Organization: The Chicago Community Trust
Type of Organization: Community Foundation
Geography: Chicago-region
Funding Category: Awareness & Outreach, Advocacy, Communications, Community Organizing and Research
Why is your organization funding tax systems work? When the Trust decided to integrate policy change into our strategies, we did so recognizing that to achieve our mission of a thriving Chicago where opportunity and prosperity are within reach for all, we must also address systemic barriers that impede that goal. Through this work, we have convened partners, sponsored research, engaged in collaborative advocacy, and built relationships with policymakers and officials to foster a cadre of policy leaders and advocates advancing reforms that increase economic security and mobility, and increase investment in underinvested communities.
In 2020, we launched a funding opportunity that provided grants to organizations working in coalition to advance policy reforms that would increase opportunities for Chicago families to increase income, reduce debt and build assets. As part of this funding cohort, we supported a coalition of organizations working to strengthen tax credits for low- and moderate-income working households that emerged from the Chicago Resilient Families Task Force, which identified strategies to reduce the number of Chicago families experiencing poverty. The task force prioritized policy reforms that enable greater access to unrestricted cash, such as strengthening tax credits and investing in guaranteed income programs.
Now approaching its seventh year, our funding supports coalitions and organizations working towards more equitable tax systems, including property taxes, with the goal of helping low- and moderate-income families retain more of their earned income and assets. Since launching, we’ve seen how expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit has helped working families achieve economic stability and cut child poverty in half. Our grant partners have also taught us that the biggest challenge to passing legislation to support our most vulnerable neighbors with things like making post-secondary education more affordable, increasing access to nutrition assistance, or reducing tax burdens on working families, is not convincing legislators of the value, — it’s figuring out how to pay for them.
This year, organizations supported by the Trust’s Coalitions Advancing Economic Mobility advanced transformational legislation and secured a $75 million investment to provide temporary support to families and individuals who become ineligible for SNAP benefits. Coalition partners also passed a bill enabling the creation of guaranteed income programs across Illinois. Many of these same coalition partners and advocates also worked with legislators to identify new revenue streams to support these investments that spared individual taxpayers from absorbing the burden.
Can you share an example of your work in action? The Trust is dedicated to supporting systems-level change, intentionally going beyond grantmaking. We actively use our ability to bring people together and our leadership in the community to help advance meaningful reforms.
One of the first coalitions the Trust not only funded but participated in worked to expand Illinois’s Earned Income Credit and later created a state Child Tax Credit. In this role, we joined partners in advocating for these bills and contributed to building public awareness on the impact these programs have on our communities.
In 2022, this coalition successfully advocated for an expanded Earned Income Credit that increased eligibility to: tax filers 18-65 years old (previously 24-65 years old), ITIN filers, and unpaid caregivers. It also increased the value from 18% of the federal EITC to 25% of the EITC. In 2024, the same coalition advocated for the establishment of a state Child Tax Credit, which provided up to $300 credit to families with at least one child under 12 years old.
As we continue working to strengthen Chicago’s policy landscape, we have also leaned into our convening power with the goal of fostering a holistic and coordinated approach to combat systemic inequities. While many coalitions exist to advance reforms to specific issues (e.g. housing, food insecurity, workforce development, education, healthcare, etc.), we often lose sight of the fact that we are all advocating for the same people. Oftentimes, our same neighbors who lack access to healthcare also experience housing or food insecurity, face barriers to quality education or workforce development opportunities, and contend with the impacts of other inequities.
The Trust’s goal – in addition to systems reform work – is also to foster connection and coordination across coalitions to enable us all to lift our collective voices for more equitable and thriving communities.
Who can I contact to learn more? Please contact Aimee Ramirez at aramirez@cct.org.