DISRUPTING A CITY’S LEGACY OF SEGREGATION
Since joining the Trust last fall, I’ve had the opportunity to get to know my new home a little better, visiting neighborhoods throughout the region. Chicago is truly a welcoming city! Boasting a rich history, thriving economy, diverse and cultural scene, restaurants, architecture and more – there is a lot to take in and appreciate.
However, throughout my travels across the region, I’ve also become keenly aware of the deep inequities that exist here. Black and Latinx neighborhoods are clearly impacted from decades of disinvestment and lack of connection to the economic prosperity experienced in many parts of Chicago. Residents of these communities can see, but have not experienced, the benefits of the economic development that has led to Chicago’s status as a world-class city. I’ve seen, in many of these neighborhoods, people doing great work to create positive change in their home, on their block, in their community – but all too often, these efforts are happening in a silo and not being done at a scale to bring about sustained change. Systems, procedures and even laws that have been in place for far too long are working against these communities and are an obstacle to systemic change.
As a region, we will not continue to move forward unless people have equitable opportunities to realize their goals and plans in a way that supports a vibrant Chicago region.
This week, the Metropolitan Planning Council released Our Equitable Future: A Roadmap for the Chicago Region, identifying more than two dozen policies and interventions that can serve as a guide to help Chicago become a more equitable region. These include, but are not limited to: adoption of a racial equity framework, adopting an earned income tax credit, activities aimed at breaking the link between people earning lower incomes and incarceration, as well as a number of recommendations for affordable housing decisions and subsidies. A follow-up to MPC’s 2017 Cost of Segregation report, these recommendations will be implemented over the next two years with a goal of disrupting metropolitan Chicago’s legacy of segregation.
This goes beyond the patterns of where people live – to truly disrupt Chicago’s legacy of segregation, we need to focus on the racism and inequity that fueled and continues to fuel it. There are both economic and moral imperatives to this work, and philanthropy needs to play a major role here in securing the deep and long-term commitments that are critical to addressing racism and segregation in a significant and sustainable way. As community leaders, funders and policy-makers come together to determine solutions, we must consistently use equity as a key measure for decision-making and encourage solutions that create local ownership through collective action.
The Trust has seen positive outcomes when using equity as a lens on a smaller scale through our work with Elevated Chicago – an initiative that views transit hubs as optimal locations where arts and culture, urban design, social programming and development can converge in order to address the region’s deeply rooted racial disparities, with a focus on public health and climate resiliency outcomes. By bringing diverse perspectives to the table as equal partners, Elevated Chicago has helped to advance local community-owned development projects more quickly, attract new resources for local partners and promote the voices and stories of community-driven solutions and approaches.
We’ve also invested in Jobs to Move America – a national coalition that relies on collaboration to create a bigger impact. Their coalition unites more than 50 community, faith, labor and civil rights organizations to maximize the value of U.S. tax dollars spent on public infrastructure. As the result of more than three years of negotiations, policy and organizing work, a unique partnership between JMA, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, World Business Chicago, Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle, the Chicago Federation of Labor and the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership led to adoption of the most comprehensive transportation manufacturing procurement policy in the nation; a new factory on the City’s south side; the creation of hundreds of local construction, manufacturing and support jobs; as well as a Community Benefits Agreement that will ensure job access for historically underrepresented workers from the communities surrounding the factory.
These are just two of many examples that demonstrate how approaching this challenge through collaboration and an equitable lens can help communities begin to create and sustain change over a long period of time.
The Chicago Community Trust will continue to partner with MPC and other stakeholders on initiatives to combat the structures and systems that perpetuate segregation and racism across the city.
To learn more about these efforts and how to support this work, please contact Joanna Trotter, the Trust’s senior program officer for economic and community development.
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6 年I commend you for publishing and highlighting this problem. I have lived by this, "A problem without a solution is a complaint". You can go into any city in America, especially the large metros and the disparity is glaring. I spent 25 years in Southern California and 7 years in Tampa Bay. The collaborations and strategic mindsets that you mentioned are critical. We need more emphasis on providing opportunities and increasing the quality of life for impacted opportunities.
CFO and Member at Forbes Nonprofit Council
6 年If you leave this city and return, the segegation is almost unbearable. Segregation is the crux of the love hate I have with this wonderful jazz filled city. I am really tired of employment calls for the far south or west sides, as if I am not interested, qualified or desired in the Loop. We have people commuting from the suburbs to run hospitals and not for profits in low income areas, while qualified people who live in those areas are offered support service positions paying low income wages. Segregation is a giant stain on this city AND perhaps if oppotunity was available equally to residents of this city, crime might decline.
Chief Executive Officer at Innovative Relief and Development Solutions
6 年What you have Helene is an opportunity and the result of the collective thinking and practice of the city residents. Good luck on your efforts to change the status quo!
Organic Farmer/Retired
6 年Heavy lift. Affected communities have to do most of it. Community intolerance of job killing crime rate has to be first priority.
Distinguished Professor of Psychology, UCLA College of Letters and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Health Policy & Management, Fielding School of Public Health Special Advisor to the Chancellor
6 年Having grown up in Chicago and still viewing it as home, Helene touches upon one of the most significant domains of inequity in Chicago that contributes to both its downfall as well as its richness,? segregated neighborhoods.? Chicago is known worldwide for its concept of strong neighborhoods.? These neighborhoods are often a source of pride, serve as economic engines for immigrants and sustains culture and language for many white ethnic groups--Polish, Russians, Lithuanians, Irish, Danish and many others.?? Yet those communities of Black and Brown residents have suffered from some of the worst housing atrocities including public housing structures, 22 stories high that stretched from around 53rd and State Street to almost 22nd and State creating neighborhoods that could never sustain the needs of so many in poverty and without economic policies to provide adequate resources for local employment, schools, stores and other commerce.? Historically, the lack of affordable housing, the lack of opportunity to move created some of the worst neighborhoods nothing like that of other ethnic groups.? Yet as a child growing up I knew the physical dangers as a Black American of crossing into neighborhoods outside of Black and Brown communities.? While inequities in housing is one of the most significant factors that account for the troubled state of Black and Brown communities in Chicago it is when this is combined with the years of inequities of policing in Chicago creating histories of incarceration that have negatively impacted generations of Black and Latinx that make it near impossible for these groups to progress without major policy changes.? So I hope that while addressing neighborhood segregation the collaborative agencies will put into place a method for the collection of data and evaluation about policing efforts that can break the cycle of rates of incarceration in these neighborhoods.? Mayor Emanuel who visited UCLA and declared his interest in technology should embrace the use of technology in the collection, monitoring and evaluation of more effective policing.? Looking forward to reading the reports mentioned in the article!