Target Area
Target Area is a 1995-founded Chicago-based nonprofit social justice organization operating four community offices that deliver violence prevention, re-entry support, food assistance, housing, employment, legal, mental health, and youth development services to south-side and west-side Chicago residents.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1995
- HeadquartersChicago, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingServices
What Target Area does
Target Area (legally Target Area Development Corporation) is a Chicago-based nonprofit social justice organization founded in 1995 that delivers community-based services across four office locations in Chicago's south side and west side neighborhoods (main office on W 79th Street, Foster Park Office, West Englewood Office, and West Side Office on W Harrison Street). Its service portfolio spans housing assistance, employment assistance, food assistance, legal assistance, mental health support, victim advocacy, youth programs, afterschool programs, camps, business workshops, GED preparation, and re-entry support, delivered through a proprietary R.O.M.E. framework (Research, Reentry, Organizing, Outreach, Mentoring, Mental Health, Education, Entertainment, & Enterprise). The organization serves youth, justice-involved individuals, families experiencing economic hardship, victims of violence, and adult learners across Chicago, with reported measurable crime reduction in the Auburn Gresham community achieved in partnership with the Chicago Police Department.
The organization has no proprietary technology platform, app, API, or AI/ML capabilities disclosed; service delivery is community-based through physical offices, a grocery-store-style food pantry (Target Cares Community Market launched May 2025), mobile food distribution, community events, and partner referrals. The leadership team comprises Dr. MJ as COO/Internal Executive Director, Joshua Coakley as External Executive Director/VP of Funder & Partner Relations, LaTasha Jackson as Chief of Staff/Director of Mentoring, Dr. Seville Sawyer as Chief Programs Officer/Director of Research & Education, Brent Johnson as Director of Outreach/LIN Coordinator, and Princess Frazier as Finance Manager.
Revenue is generated through individual donations (with suggested giving amounts of $25, $50, $75, or $100 on one-time or monthly cadence), corporate sponsorships (Aetna, Impact Cultural Network, Teamwork Englewood), and presumed foundation and government grants; no funding rounds, institutional investors, parent company, or acquisition activity is disclosed. Strategic partnerships extend across educational (St. Augustine College), civic (Chicago Police Department, YWCA, Teamwork Englewood), commercial (BEBA Marketplace, Back to the Basics, Family Cares Mission), and venue (The AFC Center) partners, with marketing conducted through organic social channels (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, X, LinkedIn, TikTok), a website (targetarea.org), email newsletter, community events, and earned media.
Target Area firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Target Area
- Legal name
- Target Area Development Corporation
- Website
- https://targetarea.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1995
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- Target Area is a 1995-founded Chicago-based nonprofit social justice organization operating four community offices that deliver violence prevention, re-entry support, food assistance, housing, employment, legal, mental health, and youth development services to south-side and west-side Chicago residents.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Target Area industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Community Social Services
- NAICS
- Child and Youth Services (62411), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Community Housing Services (62422)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits (BPAGADAM)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Gun Violence Prevention & Public Safety Policy Advocacy (BPAGAFAM), Threat Assessment, Violence Prevention & Behavioral Intervention Support (EDAEACAH), Dropout Prevention, Alternative Education & Re-Engagement Nonprofits (BPAGADAL), Youth & Young Adult Workforce Programs (Out-of-School Youth) (EDAAAOAD)
Keywords
Where Target Area is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Chicago
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Target Area business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute to support violence prevention, youth mentoring, and mental health programs through the organization's donation platform.
- Corporate Sponsorships: Corporate partners such as Aetna and Impact Cultural Network sponsor specific events and programs like the back-to-school bookbag giveaway.
- Foundation and Government Grants: As a social justice organization with external executive director focused on funder relations, the organization likely receives grant funding from foundations and government sources.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Monthly | Free community services including food assistance, housing support, employment help, mental health services, youth programs, and violence intervention |
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels6 records
Target Area product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Target Area is a community-based nonprofit that delivers free violence prevention, re-entry support, food assistance, housing support, employment assistance, mental health services, legal aid, youth development, and adult education programs to residents of Chicago's south side, using its R.O.M.E. wrap-around framework and four physical office locations.
Product overview
Target Area (Target Area Development Corporation) is a social justice organization offering a comprehensive portfolio of community services and programs through its R.O.M.E. approach (Research, Reentry, Organizing, Outreach, Mentoring, Mental Health, Education, Entertainment, & Enterprise). The organization operates core services including Housing Assistance, Employment Assistance, Food Assistance, Legal Assistance, Mental Health Support, Youth Programs, Afterschool Programs, Camps, and Business Workshops. Key programs include the Target Cares Community Market (grocery store-style food pantry), Free GED Program (partnered with St. Augustine College), Next Up Leadership Program, Target Area Youth Zone Podcast, Job Readiness Summit, and various community events like Summer Peace Picnic, YOGA for Peace, and Peace Basketball Game. The organization also runs Research and Re-entry Programs focused on community violence intervention and reducing recidivism.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Housing Assistance
- Employment Assistance
- Target Cares Community Market (Food Pantry)
- Legal Assistance
- Resources & Support for Victims of Violence
- Mental Health Support
- Free GED Program
- Youth Programs
- Afterschool Programs
- Camps
- Business Workshops
- Re-entry Program
- Research Program
- Next Up Leadership Program
- Target Area Youth Zone Podcast
- Community Support & Advisory Council (CSAC) South Return
- Clothing Boutique
- Volunteer Program
Quantifiable outcome
- Over 3,000 lbs of food distributed to communities
- +5 more outcomes
Companies that use Target Area
Customer profileSegments5 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Target Area technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Target Area partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eleven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Back to the BasicscorePartnership with Back to the Basics for the August 2025 back-to-school bookbag giveaway event, distributing 250 bookbags to local students in partnership with Family Cares Mission.
