Illinois grants for Individuals

This program provides funding for farmers and ranchers in the North Central region to develop and share sustainable agricultural practices through research and educational projects.

This program provides low-income homeowners and multifamily property owners in Illinois with access to affordable solar panel installations, ensuring they save on electricity costs while promoting renewable energy use in underserved communities.

This grant provides financial support for innovative, women-led projects at Southern Illinois University that empower women students, faculty, and staff, enhancing their learning experiences and campus engagement.

This grant provides funding for youth-led projects in Boone, Ogle, Stephenson, and Winnebago counties that empower young people to address community challenges and develop leadership skills.

This funding opportunity supports individual artists and nonprofit organizations in Illinois to create and present arts projects that engage the public, while also providing professional development for artists.

This initiative provides financial support to students in manufacturing and skilled trades programs at institutions near Dow facilities, helping them overcome financial barriers to complete their education and advance their careers.

This program provides funding to individuals and groups for small-scale projects that improve neighborhood accessibility, promote environmental stewardship, and foster community connections.

This grant provides temporary financial assistance to individuals in Illinois and Indiana undergoing breast cancer treatment who are facing financial hardship due to their medical expenses.

This program provides financial support to local artists in Waukegan, Illinois, to help cover costs related to their artistic projects and enhance community engagement through the arts.

This program provides financial assistance to low-income families with children who have disabilities, helping them cope with challenges exacerbated by the pandemic.

This grant provides financial support and professional opportunities to contemporary visual artists in select regions, helping them advance their careers and gain exposure in the art community.

The Illinois Humanities Microgrants program supports individuals and small organizations that engage the public with local and regional history collections. This initiative aligns with the foundation's mission to foster an appreciation for the humanities and historical understanding within communities. By providing financial assistance, Illinois Humanities empowers stewards of history to educate and enlighten their communities, emphasizing the value of archives, texts, stories, and photography. The target beneficiaries include individuals, nonprofit organizations, and public institutions such as schools, government institutions, libraries, museums, and churches. The program prioritizes applicants, historical content, or audiences focused within Illinois, with a particular emphasis on organizations having annual budgets less than $400,000. The impact goal is to strengthen historical engagement and education at the local level, ensuring that diverse communities have opportunities to connect with and learn from their past. The program's priorities and focuses revolve around supporting grassroots efforts to bring history to the public. It provides grants of $750, with optional additional stipends: up to $250 for accessibility services like ASL interpretation or captioning, and up to $100 for media services such as documentation and photography. These optional funds highlight the program's commitment to inclusive access and effective dissemination of historical knowledge, reflecting a strategic priority to make history broadly available and engaging. Expected outcomes include an increase in public programs and events that utilize local and regional history collections, enhanced community engagement with historical narratives, and greater accessibility for diverse audiences. Measurable results could include the number of events supported, audience attendance, and the adoption of accessibility and media documentation practices. This program serves as a practical application of Illinois Humanities' strategic goal to support community-driven humanities projects and their theory of change, which posits that by empowering local actors, historical understanding and civic engagement will flourish.

This grant invites professional artists based in Illinois to create a permanent public art installation at the University of Illinois Springfield Library Commons, enhancing the space's focus on student success and sustainability.

This grant provides funding for public art projects in Waukegan, Illinois, that promote cultural appreciation, artistic expression, and community engagement among its residents.

This funding opportunity provides financial support to organizations in the Greater St. Louis region for projects that improve transportation, safety, and access to services for seniors aged 55 and older.

