The Citizen Newspaper New Capital Grant Program Seeks to Empower Communities
June 25, 2025A new program seeks to provide capital grants to low and moderate-income neighborhoods in Chicago so that they can have more economic control. The Wealth Our Way (W.O.W.) program will provide funding for projects that will empower residents to create shared-ownership models.
Ja’Net Defell is the President and CEO of Community Desk Chicago, which was launched in March 2023. Prior to that, it incubated at the Chicago Community Trust on the basis of research that was conducted around challenges communities faced while in the process of developing real estate projects in an effort to revitalize their neighborhoods.