Two city funds aimed at supporting underprivileged neighborhoods in Chicago got a boost earlier this month, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. The Budget Committee increased the funding limit for the Neighborhoods Opportunities Fund by $3.5 million, and the City Council’s Finance Committee approved a $50 million funding contribution to the Chicago Community Catalyst Fund.

In Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s presentation of his 2017 Budget Proposal to the City Council in October 2016, he announced the Chicago Community Catalyst Fund as an effort to “provide targeted investments in businesses and community projects in the city’s neighborhoods most in need.”

A year later, and the first $50 million in city contributions has been approved. The ordinance approved puts rules into place to ensure that the money is going into the correct hands. Board members must be appointed with no conflicts of interest and those with a financial interest of more than $1,000 in a project will not be allowed to vote. 

On the same day, the Budget Committee increased the funding limit for the Neighborhoods Opportunities Fund by $3.5 million. The boost in funding will be useful this fall during the second round of $100,000 grants slated to be awarded to entrepreneurs on the South, Southwest, and West sides of the City.

A total of $3.2 million was given out to 32 organizations in 16 different wards in June during the first round of grants. There were nearly 700 applicants. Among the awardees are art galleries and performing arts centers, coffee shops, a candy and sweets store, restaurants, and more. Back of The Yards, Englewood, Woodlawn, Auburn-Gresham, and West Garfield Park are a few of the neighborhoods eligible for funding.

The fund is aimed at helping with costs of construction, roofing repair, storefront buildout, plumbing and electrical work, and window and door repair, according to its website.