Cook County Community Financial Institution Capacity Building Grant

Service Information

The Cook County Community Financial Institution Capacity Building Grant program, led by the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, is a historic $2.4 million effort to support community financial institutions (CFIs) and increase available financing for small businesses. Selected CFIs may use funds to enhance their loan portfolio and/or operational capacity (such as investments in staff, technology or marketing). 

Applications were open from June 16, 2025, through July 25, 2025, at 5 p.m. CT. Applicants were notified of their status in the fall of 2025.

The recipients of a Cook County Community Financial Institution Capacity Building Grant are:

Why this program 

The most frequently sought-after service at the Cook County Small Business Source, another program led by the Cook County Bureau of Economic Development, is access to capital. As a result, the bureau and one of its partners, Next Street, completed a landscape assessment to identify ways the County could leverage funds to directly address the capital needs of small businesses.

The assessment highlighted that local CFIs had limited capital available dedicated to supporting small businesses.

The Cook County Community Financial Institution Capacity Building Grant program will increase the capacity of selected CFIs to deploy resources supporting small businesses and strengthen the County's small business ecosystem as a whole.

Eligibility

Organizations eligible to apply for this program included: 

  • Certified Development Corporations (CDCs)  
  • Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)  
  • Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs)  
  • Small Business Administration (SBA) microlenders 
  • Other nonprofit lending organizations 

Eligible organizations were required to: 

  • Be a nonprofit entity
  • Have at least two years of lending experience
  • Be seeking to begin or expand small business lending within Cook County
  • Be in good standing with all relevant regulatory bodies 

Cook County Community Financial Institution Capacity Building Grant Overview

Questions?

For more information, email cfigrant.oed@cookcountyil.gov.

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