Deadline: 1-Sep-21
The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation is supporting organizations with the strength and commitment to address persistent problems of urban Chicago resulting from poverty, violence, ignorance, and despair.
The Foundation focuses on programs that improve conditions for low-income, underserved communities in Chicago, and they are especially interested in efforts that will foster learning and innovation.
Priorities
The Foundation gives priority to:
- Programs with a demonstrated record of high-quality, effective services
- Efforts to improve the quality and effectiveness of programs and services (these might include program design, evaluation or staff development efforts, among others)
- The development of innovative approaches that will contribute valuable examples, information, and knowledge to others working in the field
- The Foundation also considers policy advocacy efforts that help ensure low-income communities and individuals in Chicago are treated fairly and have access to the services they need and deserve.
Program Areas
The Foundation award grants in four program areas:
- Arts Learning: Arts Learning funding focuses on programs for low-income Chicago children and youth that use the arts as a means to improve learning and provide life-enriching experiences.
- Employment: Employment Program addresses their commitment to helping families and individuals move out of poverty. They support comprehensive job training programs that help low-income individuals improve their ability to compete for living-wage jobs and careers. They are particularly interested in supporting:
- Vocational training programs which are aligned with employment opportunities in critical industry sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, and transportation;
- and adult education bridge programs which integrate vocational training in order to advance low-skilled job seekers along educational and career pathways.
- Health: The Lloyd A. Fry Foundation understands that effective primary care is essential to improving patient outcomes. The Foundation’s Health Program is committed to increasing access to high quality primary care and reducing health care disparities for Chicago’s low-income residents. To accomplish these goals, they are interested in supporting:
- Efforts to implement medical-home models of care which provide comprehensive integrated primary care services across multi-disciplinary team members in single or multiple settings. And they are especially interested in coordination efforts that focus on patients with chronic diseases that disproportionately affect communities of color (asthma, diabetes, heart disease, HIV/AIDS).
- High quality primary care services that are not widely available to low-income populations (especially dental, vision, and mental health). In support for mental health services, they give priority to high quality family-based mental health treatment services for children who suffer from the effects of traumas stemming from abuse, neglect, or violence.
- Community outreach to connect hard-to-reach individuals with high-quality primary care. They give priority to programs that partner with clinics and hospitals for referrals and follow-up to ensure that patients show up at appointments and follow treatment recommendations. They are also interested in innovative partnerships with clinics and hospitals that demonstrate improved health outcomes.
- Policy advocacy focused on improving the quality of health care and increasing access to health care for low-income populations in Chicago.
Criteria
- The Foundation makes grants only to tax-exempt organizations and rarely fund organizations outside Chicago. They give priority to applications for specific projects rather than for general operating support.
- In general, the Foundation does not make grants to individuals, governmental entities, or 509(a)(3) supporting organizations, although exceptions sometimes are made for publicly supported charities. They also do not provide funding for: general operating expenses for new grantees, capital projects, endowments, fundraising events, political activities, medical research, or religious purposes.
- The Foundation rarely fund unsolicited applications from organizations based outside Chicago. When exceptions are made, they look for organizations with strong local board leaders who are responsible for establishing program priorities and policies in Chicago. In addition, organizations must agree that funds awarded for Chicago-based programs remain in Chicago and are not included in calculations of funds exchanged between local and national offices.
For more information, visit https://www.fryfoundation.org/how-to-apply/funding-eligibility/