Illinois

In 2021, IFF committed to expanding our support of Black and Brown nonprofit leaders on Chicago’s South and West sides, which included hosting various community engagement events. The first one took place at the beelove cafe in North Lawndale, which is located within the new corporate home of the North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN), led by CEO Brenda Palms Barber, an IFF customer and friend.

IFF completed a feasibility study and provided a $311,646 loan to facilitate tenant improvements to Red Clay Dance Company’s new dance center, which will facilitate organizational growth by more than tripling the organization’s class capacity, provide the autonomy to open the space to the community when desired, and enable the dance company to livestream its programming to reach an audience beyond Chicago.

IFF provided a continuum of services to Chatham Education & Workforce Center, which is operated by the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership and was developed to provide a variety of free job training and career services to residents of Chicago’s South Side, including managing the design and construction efforts at the site, helping to structure the financing, and employing an uncommon short-term ownership strategy to bring the project to fruition.

The 11,000-square-foot facility that opened January 19, 2021, features a first-of-its-kind maker lab, group meeting spaces, a career center, computer lab, and more. The Center is also home to the Greater Chatham Initiative, a local nonprofit tasked with realizing a quality-of-life plan created by community members.