The RLD Foundation’s Third Round of Grantee Partners

The belief that Chicago’s most persistent social issues can be addressed through innovation, diligence, and collaborative action remains at the core of the Richard L. Duchossois Foundation’s vision and mission.

Guided by the values of its namesake, the Foundation focuses on three primary giving areas: Veterans, Entrepreneurs, and Strong Families, supporting organizations and initiatives that create pathways to opportunity and long-term stability. As a learning-focused organization, the RLD Foundation grounds its strategy and grantmaking decisions in data and research. In enacting this value, the Foundation has begun making data-focused grants that inform its broader philanthropic efforts and strengthen the ability of organizations and the broader ecosystems they operate within to use data effectively.

The RLD Foundation is proud to share its third round of grantee partners whose missions reflect these aspirations, and whose work is creating lasting impact across Chicago’s communities.

Veterans

Each year, thousands of service members transition from military to civilian life in Illinois, navigating challenges related to employment, housing, and access to earned benefits. In the greater Chicagoland area, home to more than half of the state’s veteran population, these challenges underscore the need for coordinated, innovative support systems.

The Foundation invests in organizations advancing forward-thinking approaches to addressing these hurdles. Through their efforts, these grantees are honoring the service of veterans by connecting them with resources and pathways to economic mobility in their civilian lives.

Blue Star Families Chicagoland builds community and belonging for military and veteran families across the Chicago region by reducing isolation and fostering meaningful connections that strengthen family wellbeing and community resilience.

JOURNEYS | The Road Home provides shelter, services, and housing to anyone experiencing housing insecurity in the northwest suburbs. Services for Veterans are integrated into all of our programs from street outreach, emergency shelter, to personalized wrap-around services, and supportive housing. 

The Road Home Program at Rush University Medical Center delivers evidence-based mental health care to veterans, service members, and their families, providing no-cost comprehensive treatment for PTSD and related conditions to help individuals heal, rebuild resilience, and thrive.

Skills for Chicago bridges the gap between talent and opportunity, helping Chicagoans access meaningful jobs and pursue lasting career growth. Skills is developing technology to support military veterans transitioning back to the civilian workforce after serving. 

The Veterans Project, operated by Thresholds, an Illinois nonprofit behavioral health provider, supports veterans with serious mental illness, homelessness, trauma, and co‑occurring disorders through clinical, integrated housing, and employment services that promote long‑term stability and recovery.

Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurship has long served as a catalyst for economic mobility. Its impact is strongest when founders and aspiring entrepreneurs have equitable access to the capital, tools, and infrastructure needed to launch, sustain, and grow successful businesses.

The RLD Foundation is proud to support organizations and initiatives that are expanding access to capital, equipping founders with knowledge and skills, and strengthening Chicago’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. These grantees are helping founders turn ideas into viable, resilient enterprises while advancing inclusive economic growth.

1871 is a Chicago-based nonprofit innovation hub that increases founder leverage by connecting entrepreneurs to capital, customers, expertise, and networks—accelerating company growth, job creation, and inclusive economic opportunity in Chicago and beyond.

For more than 30 years, Allies for Community Business has been providing the capital, coaching, and connections that entrepreneurs in the Chicagoland area need to start and grow businesses that create jobs and wealth in communities in need of investment.

EDLI – Entrepreneurial Development and Leadership Institute empowers under resourced entrepreneurs in Chicago with strategic networking, ecosystem connections, and pathways to capital. Inspired by Frederick Douglass, we strengthen businesses, expand access to opportunity, and advance equitable economic growth across historically marginalized communities.

Evergreen Climate Innovations provides catalytic capital and venture development support to high-potential climate tech startups in Chicago and across the Greater Midwest. Through our 501vc® investment model, we leverage philanthropic dollars to drive positive climate impact and foster an inclusive innovation ecosystem.

Grameen America is a nonprofit microfinance organization dedicated to helping underserved entrepreneurs build small businesses and financial stability for their families. Since first launching in Chicago, they have served over 4,700 entrepreneurs with $48 million+ in loan capital, with a second location set to open later this year.

Greenwood Archer Capital, a nonprofit 501(c)3 Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), expands access to fair, flexible financing for entrepreneurs in historically underinvested communities. We combine capital with wraparound support so businesses can start, grow, and thrive.

With residents and partners, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across Chicago supporting community planning and building and sustaining networks of partners to help create great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. 

