You Can Now Apply to Chicago's $500 Monthly Cash Assistance Program

CHICAGO — Residents can now apply to the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, which will provide households with $500 per month.

Applications for the program opened 9 a.m. Monday. The deadline to apply is 11:59 p.m. May 13. Eligible residents who apply at any point during this period will be entered into a lottery, with the program’s participants picked in May, according to a city news release

Click here to go to the application page

Households that get picked to participate in the pilot will receive $500 per month for one year, according to the city. There will be 5,000 low-income households in the pilot

Eligibility requirements:

Applicants must be a Chicago resident.

Applicants must be 18 or older.

Applicants must have experienced an economic hardship from COVID-19.

Applicants must have a household income at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level

Only one applicant per household can be entered into the lottery, according to the city. The program is meant to help people — particularly low-income residents — with financial support as the economy recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.

More information is available online.The program will be administered by GiveDirectly, a nonprofit.

Interested residents can sign up online to get updates on the program.