We recognize opportunities outside our general operating support grantmaking that require an urgent response and a more long-term and strategic investment to address our service region’s health needs. Since 2018, we have funded strategic health initiatives by invitation to explore new collaborative opportunities that advance health equity in our region’s communities.
In the past few years, we have seen how the COVID pandemic has worsened the structural barriers to health that communities face every day. Our Bold Investment strategy, implemented in 2021 in response to the pandemic’s impact on our region, allowed us to be an early investor in innovative ideas that positively impact community members’ long-term health and well-being.
over the years
2018
One year after we implemented our strategic plan, we began to shape our response to investment opportunities that served our region’s health needs beyond our general operating support grantmaking.
2019
We evolved our strategy to support strategic health initiatives due to the tumultuous political environment that created fear and uncertainty among the immigrant community and the nonprofit sector in our service region.
2020
We awarded strategic initiative grants for work that mitigated the economic impact of the COVID pandemic on immigrant and undocumented communities and increased systemic health access for the uninsured and underinsured.
2021
We learned from community about investment opportunities with a racial equity focus, which strengthened our bold response to support equitable pandemic recovery work in our region. These efforts were made possible through extensive partnerships in which we played a leadership role and efforts we co-created with partners.
2022
Our investments this year ($2.4 million) resulted in a nearly four-fold investment ($8 million) from private philanthropic and government funds. This highlights how our ongoing involvement and leadership at different tables have amplified community stories of the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on our region.
The investments listed below include:
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- Innovative efforts to promote pandemic recovery
- Continued engagement in existing and/or expanded collaborations previously funded by the Foundation
- Support for organizational resilience initiatives with a racial equity lens, particularly for BILPOC-led organizations
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INVESTMENT TIERS
SCALE
Efforts that are in motion; have a racial equity focus; and/or the Foundation has a leadership role
IMPLEMENTATION
Plans to move these initiatives forward are in place; are ready for investment and additional capacity
EXPLORATORY
Efforts that are centered on addressing health gaps in our service region and need additional planning and collaboration
EMERGENT
Initiatives that inform our understanding of our service region; Work that is in formation.
RESPONSIVE
Time-sensitive crises; special activities that promote health and advance local philanthropic efforts.
2022 grant recipients
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100 Latina Birthdays
GRANT TERM: 2022-2023
INVESTMENT TIER: IMPLEMENTATION
The 100 Latina Birthdays Podcast, led by LWC Studios, will be an open-source investigative podcast that will chronicle Latinas’ health, wellness, and life outcomes in Cook County as a microcosm of health equity in the United States. Local BILPOC local journalists and researchers will take part in this audio storytelling and explore solutions to systemic inequities affecting Latina health, build community narrative power, and demonstrate how the health of Latinas is tied to the future of the US.
AMPT Organizational Resilience
GRANT TERM: 2022, 2023
INVESTMENT TIER: IMPLEMENTATION
AMPT Chicago collaborates with organizations to provide tailored capacity and assessment resources. In addition to hosting learning spaces, such as a free monthly virtual education series and a 6-month, healing-centered Anti-Racist Restorative Practice Cohort for eight organizations, it also provides executive coaching and project grants. AMPT has played a key role in local COVID response, curating rapid capacity resources, consultant supports, grant dollars, and technical assistance for the Chicago Health Equity Zone RFP and other COVID recovery funding.
BUILD Health Challenge 4.0
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The BUILD Health Challenge network incubates and strengthens community-centered and cross-sector approaches that advance health justice. The goal is to drive measurable improvements in community health, promote health equity, and share best practices across national cohorts of funders, community collaboratives, and local public health departments. Our funding will support a distinct project based in our service region.
Community Health Worker (CHW) Initiative
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The CHW Initiative, funded in partnership with Community Memorial Foundation, seeks to address the local need to increase awareness of health and human service resources and connect those most disconnected to services in suburban Cook County. The Initiative enables grantee partners to scale additional CHW efforts in our service region through systems-level policies that address reimbursement, standardized curriculum, educational pathways, and long-term revenue sustainability for organizations. In 2022, the Initiative launched the West Suburban Learning Lab to increase training and skill development for CHWs across western Cook County. Participating organizations in the Initiative include Aging Care Connections, Alivio Medical Center, BEDS Plus, Healthcare Alternative Systems, and Mujeres Latinas en Acción. The Initiative is coordinated by Health and Medicine Policy Research Group and evaluated by Sinai Urban Health Institute.
Related articles:
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- “HCF Co-Hosts First West Suburban CHW Learning Lab”, July 2022
- “IL CHW Policy Update”, February 2022
- “Trusted Messengers in Chicago’s Western Suburbs”, June 2021
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Chicago Latinos in Philanthropy, Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: RESPONSIVE
Our funding supports local philanthropic collaboratives to coordinate communications and programming efforts centered on Black/African American and Latinx issues in philanthropy.
