Wed, Sep 24

“Started from the bottom, now we here.”
– Drake, unofficial poet of the 21st-century hustle

It’s not just a lyric—it’s a battle cry echoing through the industrial corridors of Chicago’s South and West Sides. Places where ambition is never in short supply, but opportunity? That’s a different story.

In neighborhoods like Englewood, Garfield Park, and Roseland, dropout rates once rivaled graduation rates. Generational poverty shaped every decision. A prison record stuck longer than a LinkedIn profile. While downtown boomed, the blocks whispered another truth: talent is everywhere—but access is not.

Until now.

Because this summer, in a rehabbed warehouse once used for sheet metal, something radical is happening.
And yes, Mr. Grant Money had something to do with it.

🔥 Pressure-Cooked Potential

Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods are packed with genius. Builders. Hustlers. Strategists. But the system boxed them out—punishing mistakes, shortchanging schools, dead-ending careers.

The stats? Brutal.

• 1 in 3 Black men in Chicago has a criminal record

• 40% of South Side adults lack postsecondary credentials

• Tech and trade jobs are growing, but the training gap is wider than ever

What the community said:

“We don’t need saviors. We need systems.”

Enter: The Comeback Lab.

🛠️ Brains Behind the Breakthrough

The Lab was born from boldness. From a coalition led by:

• Tamika Ford, a former CPS teacher who walked away to build what she called a “re-entry MBA for the people”

• Darius Green, a returned citizen who now runs a mentorship nonprofit and can “turn any resume into a redemption arc”

• The Chi-Tech Chamber, BIPOC tech founders done with Ivy gatekeeping and ready to open doors for underrepresented talent

Together, they imagined:

• GED bootcamps

• Hands-on training: HVAC, coding, logistics, design

• Startup pitch track for system-impacted entrepreneurs

• Paid apprenticeships with childcare, therapy, transportation included

Their motto?
“Credentials, Capital, and Comebacks.”

But they needed more than hustle.
They needed capital.

🎯 Building the Blueprint for Bold Funding

Tamika DM’d me:

“Mr. Grant Money—got a second to turn some street-smart genius into scalable impact?”

I was already on the Green Line.

In their warehouse-turned-vision-lab, we rolled up sleeves and stacked a funding strategy that could match their fire:

🔹 Workforce Development Core

• U.S. Department of Labor – Pathway Home Grant

• Illinois Future of Work Initiative for tech training in underrepresented zip codes

🔹 Community Empowerment Layer

• Chicago Recovery Plan Grants for post-COVID inclusion

• MacArthur Foundation for local mobility investments

🔹 Innovation & Equity Boost

• Google.org for tech access and training

• Black Ambition Prize for entrepreneurship seed capital

We framed this as a workforce engine that builds owners, not just employees.

📜 The Pitch That Got Funded

We didn’t pitch pity. We pitched power.

“Too often, workforce programs try to ‘fix’ people.
The Comeback Lab is built to unleash them. GEDs aren’t finish lines. They’re foundations.”

We mapped the goals:

• 300 learners in year one

• 85% job placement

• 25 new small businesses launched

• $7/hr wage bump by month six

We brought the visuals. The voices. And Darius, in his words:

“From jumpsuit to tailored blazer. All I needed was a bridge that didn’t break halfway.”

The funders remembered.
And they funded.

💥 Green Lights & Game-Changers

Approvals hit like a second wind:

• ✅ $1.8M from Department of Labor

• ✅ $500K from Google.org

• ✅ $700K from City of Chicago’s Recovery Fund

• ✅ $250K from Black Ambition Prize

This powered:

• A 15,000 sq ft facility: coworking, tech labs, maker space

• Full-time staff: trauma-informed coaches, startup mentors, GED instructors

• On-site childcare pods and a mental health clinic

• Programs for 300+ annually—including youth aging out of foster care, returning citizens, and parents restarting careers

This fall?
Five grads are launching businesses—from a solar install startup to a last-mile delivery app.

From GED to CEO?
Believe it.

🧭 The Grant Money Gospel: Chicago Edition

Five truths from the South Side streets to the funder suite:

1. The workforce is broken. But the workers are not.
   Assume genius. Back it with numbers.

2. Wraparound wins.
   No therapy? No transportation? No retention.
   Fund dignity.

3. The best strategies come from the block.
   Consultant-built programs miss the nuance. Community-built ones hit every note.

4. Pitch power, not pity.
   This wasn’t charity. It was a blueprint for reinvention.

5. Start with one story.
   Tamika’s whiteboard. Darius’s suit. That’s what the grant panels remembered.

💼 Ready for Your Comeback?

You don’t need a tower or TED Talk.

You need:

• A fireproof idea

• A table of believers

• And a grant strategy that sees your people as CEOs in waiting

You bring the comeback.
I’ll bring the capital.

Let’s flip the system—Chicago-style.

— Mr. Grant Money

🛍 Explore More

• See what’s scaling next on the Mr. Grant Money Blog

• Equip your hustle at the Mr. Grant Money Store

• Tune into movement music at Mr. Grant Money Music

💬 Discussion Questions

1. What barriers—visible or invisible—stand between people in your community and opportunity?

2. How can we redesign education and workforce systems to recognize potential instead of punishing the past?

3. What wraparound supports are missing from training programs near you?

4. Who in your neighborhood has a CEO mindset just waiting for a shot?

5. If you had funding tomorrow, what would you build to help someone go from GED to greatness?