Heartland Human Care Services, Inc.

Heartland Human Care Services, Inc., a Chicago-based tax-exempt nonprofit, operates as a prime recipient of federal grants delivering homeless services, veteran family supportive services, refugee resettlement and case management, and human trafficking victim assistance across the Midwest and subordinate locations. The organization holds 165 total federal awards spanning prime grants (68%), grant sub-awards (32%), and cooperative agreements, with $1.22 billion in combined obligated dollars and recurring annual funding across four principal federal agencies.

Heartland's capability footprint centers on four core service lines grounded in HUD Continuum of Care (CoC) Program grants and parallel federal grant vehicles. Under HUD's CoC Program (CFDA 14.267), Heartland acts as a recurring direct recipient establishing and operating permanent housing, rapid rehousing, transitional housing, supportive services only, and Homeless Management Information Systems projects across Cook, Will, DuPage, and Lake Counties in Illinois. Recent CoC awards include a $4.353 million project grant (June 1, 2026, through May 31, 2027) and a $3.659 million award (August 1, 2026, through July 31, 2027) for homeless services delivery in Chicago. Under the Department of Veterans Affairs' Supportive Services for Veteran Families Program (CFDA 64.033), Heartland delivers outreach, case management, VA benefits assistance, and temporary financial assistance to very low-income veteran families; a $4.74 million SSVF grant (September 30, 2025, through September 30, 2026) and a $901,500 prior award demonstrate sustained veteran housing support. Heartland also operates as a sub-recipient of the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement on residential shelter and transitional foster care services for unaccompanied children (cooperative agreement running through September 30, 2026) and home study and post-release services for unaccompanied children (cooperative agreement through December 31, 2026), serving vulnerable populations across Illinois. Additionally, Heartland operates as a subcontracted agency under HHS's National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program (awarded October 1, 2022, through September 30, 2026) delivering trauma-informed housing assistance, case management, and support services to foreign-born and domestic survivors of trafficking across the Chicago metropolitan area.

Customer concentration is extreme and HUD-anchored. The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development accounts for 77 awards (the majority of the 88% coverage across top customers), reflecting recurring annual CoC project grants as Heartland's primary funding stream. The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families holds 41 combined awards (21 and 20 in the source split), and the Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary for Health accounts for 18 awards, principally SSVF grants. The Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Victims of Crime contributes 9 awards, centered on human trafficking victim assistance. Across 11 distinct customer agencies, HUD dominates both award count and dollar magnitude.

Activity has trended downward in recent years — 14 awards in 2022 grew to a peak of 28 in 2023, then declined to 26 in 2024, 11 in 2025, and 7 in 2026 year-to-date — but this reflects the cadence of CoC Program annual recompetes and one-year project grant cycles rather than operational contraction. Only four awards carry ultimate completion dates within the next twenty-four months, indicating limited near-term recompete cliff exposure relative to the organization's $1.22 billion obligated base.

Heartland's sub-award footprint (32% of recent work) flows through state and local intermediaries. Sub-awards funnel through the Illinois Department of Human Services (Social Services Block Grant passthrough), the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI) on refugee resettlement, family literacy, trafficking victim assistance, and economic self-sufficiency programs, the Illinois State Board of Education (school meal programs), the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (human trafficking victim services), and the City of Chicago (HIV/AIDS housing needs assessment grants). This sub-award network reflects Heartland's role as both a direct federal recipient and a service-delivery partner within state and local grant administration structures.

Human trafficking victim assistance and refugee resettlement constitute secondary but decision-relevant capability lines. Under HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement cooperative agreements, Heartland provides home study assessments, post-release case management, shelter services, and post-release stabilization support for unaccompanied children and refugee families. The organization's human trafficking work—operating residential emergency and transitional housing units and comprehensive case management—positions it as a specialized provider in a federally designated victim-service niche, with awards running through September 2026.

Heartland does not hold any federal contracts or GWACs; all 165 awards are federal grants and cooperative agreements. The organization operates exclusively as a grant recipient, never appearing as a prime contractor or contractor subcontractor in the source data.