Philanthropy Central

In June 1999, the city of Chicago, Illinois, assumed full control of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), and soon after, under the leadership of mayor Richard Daley, the city initiated the Plan for Transformation of Public Housing.
One of the primary participants and supporters of the Plan for Transformation was the Chicago-based John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Recognizing the Plan as a historic opportunity both to reform Chicago’s decrepit housing infrastructure and to blaze a trail that other cities could follow, the Foundation played two main roles. The first was to be "a neutral place for problem-solving and conflict resolution." The second was more traditional: that of a funder.