Chicago Community Trust Unity Challenge
Matching funds support organizations helping Chicago's neediest
Updated 11:34 PM CST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
The Chicago Community Trust, metropolitan Chicago’s community foundation, has created The Unity Challenge in response to rising unemployment, increased demand on food pantries and homeless shelters.
The $3 million initiative will help not-for-profit agencies meet the basic human needs like food and shelter by providing a two-to-one match for up to $1 million in new donations.
The Trust is a first-line funder of hundreds of not-for-profit organizations that are directly in touch with the needs of our community,” says Terry Mazany, president and chief executive officer for the Trust. “Collectively, they report a surge of need for food, housing, and employment – and a desperate need for resources to respond. Building on our 93 year legacy of philanthropy, we are taking a vigorous role in supporting the region’s most vulnerable citizens today, just as we did during The Great Depression.”
The on-going economic crisis taking a human toll. From September 2007-2008, the unemployment rate increased from 4.9% to 6.6% in metropolitan Chicago and foreclosure filings doubled from 7,814 in the third quarter of 2007 to 14,868 for the same period in 2008 in metropolitan Chicago.
Community agencies saw the number of individuals using food pantries increase by 32% in one year in Cook County, while close to 6,000 calls for homelessness prevention assistance were received in the month of September 2008 versus 4,700 in September 2007 in Chicago.
As part of The Unity Challenge, the Trust tracks key indicators of unemployment, hunger and homelessness through a new monthly report “Metro Chicago Vital Signs” that measures what happens to people and the demands on the not-for-profit sector which provides the safety net services required by the economic crisis.
Measurements include Chicago area individuals served by food pantries, food stamp utilization, foreclosures, inquiries received by homelessness hotlines, mass layoffs and unemployment rates. The Trust each month will update “Metro Chicago Vital Signs” at www.cct.org.
The first round of grants from The Unity Challenge will be announced the week of February 1, 2009.
Financial donations for The Unity Challenge can be made by credit card online at www.cct.org. Checks can be mailed to:
The Unity Challenge
The Chicago Community Trust
111 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 1400
Chicago, IL 60601
Checks should be made payable to The Chicago Community Trust. Checks should include “The Unity Challenge” on the memo line.
First Published: Dec 15, 2008 4:54 PM CST
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