The heart of what we do as a community foundation is respond to the most urgent needs of our neighbors to make life better for all who call Lake County home. Communities are ever-changing and our responsibility is to be flexible so that those needs are being met with a timely and relevant response. Within our Rapid Community Response program pillar, we invest in organizations tackling urgent issues using community-informed solutions.

Work under this pillar includes:

Lake County Community Crisis Relief Fund
Since 2020, we have used this permanent fund to support urgent needs that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic and in the aftermath of the July 4, 2022 mass shooting in Highland Park. In light of increased violence in many of our communities, LCCF is now using the fund to support violence prevention and intervention in Lake County.

Lake County Funders Call Series
We convene, educate and mobilize local and regional funders around emerging issues facing our neighbors. Through this series, we introduce our funding colleagues to grassroots organizations to highlight the critical work they do in our communities.

Growing Communities Grants (formerly Basic Human Needs)
As our largest and most competitive priority area, this encompasses the majority of our grant making. Our goal is to not only fund organizations providing emergency support, but also to fund groups addressing root causes underlying community needs. Much of the grant making we have historically done through our Growing Communities priority area fits within this pillar.

Project Examples (not limited to):

• Hunger relief
• Emergency shelter
• Domestic violence support
• Youth support
• Mental and behavioral health

Grant applicants that can demonstrate that the need their organization is addressing is timely, urgent and was identified by the community, fit into this pillar.

While many of the Growing Communities priority area requests fall within Rapid Community Response, requests that align with our pillars of Economic Justice (ex: safe, affordable housing, workforce development) and Community Ownership (ex: community organizing) also fall in this area.

Across our grant making, LCCF will be intentional about supporting organizations located within the community led by people from the community addressing issues that directly affect them.