On Gifts of Gratitude and Generosity

Okay everyone, let’s talk giving! We’re thrilled to report on the Morgante Wilson Foundation’s efforts to raise awareness and funds to bring affordable housing to Wilmette. We do this through Community Partners for Affordable Housing (CPAH) – the not-for-profit organization the Village of Wilmette collaborates with to create permanently affordable homes within the Village. Our combined efforts have made the dream of owning a home on Chicago’s North Shore a reality for many hard-working, deserving families. And a lot of that is thanks to a lot of you.

Our initial goal was to make a significant contribution to CPAH to help them provide fourteen homes. Many of you enabled us to achieve – and even exceed! – that target because we were actually able to help fund fifteen homes. We are pleased and proud to announce that thanks to your generosity, we have concluded this initial campaign and are launching our next!

Not only are we appreciative of your assistance, we are also quite certain that support from the Morgante Wilson Foundation has been influential in getting conversations started with developers. Case in point: Optima – the real estate development firm responsible for the Veranda, Wilmette’s newest multi-family apartment building on Green Bay Road. In 2020, Optima made a $1.6 million donation to the Village of Wilmette. The Village then tasked CPAH to procure fourteen homes as a first step toward creating an inventory of perpetually affordable housing within the Village.

Fast forward to today, and the Village of Wilmette has just approved another Optima development on Green Bay Road. Optima has pledged a donation to the village of $3.8 million. The Village has earmarked these funds to purchase affordable homes. Because we believe affordable housing in a safe and caring community is everyone’s right, the Morgante Wilson Foundation is gearing up to raise $400,000 to assist in those purchases. The total sum will enable the Village to more than double its number of permanently affordable homes.

Wilmette and its residents deserve kudos for their commitment to affordable housing and their support of CPAH, which they made abundantly clear at numerous Village board meetings. In addition, much of the money the Morgante Wilson Foundation has been able to raise these last four years has come from people just like you, making small (and sometimes large, thank you very much!) donations that literally add up to change lives.

Wilmette and its residents deserve kudos for their commitment to affordable housing and their support of CPAH, which they made abundantly clear at numerous Village board meetings. In addition, much of the money the Morgante Wilson Foundation has been able to raise these last four years has come from people just like you, making small (and sometimes large, thank you very much!) donations that literally add up to change lives.