Chicago Receives $3 Million Investment from JPMorgan Chase’s AdvancingCities Challenge
April 18, 2019
New commitment for Chicago’s West Side United complements JPMorgan Chase’s $40 million commitment to expand access to economic opportunity on the city’s South and West sides
CHICAGO – JPMorgan Chase today announced Chicago is one of five winning cities in its inaugural AdvancingCities Challenge, part of a $500 million, five-year initiative to drive inclusive growth and create greater economic opportunity in cities. The AdvancingCities Challenge awarded $3 million to five U.S. cities, totaling $15 million, which presented cross-cutting approaches to solving entrenched challenges in their communities. The four other winning cities are Louisville, Kentucky, Miami, Florida, San Diego, California, and Syracuse, New York.
Chicago’s winning initiative, based in the city’s West Side neighborhoods, was selected because the proposal successfully outlined local coalitions of elected, business and nonprofit leaders working together to address major social and economic challenges such as employment barriers, financial insecurity, and neighborhood disinvestment.
The AdvancingCities Challenge launched in September 2018, attracting more than 250 proposals from 143 communities across 45 states and territories. Proposals were required to incorporate at least two of four strategic drivers of inclusive growth within JPMorgan Chase’s Model for Impact: jobs and skills, small business, neighborhood revitalization and financial health.
Winners were announced in conjunction with JPMorgan Chase’s 2018 Corporate Responsibility Report, which showcases the firm’s impact in communities around the world and highlights the Seven Traits of Advancing Cities. The winning cities and programs each demonstrated these key conditions for success that position a city to meaningfully expand opportunity.
About Chicago’s winning proposal
Chicago’s West Side residents have life expectancies that are 16 years shorter than their neighbors in The Loop, an affluent neighborhood just seven train stops away. Research from JPMorgan Chase found that Chicago employers have difficulty filling certain middle-skills positions in the health care industry, which could pay up to $22.16 per hour. Meanwhile, the JPMorgan Chase Institute found that small business cash liquidity challenges threaten to limit the economic vibrancy of some Chicago neighborhoods, with South and West Side small businesses presenting much more precarious financial pictures compared to their counterparts in Chicago’s North Side.
West Side United will work across major anchor institutions in 10 of Chicago’s West Side neighborhoods to address the social determinants of health by connecting low-wage health care workers to in-demand, well-paying career pathways in hospitals that lead to financial security. West Side United will support local entrepreneurs and help them take advantage of procurement opportunities at anchor institutions, such as hospitals or large businesses with a long history in Chicagoland, in order to grow their enterprises and create local jobs.
“The early success of West Side United demonstrates the potential in Chicago to bring together non-profits, private sector businesses and local policymakers to effectively address entrenched challenges and ensure that all Chicagoans have a chance to participate in economic growth,” said Peter Scher, Head of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase, who made the announcement in Chicago. “We know the leadership of anchor institutions is one of the most important traits to drive progress in cities, and West Side United has led the way in driving collaboration and investment within the local community to create positive impact.”
West Side United brings together the Amita Health, Cook County Health, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Rush University Medical Center, Sinai Health Systems, UI Health, the Chicagoland Workforce Funders Alliance, Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership, Skills for Chicagoland’s Future, City Colleges of Chicago, Civic Consulting Alliance and Accion Chicago to maximize the impact of this investment on the residents of Chicago’s West Side.
“The grant announced today for West Side United is a testament to what can happen when community institutions work together toward a common goal,” U.S. Senator Dick Durbin said. “I applaud West Site United for establishing partnerships that will address significant challenges for local residents. As with efforts under the Chicago HEAL Initiative and West Side United, we must continue to invest in making our communities healthier and safer while also promoting economic growth.”
“Chicago’s West Side suffers from many years of disinvestment and underinvestment along with serious disparities in health care outcomes and health care resources,” said Congressman Danny Davis. “I applaud JPMorgan’s initiative to partner with West Side small businesses, non-profits with deep roots in the community and Rush Medical Center as an innovative sustainable pathway toward a healthier economy and a healthier population.”
“One major goal of West Side United is to invest in communities and build economic vitality,” said Darlene Hightower, Vice President, Community Health Equity for Rush. “We know these things are critical to building a stronger and healthier West Side. This grant from JPMorgan Chase will give us the ability to do just that – invest In people, businesses and the future of our West Side neighborhoods.”
“From our listening sessions, community residents repeatedly talked about the importance of living wage jobs,” said Ayesha Jaco, Senior Program Director, West Side United. “The grant from Chase will help us significantly scale career pathway programs like the MAPP program. It will let the community know that we heard them and are taking action to meet their needs.”
A history of collaboration between JPMorgan Chase and West Side United
This new $3 million investment complements JPMorgan Chase’s $40 million, three-year philanthropic commitment to create economic opportunity on Chicago’s South and West sides. So far, the firm has deployed more than half of this pledge with philanthropic investments that build career pathways, expand small businesses, revitalize neighborhoods and promote financial health.
JPMorgan Chase has supported West Side United since its launch in 2017, including with philanthropic capital and employee expertise through the firm’s Service Corps initiative.
West Side United’s work to connect local residents with in-demand career pathways in health care will build on a successful JPMorgan Chase-backed pilot, which helped place 32 incumbent workers in a medical assistant career pathway.
About AdvancingCities
AdvancingCities is a $500 million initiative that combines the firm’s lending capital, philanthropic capital and expertise to make investments in cities. The program consists of two key features, the AdvancingCities Challenge and large-scale investments in cities where the conditions exist for success such as Detroit, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Paris.
AdvancingCities is also collecting insights, developing research and best practices, and driving peer-learning to ensure the benefits of these investments are shared with other cities.
Based on the firm’s previous experience, JPMorgan Chase expects its $500 million AdvancingCities commitment to attract an additional $1 billion in outside capital at a ratio of 4:1, resulting in a total of $1.5 billion directed to efforts that will increase inclusive growth in cities.
The winning initiatives through the AdvancingCities Challenge will drive solutions and help break down silos between local programs, strengthen underlying systems and advance holistic solutions to create more widely-shared prosperity. The cities will also have access to a wide array of JPMorgan Chase resources, including data and research, employee expertise, and global network. Based on learnings from past investments, AdvancingCities is making investments in cities that demonstrate a collaborative approach to the following:
- Commitment to tackling barriers to economic opportunity and upward mobility;
- Innovative strategies that make measurable progress to solve challenges related to inclusive growth;
- Presence of high-capacity nonprofits and government entities and strong engagement from the business community working together to implement solutions;
- Alignment between the future challenges and opportunities in the city and JPMorgan Chase’s four philanthropic areas of focus; and
- Opportunities to use the firm’s data, employee expertise and business lending capital to create sustainable solutions.
To learn more about AdvancingCities and the other AdvancingCities Challenge Winners, visit www.jpmorganchase.com/advancingcities
About JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.7 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
