Community Development Grants

Overview: DPD will support business expansion through capital improvements to storefronts, buildings, and facilities. Eligible costs include but are not limited to property acquisition and site preparation, rehab or new construction of building elements, and soft costs related to eligible construction costs. There will be three grant categories:

• Small Grants (up to $250k)
• Medium Grants ($250k-$5M)
• Large Grants (over $5M)

Projected Impact: 400+ projects and resulting $1.4 billion in total investment

Small & Emerging Business Loan Fund

Small Business Capacity Building

Overview: DPD intends to create a new Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) that will provide capital necessary to expand, retain, and relocate businesses that will promote inclusive economic growth and represent the next generation of Chicago’s economy. RLF will provide low-interest loans that would be repaid to the City over an estimated term of five years, although other alternatives such as a loan loss reserve may be considered.

Projected Impact: Initial support for up to 40 businesses, with long-term revolving of funds

Pre-Development

Small Business Capacity Building

Overview: DPD intends to create a new pre-development grant to address one of the most typical issues encountered when evaluating projects, especially for emerging developers working in critical locations. Grants would support applicants to complete site selection and zoning analysis, design and engineering documents, cost estimates, financial proforma or business plan modeling, and other pre-development costs.

Projected Impact: Support pre-development efforts of 75 to 100 projects

Job and Workforce Training Grants

Jobs and Wealth Building

Overview: With bond funds DPD will be able to modify and expand the existing TIFworks program beyond current TIF district boundaries, to support the entire city in workforce development programs that meet the needs of Chicago’s most in-demand industries. Eligible costs include upskilling, apprenticeships, business coaching, and support for new hires with on-the-job training.

Projected Impact: 750-1,000 workers trained

Missing Middle Housing Infill

Jobs and Wealth Building

Overview: DPD will create a new two-pronged program to incentivize homeownership at-scale to address the 10,000 City-owned vacant lots. The “Pre-Approved Prototype” will reduce costs and entitlement time by creating a pre-approved catalog of for-sale home designs to be built on clusters of publicly owned lots. The “Pad-Ready Program” will prepare land, install utility hookups, and build a standard foundation for ChiBlockBuilder applicants.

Projected Impact: Creation of 750 new for-sale residential units