New DuPage program would give county board members $100,000 each for grant awards

DuPage County Board members could soon look for ways to spend $100,000 each to benefit county residents.

A proposed “member initiative” program would allow board members to work with nonprofit groups or other government agencies to support programs or services benefiting county residents. Under the proposed program, each of the 18 board members would get $100,000 — or $300,000 for each of the six districts — to spend on capital improvement projects or programs benefiting their district or the entire county.

In September, DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy proposed a $635.8 million budget that includes money from the general fund for the new grant program. Conroy said the proposed program gives board members an opportunity to identify needs within their own district or team up with other districts to address larger needs.

“There’s a lot of needs out there,” Conroy said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

Under the proposed program, nonprofits and governmental agencies would work with board members to apply for the grant. Board members would then submit their final requests by Feb. 3, and the full board would vote on all of the awards in March.

Grant awardees would have to spend the grant money by the end of November 2025.

County officials noted the program is not a gift program. The grant awards must benefit county residents through the services provided or a specific capital improvement project. Officials added that any capital improvement projects should be shovel-ready. All projects must have a minimum budget of $5,000.

DuPage has other grant programs, including a “small entity” program that benefits smaller nonprofits. But officials said this is the first time in recent history the county has offered a “member initiative” program of this level.

Under the small entity grant, each of the six districts in the county has $175,000 to award grants to smaller nonprofit agencies.

While some county board members suggested pushing the submission date out a month, others argued against a delay, saying it could hurt some nonprofit groups interested in applying for the grant.

The county board will vote on its 2025 budget in November.

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