We believe each and every community in Chicagoland ...has the potential to thrive. No matter the challenge, we will keep... Building On 2019 Annual Report

“While no one could have foreseen the events of 2020,
your support prepared CCLF to meet this moment.”
Calvin L. Holmes, President

For many long-suffering communities, 2019 appeared to be the light at the end of a long dark tunnel that began a decade ago with the Great Recession. Our customers were finally starting to see glimmers of hope for economic recovery. We at Chicago Community Loan Fund reached the extraordinary milestone of $100 million in assets; we cemented key collaborations with community leaders; and we were steadily building on our long-term commitment to build racial equity in Chicagoland’s persistent poverty neighborhoods by investing in well-built homes, arts and recreational facilities, grocery stores and job-creating social enterprises at a higher scale.

While no one could have foreseen the devastation brought on by COVID-19, everything we accomplished together in 2019 prepared CCLF to meet this moment.

Profound economic dislocation and pervasive structural racism has placed Black and Latinx populations at higher risk of losing jobs. COVID-19 has ravaged these same communities with disproportionate death rates. These elements, compounded by current civil unrest, require strong partnerships to unite and write a new playbook. CCLF is prepared to be a leader in this moment.

Starting from a position of strength solidified in 2019, CCLF has quickly responded to the effects of the horrendous pandemic and ubiquitous social unrest. We have partnered with local and state governments to distribute millions in emergency funding for nonprofits and small businesses. We have established, virtually overnight, a Pop-up Call Center and published an online guide to put even more resources into the hands of community enterprises. Our team has gone above and beyond, making personal connections with customers and helping them access whatever they need to stay afloat, be it emergency grants and loans, access to the Payroll Protection Program or sourcing PPE for their customers.

CCLF works because we are designed to build on the strengths of the visionary leaders who strive each day to create communities where everyone can thrive. We will continue to build on through these challenging times and through any unforeseen obstacles we meet in the future. CCLF will build on smarter, using lessons learned from the past to ensure those that have been harmed by current crises have a chance to heal through investment and sustained support.

Thank you for your continued support. Together, we are building on.

Calvin L. Holmes
President

Matthew R. Reilein
Chair

Building on Chicagoland's talents, energies and ideas to create communities where people thrive.

Year in Review

In 2019 we...

Reached $104 million in assets

Closed 26 loans totaling $28.2 million

Leveraged another $47.6 million of investments

See more impact data

Impact Highlight Planting seeds for jobs; growing food access

Growing tomatoes and kale doesn’t just nourish the body—it can feed the soul, change lives and make the whole community stronger. Learn how one innovative social enterprise is using urban farming to combat unemployment and food insecurity in Englewood.

Building on Chicagoland’s neighborhoods

Growing Home is a USDA-certified organic farm yielding over 30,000 pounds of kale, tomatoes and other produce each year. Since 2002 this innovative social enterprise has used urban farming to tackle unemployment and food insecurity, right in the heart of Englewood.

A 2019 loan from CCLF enabled Growing Home to finish building its third farm site on a campus that now fills nearly one acre in West Englewood. Each site offers skills training, job placement and other services to individuals facing employment barriers. Beyond employment support, production assistants often find a new therapeutic outlet and a passion for growing that they can share with their families and communities over a lifetime.

Growing Home is committed to distributing all of the new site’s produce in Englewood through affordable sales and donations. To make accessing the food as easy as possible, the nonprofit creates pop-up stands throughout the community.

With its creative and entrepreneurial approach to addressing multiple community issues, Growing Home exemplifies how CCLF’s social enterprise partners are building on.

“People are often surprised that a project likes ours exists right here in Englewood. We’re part of the ‘secret sauce’ that makes this community.”
Janelle St. John,
Interim Executive Director of Growing Home, Inc.

See how we’re building on.

We believe each and every community in Chicagoland ...has the potential to thrive. No matter the challenge, we will keep... Building On 2019 Annual Report

Impact Highlight Planting seeds for jobs; growing food access

See how we’re building on.

What We Do

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