Trust Talks
Trust Talks is the podcast by The Chicago Community Trust. Each episode of Trust Talks highlights a different strand of the Trust’s strategic priority to close the Chicago region's racial and ethnic wealth gap, including growing household wealth, catalyzing neighborhood investment, and building collective power, or its foundational commitments to addressing critical needs and connecting philanthropy to impact.
Episodes
18 episodes
Episode #17: Leveraging the Power of Data
The Chicago Community Trust’s strategic focus on addressing the racial and ethnic wealth gap was informed by data on the stark differences in health, education and wealth, how those differences were impacting our region, and – most importantly ...
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Season 5
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Episode 17
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44:50
Episode #16: Working Collaboratively to Address Community Safety in Chicago
Community safety is an issue that affects all Chicagoans, but especially Black and Latine communities. According to a 2023 report, more than half of Black and Latine residents have witnessed a shooting by age 40. Further, violence not only impa...
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Season 4
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Episode 16
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40:19
Episode #15: We Rise Together: For an Equitable and Just Recovery
Launched in 2020 in response to the economic instability caused by COVID-19, We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery is a Trust-led funder collaborative working with communities to respond to the urgent economic needs of long-dis...
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Season 4
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Episode 15
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28:35
Episode #14: Building a Robust Local Media Landscape
Across the nation, local news outlets have been folding at an alarming rate. In response, philanthropy has stepped up funding efforts to address this decline as America becomes increasingly polarized and trust in institutions plummets. Against ...
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Season 4
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Episode 14
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42:58
Episode #13: Planning for Equitable Neighborhood Development
Thriving neighborhoods where residents have access to essential services, amenities, and jobs are vital to creating an equitable and prosperous Chicago region. As part of the Trust’s efforts to address disinvestment, we are supporting opportuni...
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Season 4
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Episode 13
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36:06
Episode #12: Closing the Homeownership Gap
Homeownership is one of the most important vehicles for building generational wealth and helping families achieve economic stability; however, Black and Latinx families often face barriers to accessing and maintaining homeownership. Since The C...
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Season 3
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Episode 12
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40:12
Episode #11: Accessing Federal Funds for an Equitable Recovery
The federal government has allocated trillions in federal funds toward relief and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The American Rescue Plan Act’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund alone has made about $19 billion dollars available to the...
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Season 3
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Episode 11
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36:00
Episode #10: Creating a Lasting Legacy for the Chicago Region
For more than a century, individuals and families have partnered with The Chicago Community Trust to transform gifts—from wills, trusts, and other vehicles—into lasting impact for our region. Through unrestricted gifts to our endowment, donors ...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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35:50
Episode #9: Civic Engagement Through a Racial Equity Lens
There is a long-held notion civic engagement is declining in the Chicago region. The 2010 Chicago Civic Health Index report even stated “Chicagoland’s civic health is on life support.” However, research measuring civic health tends to ...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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32:49
Episode #8: Building Neighborhood Wealth with Community Investment Vehicles
The Trust’s Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment strategy is focused on closing the region’s racial and ethnic wealth gap at the neighborhood level by fostering an environment that leads to more inclusive development in historically disinvested B...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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30:17
Episode #7: Solving Our Workforce Challenge
The Trust’s Growing Household Wealth Income Strategy supports closing the racial wealth gap in Chicago through a commitment to innovations in workforce development, inclusive business practices, and education. Along with reducing the debt burde...
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Episode 7
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46:54
Episode #6: Overcoming Vaccine Hesitancy
The COVID-19 pandemic has uncovered the disparities created by segregation and systemic racism. We are witnessing a taxed public health infrastructure that has been woefully underinvested in over generations. Currently, 75 percent of Chic...
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37:32
Episode #5: Making Philanthropy Your Own
The Trust’s Philanthropic Services team works with many types of donors, including individuals with Donor Advised Funds, family foundations, corporations, and those interested in giving to specific causes. The Trust advises donors on every aspe...
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27:28
Episode #4: Media Makers
The “Voice” strand of The Chicago Community Trust's Building Collective Power strategy supports community-centered media platforms that allow the authentic narratives of communities to emerge and be amplified not just in neighborhoods but acros...
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40:15
Episode #3: Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment
In this episode of Trust Talks, Michael Davidson, senior director of community impact who’s leading the Trust’s Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment team, sits down with Lennox Jackson, founder and CEO of Urban Equities Inc, Ja’Net DeFell, progra...
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40:49
Episode #2: Fund for Equitable Business Growth
In this episode of Trust Talks, guests Constance Simms-Kincaid, owner and operator of 5 Loaves Eatery, Eya Louis, contract development coordinator at Elevate Energy, and Mambu Sherman, vice president of global philanthropy at JP-Morgan Chase, s...
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35:54
Episode #1: Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities
In the first episode of Trust Talks, Charlotte Spaeth sits down with Anna LauBach, program director at the McCormick Foundation, Deborah Bennett, senior program officer at Polk Bros Foundation, and Anna Lee, director of community impact at The ...
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21:28