MATTER believes collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 1,100 current and alumni startups worldwide, working together with hospitals, health systems, universities and industry leaders to accelerate innovation, advance care, and improve lives.

Rogers Park Business Alliance is a non-profit organization in Chicago that supports local businesses and economic development through services like bilingual, no-cost business assistance and training, while also fostering community with events like the Glenwood Sunday Farmers Market, Mercadito, Taco Crawl and Chalk Howard Street. 

The Polsky Center at UChicago accelerates innovation by helping students, faculty, alumni, and small businesses launch and grow ventures through funding, mentorship, and programs spanning student ventures, IP commercialization, and local business support, turning ideas and research into real-world impact.

Strong Families

Strong families require economic stability to thrive. When parents and guardians can earn steady incomes, access reliable childcare, and secure affordable housing, families are better positioned to navigate challenges and create positive outcomes for future generations.

The RLD Foundation is investing in organizations delivering multi-generational solutions across four interconnected areas: quality, flexible childcare; family-sustaining employment; affordable, family-sized housing; and healthcare. These grantees are advancing integrated approaches that empower families to build financial security and long-term well-being.

Brightpoint advances the well-being of Illinois children by investing in families to disrupt cycles of inequality. The Ahlquist Center addresses the root causes of family instability through evidence‑based solutions that strengthen family economic security and prevent unnecessary child welfare involvement. 

Founded in March 2020 by therapists and social workers, Centro Sanar provides free, bilingual and bicultural mental health services across Chicago’s Southwest Side, including Brighton Park, South Lawndale, Back of the Yards and Gage Park, supporting accessible community healing and resilience.

Chicago South Side Birth Center advances birth equity by providing community-based midwifery care, education, and wraparound support for families on Chicago’s South Side, improving maternal and infant health outcomes through a culturally rooted birth center model.

Erie Family Health Centers (Erie) is a community health center serving 95,000+ patients at 14 Chicagoland locations. Motivated by the belief that healthcare is a human right, Erie provides affordable, holistic, high-quality care to help people live their healthiest lives.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) forges resilient and inclusive communities of opportunity across Chicago supporting community planning and building and sustaining networks of partners to help create great places to live, work, visit, do business and raise families. 

The Maternal and Child Health Initiatives at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago create safe, stable, and nurturing environments during a child’s first five years, serving families throughout Chicagoland with evidence-based programs and a focus on communities where maternal and infant health risks are highest.

PCC Community Wellness Center is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) whose mission is to improve health outcomes for the medically underserved community through the provision of high quality, affordable, and accessible primary health care and support services.

Revolution Workshop is a Chicago-based nonprofit that provides construction training while rehabilitating family-sized homes, aligning workforce development and historic preservation with supply-side housing strategies that promote economic mobility and long-term stability for working families.

The Women’s Dignity of Choice Career Pathways Pilot at St. Leonard’s Ministries is redefining reentry for mothers returning to Chicago after incarceration. Centering women’s voices and emphasizing choice, the pilot provides housing, employment, and supportive services that foster stability and long-term success. 

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit research organization that provides data and evidence to advance upward mobility and equity. We are a trusted source for changemakers who seek to strengthen decision-making and improve the well-being of families and communities.

VOLTS – Village of Leaders Thriving in Solidarity creates housing cooperatives owned and governed by formerly incarcerated women, pairing stable homes with worker cooperatives that offer quality jobs with benefits and profit sharing. Together, these models support family stability, healing, and economic security on Chicago’s South Side.

DATA

Data and research inform every aspect of the RLD Foundation’s philanthropic practice. The team strives to build a learning organization that values thoughtful iteration, measures what matters, and learns in close partnership with grantees and communities. In doing so, the Foundation seeks to create a continuous cycle of inquiry, insight, and action internally, across its grantee partners, and throughout Chicago’s social sector ecosystem.

This first round of Data-focused grants puts that cycle into motion, supporting robust data ecosystems within the Foundation’s three program areas.

The Early Childhood Research Alliance of Chicago (EC*REACH) at Northwestern University supports data infrastructure development designed to improve how early childhood information is collected, organized, and used over time.

Work with Indiana University aims to create a dataset mapping veteran-serving nonprofits and funding flows, improving visibility into where resources go and where gaps persist.  LISC Chicago links data capacity directly to place-based strategy. This includes development of a resident-informed framework for tracking neighborhood progress alongside its housing and entrepreneurship work, helping align community priorities with measurable indicators that can guide coordinated investment.