pilot program, Arts Midwest will offer five virtual workshops on topics focusing on long-term visioning and sustainability planning. Grantees will also be invited to join virtual peer networking sessions and quarterly check-ins with Arts Midwest staff.

Arts Midwest believes that equity means ensuring that everyone has access to the resources and opportunities they need to thrive.

United Way of Greater St. Louis

United Way offers three tiers of funding opportunities to support local nonprofits with a proven ability to meet the community’s needs and make a lasting, important impact in our region.

• Safety Net
• Systems
• Targeted

Systems Change

Systems Change (SC) addresses the root causes of social problems, which are often intractable and embedded in networks of cause and effect. It is an intentional process designed to fundamentally alter the components and structures that cause the system to behave in a certain way. SC activities seek to shift conditions that are holding the problems in place through advocacy, policy change, and/or resource allocations.

Focus Area: United for Families

As a signature Systems Change initiative - the United for Families (UFF) program provides funding to select nonprofits in Missouri and Illinois to support the implementation of the innovative, individualized two-generation family empowerment model centered around flexible assistance and client accountability.

UFF initiates a whole-family coaching and case management model and provides individualized support, financial coaching, and emergency financial assistance.

UFF’s objective is to help stabilize and empower families on their road to restoring self-sufficiency by helping them achieve family economic security, prevent homelessness and displacement, and achieve educational stability for school-age children.