The Chicagoland Opportunity Zones Consortium (COZC) is a collaborative of nonprofit, private, and public sector organizations focused around community development in the Chicago region’s Opportunity Zones. CCLF led the process to create the COZC. Officially launched in 2020, the COZC operates on behalf of its members, and is housed at CCLF.
The COZC represents 135 Opportunity Zones in the city of Chicago, primarily on the city’s south and west sides, and 48 Opportunity Zones in suburban Cook County, primarily in south and west suburbs. The COZC facilitates connections through matchmaking, education, and technical support to assist in attracting Opportunity Zones investments that create quality jobs, build wealth, and promote equitable development. In addition to facilitating connections and providing technical support, the COZC will work with investors, project owners, and businesses to connect to applicable local complementary funding source opportunities.
If you have an investment opportunity, contact Robin Schabes, Chicagoland Opportunity Zones Consortium Director: 312-788-2493 / [email protected]
Visit the COZC Website Download The COZC Community Action KitAbout The Consortium
Many entities came together to create the COZC which seeks to achieve five core goals:
Attract Opportunity Zones Investments: Prioritize projects that lift up priorities outlined in community plans and further public and philanthropic community investment strategies.
Inform and Support Community Partners: Arm local communities with knowledge and support a range of developers and business owners across the spectrum of experience and sophistication.
Create Jobs and Build Wealth: Prioritize projects that create jobs for local community residents and that result in the local developer or business owner sharing in the financial upside and/or tapping into local vendors to spread neighborhood wealth.
Transform Communities through Equitable Development: Support comprehensive, racially equitable strategies by investing in local entrepreneurs and in commercial, industrial,
Members
Chicagoland Opportunity Zones Consortium members include:
- Allies for Community Business
- BG Consulting
- Chicago Community Loan Fund
- Chicago Community Trust
- Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
- Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives
- Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation
- City of Chicago
- Community Investment Corporation
- Cook County Illinois
- Illinois Financing Authority / Illinois Climate Bank
- Institute of Housing Studies at DePaul University
- IFF
- JP Morgan Chase Foundation
- Lamar Johnson Collaborative
- LISC Chicago
- MacArthur Foundation
- National Equity Fund
- SB Friedman
- SomerCor
- Southland Development Authority
- South Suburban Mayors and Managers Association
- State of Illinois (DCEO)
- Woodstock Institute
- World Business Chicago
Resources and Webinars
Since its founding, the COZC has developed materials, provided technical assistance,
and hosted webinars, virtual and in-person events to share information about Opportunity Zones with a variety of audiences.
The COZC’s most recent publication, OPPORTUNITY ZONES: A Community Action Kit can be downloaded here. The Action Kit was assembled to consolidate many of the COZC’s resources in a way that could be more accessible and help local leaders learn more about how to leverage their community’s OZ designation to advance projects and plans.
To date, the COZC has hosted 18 webinars including:
- Opportunity to Action: Opportunity Zones, a Pathway to Recovery (August 2020)
- Pathways to Opportunity (February 2021)
- Expert Insights (October 2023 – January 2024)
- Fireside Conversations (September – October 2024)