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Community Wealth Building

 Launching the CWB Initiative Report!

 

The Office of Equity and Racial Justice in partnership with the CWB Advisory Council are proud to announce the launch of the Community Wealth Building Initiative Report.

 

After more than three years, we are taking a moment to reflect on all that we have accomplished and dream about all that is still left to do. The purpose of this report is to:

  • Document and archive the multi-year journey of this initiative, including our approach to the historic $15 million investment
  • Demonstrate the growing momentum of CWB in Chicago
  • Offer up recommendations and a roadmap for the future of this work
  • Share our process learnings with the field and inspire other cities to embrace CWB

 

Click here to download the full report. 

 

 

 

 

Phase 1: Strengthen the Ecosystem

The Community Wealth Ecosystem Building (Community WEB) is a $6 million program that awarded grants to 17 organizations to provide highly-specialized CWB technical assistance in six core categories: research and convening; education and outreach; business development; legal & governance; finance and fundraising; and assets & operations. Click here to see the full list of grantees.

Phase 2: Build the Pipeline

The CWB Planning and Pre-Development Grant is a nearly $4 million program that awarded up to $150,000 to 27 early-stage CWB projects. Click here to see the full list of finalists announced in May 2023. The program is not currently accepting applications.

 

 

Phase 3: Invest in Large Scale Pilots

The City of Chicago is in program design phase for this work and intends to release an RFP in Q4 2023. To inform the strategy, the City will host several focus groups and continue conversations with the 20 community leaders that serve on the CWB Advisory Council. Stay tuned!

  • Artwork by Cori Lin

Community Wealth Building: The Chicago Way

Community Wealth Building disrupts traditional economic development by placing power and resources into the hands of the community.
Watch the video below to learn more about this historic investment.

 

Chicago Community Wealth Building from Jenna Pollack on Vimeo.

Learn more at ccwbe.org