A Chicago Where Everyone Can Thrive

We believe our city can truly live into its promise as a place where dignity and joy are universal, where neighborhoods hold the power to lead the way, where families can shape the lives they envision, and where our future is built on shared prosperity and belonging.

Today’s Realities

In Chicago today, too many lives have been cut short or limited by where people live, the resources they can access, and the extent to which they can influence the circumstances that affect their lives. Chicagoans full of dreams and talent are unable to access the opportunities they deserve.

The inequities people face are the predictable results of a long history of structural racism embedded in policies and practices, which has created a stark divide in Chicago, advantaging some communities while systematically disadvantaging others.

How Our Grantmaking Supports Change

At Polk Bros. Foundation, we believe real transformation happens when the conditions shaping people’s lives are changed. Too often, early mortality, economic insecurity, and lack of influence are treated as separate challenges – when they all stem from the same long-standing practices, beliefs, and power dynamics that determine which communities get resources and whose voices are heard.

To shift these conditions, we fund community-driven approaches across three interconnected goals: Closing the Life Expectancy Gap; Building Community Wealth, Across Generations; and Fostering Participatory, Multiracial Democracy.

By investing across all three goals, our grantmaking aims to help shift the policies, practices, relationships, and stories that shape opportunity and belonging in Chicago. Together, these investments aim to improve safety and longevity, build lasting community wealth, and expand the power of residents to shape the decisions that affect their lives – creating the lasting conditions for a Chicago where everyone can reach their full potential.