Financial Resilience Capacity Building Initiative
GRANT TERM: 2022, 2023
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The Financial Resilience Capacity Building Initiative strengthens local BILPOC-led and BILPOC-serving organizations emerging from the COVID pandemic. The Initiative harnesses the combined networks and expertise of BDO Financial Management Associates (BDO FMA), Forefront, IFF and AMPT to facilitate a 24-month program for up to 20 nonprofit organizations. It offers custom fiscal health assessments; one-on-one coaching; targeted technical assistance; and ad hoc training/peer learning. This Initiative grew out of the findings from a local financial health capacity-building landscape scan conducted in 2021, which identified a local gap in “medium-touch” financial health resources for smaller to medium-sized BILPOC-led organizations.
Evaluation of Basic Income Pilot
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: EMERGENT
The Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot presents an unparalleled opportunity to contribute to broader discussions about the social determinants of health affecting community members in our region. Our grant award supports The Inclusive Economy Lab’s evaluation of this basic income support pilot and will examine whether providing households with a minimum level of economic security can lead to a more inclusive recovery and improved health and wellness.
Forefront Racial Equity Collective
GRANT TERM: 2021, 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: EMERGENT
Forefront developed the Racial Equity Collective as a backbone network to help coordinate and sustainably advance racial equity across the region’s vast social impact sector. The Racial Equity Collective will develop and amplify racial equity resources, capacity-building efforts, data, programming, and networking across nonprofit organizations, corporations, philanthropy and the public sector.
Health First Fund
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The Health First Fund launched in 2020 as a pooled fund with the broad support of more than 15 local foundations. It funds projects that support and expand public health infrastructure and systems to ensure the long-term health and wellness of individuals and families within our service region. The strategies and grantmaking goals of the Health First Fund include a community-based approach, with expertise and thought leadership from community-based organizations, advocacy and research organizations, the public sector and health care provider groups.
Illinois Community Health Workers Association
GRANT TERM: 2021, 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The mission of the Illinois CHW Association (ILCHWA) is to support and facilitate the progress of community health workers/promotoras de salud and the diverse communities they serve. ILCHWA represents more than 400 individual CHW members and is the Co-Chair of the Illinois Community Health Worker Advisory Board. This Board currently focuses on providing community input and recommendations to inform the future statewide certification and renewal process for all CHWs in the State. Seed funding has strengthened ILCHWA’s capacity to center and amplify the voice of local CHWs in policy recommendations and implementation.
Illinois Immigrant Funders Collaborative
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
The Illinois Immigrant Funders Collaborative (IIFC) aims to fuel the efforts of community and civic organizations that support low-income immigrants, refugees, and asylum-seekers in Illinois. The IIFC raises funds from more than 17 local foundations to fund grassroots organizations addressing emerging immigrant and refugee needs in Illinois. In 2022, Illinois saw an influx of immigration (nearly 16,000 new arrivals) from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Venezuela and Colombia – all countries experiencing political instability due to violence and war.
Illinois Unidos
GRANT TERM: 2021, 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: SCALE
With more than 120 representatives, including 70 Latinx elected and appointed officials, various health systems, federally qualified health centers, community-based organizations, and community residents, Illinois Unidos has become the voice and entity for addressing the COVID crisis and equitable recovery efforts for the Latinx community. In 2022, Illinois Unidos shifted from crisis COVID response activities to focusing on the health and socio-economic implications of long COVID.
Immigrant Health Academy
GRANT TERM: 2021, 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: IMPLEMENTATION
ICIRR and six key partners launched the Immigrant Health Academy, a project that trains and educates immigrant community leaders in suburban Cook, Will, DuPage, and Lake Counties with information about their healthcare rights and how to navigate the complex healthcare system. The Academy, a first-of-its-kind training program in the US, will develop these leaders to empower other immigrant communities in suburban areas that lack access to quality health resources. The project also aims to shift the healthcare narrative in the immigrant community and expand healthcare access through advocacy efforts in the Chicagoland region.
Related articles:
Teen Living Room
GRANT TERM: 2021, 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: EMERGENT
The Teen Living Room responds to rising youth mental health concerns, primarily due to the pandemic. The center will be accessible to Proviso Township School District 209, Lyons Township High School District, and Morton High School District (serving Cicero and Berwyn), all of which have higher rates of Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) due to emotional disability (15-16%) than the State average of 6%. The communities of these school districts have also experienced at least nine deaths by suicide since 2019.
UIC Great Cities Institute - Suburban Latino Communities Report
GRANT TERM: 2022
INVESTMENT TIER: EMERGENT
Research and data produced by the Great Cities Institute at UIC detail demographic and population shifts in the western suburbs of Chicago and illuminate the connection between social determinants of health and the disparate impact of the COVID crisis. This research is co-funded with the Community Memorial Foundation and will support direct community engagement in the HCF service region to share data with local stakeholders.