Program Summary • The Grantee shall deliver mental health services to individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind by utilizing a culturally affirmative approach. This approach will adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act. The culturally affirmative approach shall serve these populations in an individualized manner and shall provide any level of outpatient mental health service delivered by staff who directly provide such in the individual's language and communication mode. Additionally, these staff will exhibit a distinct knowledge base, specialized clinical skills, and specialized cultural linguistic skills. The service delivery may also include staff who exhibit a knowledge base in serving these minority populations and utilize reasonable accommodations for the individual's language needs and communication modes. The Grantee's staff providing mental health services may include case managers, therapists, counselors, and/or psychiatrists. The Grantee shall communicate in an accessible manner, by utilizing Video Phones, TTYs, licensed sign language interpreters and/or other reasonable accommodations according to the individual's needs. Funding Priorities or Focus Areas • IDHS is working to counteract systemic racism and inequity, and to prioritize and maximize diversity throughout its service provision process. This work involves addressing existing institutionalized inequities, aiming to create transformation, and operationalizing equity and racial justice. It also focuses on the creation of a culture of inclusivity for all regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or ability. Project Description • The Grantee must deliver mental health services to individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind by utilizing a culturally affirmative approach. This approach will adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act. Each of these minority populations have unique cultural and linguistic needs, which are not exclusively homogeneous. Therefore, the culturally affirmative approach must serve these populations in an individualized manner. An individual who is Deaf, Hard of Hearing or DeafBlind, that is served by this grant funding, may reside or be originally from any county in Illinois. The cultural affirmative service delivery must provide any level of outpatient mental health service delivered by staff who directly provide such in the individual’s language and communication mode. Additionally, these staff will exhibit a distinct knowledge base, specialized clinical skills, and specialized cultural linguistic skills. The service delivery may also include staff who exhibit a knowledge base in serving these minority populations, and utilize reasonable accommodations for the individual’s language needs and communication modes. The Grantee’s staff providing mental health services may include, but are not limited to: case managers, therapists, counselors, and/or psychiatrists. The Grantee must communicate in an accessible manner, by utilizing Video Phones, TTYs, licensed sign language interpreters and/or other reasonable accommodations according to the individual’s needs. There are community networks across the state of Illinois that serve as a separate referral source for these populations. In these networks, information is communicated on how and where to access these services that are delivered in a cultural affirmative approach. The Grantee must serve as an embedded entity of these community networks as it relates to their cultural affirmative service delivery of mental health services. The Grantee’s staff will outreach, collaborate, and network across various service systems to effectively address these challenges. As part of this, the Grantee will assist individuals served in addressing the complex language, cultural, clinical, and administrative challenges when navigating the various service systems and their associated processes. Most often, these systems’ information is not readily accessible in the population’s native language and communication mode. Specifically, the Grantee’s staff will assist individuals in identifying and linking to other applicable providers, how to access their services, and/or apply for applicable benefits. Additionally, there is an absence of any evidence-based mental health treatment developed for or evaluated for use with these populations. The grantee must adapt evidence-based mental health treatment using an effective and culturally affirmative approach. This must include but is not limited to: consideration of the individual’s culture, community, beliefs, thinking and learning style, communication mode(s), and language needs. This funding is designated to support costs associated with cultural affirmative service delivery approach; the necessary outreach, networking, and collaboration necessary as an embedded entity providing for these populations; adaptation of evidence-based mental health treatment; and paying for licensed sign language interpreter services. The mental health services provided are billed to Healthcare and Family Services’ Illinois Medicaid as well as any of their associated Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs). Therefore, the Grantee must also have certification as (Comprehensive) Community Mental Health Center (CMHC), as defined in Part 132, Subparts B and C.

It is the policy of the State to enhance the development of all eligible infants and toddlers to minimize developmental delays and maximize individual potential for adult independence. It is the need of the State to implement, on a statewide basis, locally based, comprehensive, coordinated, multidisciplinary, interagency, Early Intervention (EI) services for all eligible infants and toddlers. The EI Program is a statewide program for the evaluation and assessment of infants and toddlers ages birth to three, as well as the provision of services for those who have a qualifying disability or diagnosis, a 30 percent delay in development in one or more of the five developmental domains, or who are at risk of developmental delays. Children and families access EI services through one of 25 Child and Family Connections (CFC) offices. This Notification of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) issued by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Division of Family and Community Services, Bureau of EI, seeks agencies located within Illinois to serve as the CFC offices for designated geographic areas. (See chart in Appendix I to identify the area served by each CFC office.) CFC offices are the regional intake entities defined in state statute (325 ILCS 20) and rule (89 IL Admin. Code 500) as IDHS’s designated entity responsible for implementation of the EI Program within its designated geographic area. IDHS is required to assure the designation of regional points of entry to accomplish consistent and equitable intake and service coordination throughout the State, with services defined in Section A.2. Separate proposals for each geographical intake region must be submitted for those agencies submitting for more than one geographical intake region.

IDHS is seeking to fund entities with experience in training, technical assistance, and support to build the RPSA grantee’s program capacities. Successful applicants will work with grantees across multiple RPSA grant programs in Chicago and/or Greater Illinois, based on grantee selection. The Illinois Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP) is seeking applications from those public and private nonprofit community-based organizations subject to 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4) of the tax code (26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3) or 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(4)) For-profit, small businesses and individuals are also eligible to apply. IDHS is working to counteract systemic racism and inequity, and to prioritize and maximize equity and diversity throughout its service provision process.

IDHS is seeking to fund entities with experience in training, technical assistance, and support to build the RPSA grantee’s program capacities. Successful applicants will work with grantees across multiple RPSA grant programs in Chicago and/or Greater Illinois, based on grantee selection. To address the spike in firearm violence, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Reimagine Public Safety Act (RPSA) (430 ILCS 69) in 2021. The RPSA creates a comprehensive approach to ending Illinois' firearm violence through targeted, integrated behavioral health services and economic opportunities that promote self-sufficiency for victims of firearm violence.

This program provides financial support to individual craft, folk, and traditional artists across the U.S. to purchase essential tools and equipment that enhance their artistic practices.