The Fall 2023 Grant Cycle, running from July 1 – September 30, will award grants to organizations in two categories: Housing and Economic & Workforce Development. The Spring 2024 Grant Cycle, running from January 1 – March 31 2024, will award grants to non-profit charitable programs in two categories: Food and Housing.

Learn more about the IL state treasurer charitable trust Grant and Application HERE.

Business Training cohorts are 10-week immersive business training programs comprised of specialized workshops, training, and resources facilitated in conjunction with the Neighborhood Business Center at West Side Forward. This cohort will meet from September - November 2023 in person on Tuesday evenings from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm at West Side Forward HQ. Read more HERE.

West Side First also offers several grant opportunities with all of them open for application right now:

JI2 Program

JI2 is designed to create a pathway for individuals impacted by the justice system to tap into tangible opportunities for economic mobility and growth. Through intensive, hands-on training to either start a new career or build a business in three industries with high growth earning potential.

read more and apply HERE

Manufacturing Entrepreneurship Cohort

The Manufacturing Entrepreneurship cohort assists founders in LMI markets in scaling hardtech businesses. MEC graduates become members of the BIT alumni network granting free access to a plethora of ongoing support and resources.

read more and apply HERE

Business REMIX

Did you have a functioning business that was impacted by COVID-19? Need help rethinking your business idea and strategy? It's time to re-examine your business, the current business climate and help you identify critical adjustments required to succeed in this new economy.

read more and apply HERE

In 2016, the City of Chicago revised the Zoning Code to leverage funds generated by new development in and around the Loop to catalyze investment in Chicago’s West, Southwest and South Sides. The Neighborhood Opportunity Fund uses these funds to support commercial corridors in Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods. Business and property owners may apply for grant funding to pay for the construction or rehabilitation of real estate and projects that support new or expanding businesses or cultural assets.

Learn more about the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and Application HERE.

The Library of Congress is announcing a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) to make cooperative agreement awards in support of contemporary ethnographic field research focusing on the cultures and traditions of diverse communities across the United States.

The Library of Congress intends to award up to 10 awards pursuant to this notice of funding opportunity. The Library’s intention is to make awards of up to $50,000. The Library may choose to make no awards or more than ten awards.

Learn more about the Library of Congress Grant and Application HERE.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement is to invite proposals for funding from capable applicants to eligible small business concerns under the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Program to promote the development, success and long-term strength of small businesses providing specialized management and technical assistance, entrepreneurial education and training in delivering of vital business development services to Native American business communities across the country.

SBA expects to issue up to $320,000 in total under this announcement. SBA anticipates the amount of funding provided under each award will be in the range of $160,000. However, in the interest of promoting specialized services to areas with a population of Native Americans.

Learn more about the Native American Micro Enterprise Grant and Application HERE.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Adminis (SAMHSA) provides grants to healthcare providers and organizations that serve refugee and migrant people in the US.

This opportunity creates a Technical Assistance (TA) center to grow the capacity of healthcare providers and organizations that serve refugee and migrant people in the US. The TA Center will provide learning opportunities, training, and technical assistance, including clinical consultation; interactive online learning modules; learning communities; targeted TA and coaching; online educational materials and resources that are culturally relevant, language-relevant, resiliency focused, and trauma-informed. Estimated Total Program Funding: $3,000,000
Period of performance: Up to 5 years.

Learn more about the Refugee and Migrant Behavioral Health Grant and Application HERE.

The Small Business Administration is seeking applications for its Tribal College Small Business Achievement Grant Program. The mission of the TCSBA Program is to act as the catalyst for providing in-depth, substantive, outcome oriented business services to Native American entrepreneurs, both nascent and established businesses, a representative number of which are socially and economically disadvantaged. This mission is accomplished through the award of financial assistance to Tribal Colleges and Universities as defined in the Higher Education Act HEA 316 (U.S.C. 1059c) to enable them to affect substantial economic impact in their communities, as measured by successful business start-ups, job creation and retention, and increased company revenues.

A total amount of $1,000,000 in FY 2023 funding is available for this program. SBA expects to make four awards with a maximum amount of up to $250,000. Only qualified recipients will be funded. No matching contributions are required.

Learn more about the Tribal College Small Business Achievement Grant and Application HERE.

While this pilot is launched out of GET Citieicago, the companies we partner with can be located anywhere in the country. It is important to note that your project participant (the "TechTalent") will be Chicago-based.

Information on this form will be used to select and match startups with emerging female, non-binary, trans, and BIPOC TechTalent (with a large focus on qualified college students and/or early career professionals). Companies will host a TechTalent participant for a scoped project, scheduled to occur in late summer/early fall 2023.

Startups that work with the pilot will receive their TechTalent for project-based work at a 50% subsidy for up to 80 hours of work at $18/hour for up to 20 hours/week, effectively receiving the TechTalent at ~$9/hr.

Learn more about the GET Cities Startup TechTalent Program Grant and Application HERE.

The IL Housing Development Authority (IHDA) has just announced a 25 million in funding for the Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund Home Repair Program (HAFHR) which allows eligible homeowners the ability to address home maintenance needs that were delayed and exacerbated due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

HAFHR will award grants ranging from $1 million to $5 million to nonprofits and/or governmental entities. Grantees will, in turn, make home repair grants up to $60,000 per eligible homeowner.

Learn more about the HAF Home Repair Grant and Application HERE.

The Small Business Improvement Fund (SBIF) provides grant funding for permanent building improvements and repairs across the city.

Offered by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) to tenants and owners of industrial and commercial properties, SBIF grants are funded by Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues in designated TIF districts citywide.

Program participants can receive grants to cover between 30 percent and 90 percent of the cost of remodeling work, with a maximum grant of $150,000 for commercial properties and $250,000 for industrial properties. The grant, which is administered by SomerCor on the City’s behalf, does not have to be repaid.

Learn more about Chicago SBIF and check for roll out dates HERE.

Through this NOFO, HUD is funding studies to improve knowledge of housing-related health and safety hazards and to improve or develop new hazard assessment and control methods, with a focus on lead and other key residential health and safety hazards. HUD is especially interested in applications that will advance our knowledge of priority healthy homes issues by addressing important gaps in science related to the accurate and efficient identification of hazards and the implementation of cost-effective hazard mitigation. This includes studies using implementation sciences in identifying specific conditions under which residential environmental hazard interventions, that have been shown to be effective in specific housing types and residential settings, can be assessed in other contexts.

Learn more about HUD and check for roll out dates HERE.

The program takes a comprehensive approach to addressing multiple childhood diseases and injuries in the home by focusing on housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time. The program builds upon HUD’s successful Lead Hazard Control programs to expand the Department’s efforts to address.

Learn more about HUD and check for roll out dates HERE.

The goal of the home modification program is to enable low-income elderly persons to remain in their homes through low-cost, low barrier, high impact home modifications to reduce older adults’ risk of falling, improve general safety, increase accessibility, and to improve their functional abilities in their home. This will enable older adults to remain in their homes, that is, to “age in place,” rather than move to nursing homes or other assisted care facilities.

HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes is making available grant funds and training resources to non-federal entities. Under this NOFO, experienced nonprofit organizations, state and local governments, and public housing authorities will deliver home modification services to qualified beneficiaries.

Learn more about HUD and check for roll out dates HERE.