- Family Cares MissioncoreCollaborated with Family Cares Mission for the August 2025 bookbag giveaway initiative supporting local students prepare for school.
- AetnacoreAetna served as a sponsor for the back-to-school bookbag giveaway event, helping support families and students in the community.
- Impact Cultural NetworkcoreImpact Cultural Network sponsored the August 2025 bookbag giveaway, contributing to the success of the back-to-school support initiative.
- Chicago Police DepartmentcorePartnership with Chicago Police Department contributing to significant crime reduction in the Auburn Gresham community. The collaboration demonstrates successful community-police relations and violence prevention outcomes.
- Teamwork EnglewoodcoreStrategic partnership making community events possible. Teamwork Englewood sponsors the Summer Peace Picnic (serving 200+ neighbors) and the Job Readiness Summit to help residents build skills and connect with employers.
- YWCAcoreJoint Community Circle event hosted with YWCA, bringing community members together for dialogue and engagement around mutual interests.
- BEBA MarketplaceminorBEBA Marketplace Community Activation Event - a family-friendly monthly meeting series where Black community members come together to connect, shop, solve problems, and create collective solutions.
- AFC CenterminorThe AFC Center serves as a venue location for BEBA Marketplace events and community activation activities.
- St. Augustine CollegecorePartnership with St. Augustine College to offer a free 10-week online GED program designed to support, encourage, and guide participants through educational advancement.
- The AFC CenterminorLocation partner for community events, providing space for the BEBA Marketplace and other community gatherings.
Scale indicators8 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Target Area competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Metropolitan Family Services: Long-standing Chicago human services nonprofit delivering case management, behavioral health, youth development, and workforce programming. Comparable scope of wraparound community services delivered across multiple Chicago neighborhood offices.
- YWCA Metropolitan Chicago: Regional chapter of national YWCA delivering racial justice, empowerment, and community-engagement programs across Chicago. Named Target Area partner for joint Community Circle events; overlapping community-dialogue and anti-violence programming.
- Safer Foundation: Chicago-based re-entry and recidivism-reduction nonprofit providing employment, education, and case-management to justice-involved individuals. Closely aligned with Target Area's Re-entry Program, offering wraparound services to the same returning-citizen population in Illinois.
- BEBA Marketplace: Chicago Black-owned community marketplace and activation series; named Target Area partner hosting monthly gatherings for Black community members. Operates in adjacent community-building and small-business activation space on Chicago's south side.
- Youth Guidance: Chicago-based youth-development organization running school-based, mentoring, and violence-prevention programs (e.g., Becoming a Man, Working on Womanhood) for at-risk youth. Direct overlap with Target Area's youth mentoring, afterschool, and camp offerings for the same population.
- Chicago CRED: Chicago-focused gun violence intervention and life-coaching program using street outreach and mentorship for at-risk youth and returning citizens. Targets the same south- and west-side neighborhoods as Target Area with overlapping violence-interruption, mentoring, and re-entry service lines.
- Teamwork Englewood: Neighborhood-level community engagement and violence-prevention organization on Chicago's south side; named Target Area partner and co-hosts Summer Peace Picnic and Job Readiness Summit. Operates in the same micro-geography with overlapping youth, employer-engagement, and community-event programming.
Others
- Greater Chicago Food Depository: Regional food bank sourcing and distributing food to a network of partner pantries across the Chicago metro area. Tangential peer: comparable food-security function to Target Area's Target Cares Community Market, but as a wholesale infrastructure provider serving many distribution sites, not a direct community-services operator.
Broad incumbents
- Heartland Alliance: Large Chicago-headquartered human-services organization delivering housing, healthcare, legal aid, and anti-violence programming across multiple states. Compares to Target Area on wraparound service breadth but at materially larger scale and longer geographic reach.
- Cure Violence Global: Internationally recognized violence-intervention model (formerly CeaseFire), training communities to deploy violence interrupters and change norms. Closely comparable to Target Area's violence-prevention outreach model; broader geographic footprint and stronger third-party evaluation infrastructure.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Target Area social profiles
Digital presenceTarget Area financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Target Area leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles6 records
Target Area funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Target Area M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Target Area
What does Target Area do?
Target Area is a community-based nonprofit that delivers free violence prevention, re-entry support, food assistance, housing support, employment assistance, mental health services, legal aid, youth development, and adult education programs to residents of Chicago's south side, using its R.O.M.E. wrap-around framework and four physical office locations.
Is Target Area a public or private company?
Target Area is a private company. It is classified as unknown and is currently operating.
When was Target Area founded?
Target Area was founded in 1995. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is Target Area based?
Target Area is headquartered in Chicago, United States, in the North America region.
How does Target Area make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Individual Donations are the primary driver. The others are corporate Sponsorships and foundation and Government Grants.
Who are Target Area's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Metropolitan Family Services, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, Safer Foundation, BEBA Marketplace, Youth Guidance, Chicago CRED and Teamwork Englewood. Greater Chicago Food Depository is listed as an others. Broad incumbents are Heartland Alliance and Cure Violence Global.
Does Target Area have an API?
No public API is recorded for Target Area.
What industry is Target Area in?
Target Area's product category is Community Social Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGADAM, Youth Justice, At-Risk Youth & Violence Prevention Nonprofits, with a secondary code of BPAGAFAM, Gun Violence Prevention & Public Safety Policy Advocacy. Its NAICS code is 62411 and its SIC code is 8300.