The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Development Collaboration Award

The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Development Collaboration Award recognizes exceptional community-led approaches to development within Cook County that center community priorities for and ensures community benefits from the physical assets of their neighborhood. 

Community collaborations should create economic opportunity for residents, leverage real estate projects, and be led by or meaningfully involve community residents and nonprofit organizations. These place-based partnerships transform underinvested communities or preserve residents’ stakes in gentrifying areas and ensure asset ownership spurs growth for current and future residents. Qualified collaborations may include a range of components, such as a community plan, a corridor plan, quality of life plan, a community-led strategy that lead to measurable financial benefits or wealth building, shared ownership approaches to increasing community agency, or other innovative roles for nonprofit organizations in any development process.

Projects or collaborations primarily focused on nonprofit real estate, community services, or community engagement without directly changing the economic environment for residents are not eligible.

Applicants will be evaluated on short and long-term economic results of activating physical assets within historically disinvested neighborhoods; innovative collaborations for community development; ensuring residents play a role in shaping and benefitting from the assets in their communities; partnerships at the local and citywide levels as appropriate; and demonstrated improvement or change in the community’s physical, social and economic infrastructure as a result of the plan.

Eligible applicants include non-profit organizations and government entities.

The Award winner will receive $15,000.