Attorneys at Chicago Lawyers’ Committee this week helped submit a legal challenge on behalf of the Pembroke Environmental Justice Coalition (PEJC), a grassroots coalition trying to halt plans for a new gas pipeline in the historic Black farming community of Pembroke Township, Illinois.
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While the April 2021 updated ordinance strengthened several key parts of the ARO, there’s still a lot of work to be done to ensure that Chicagoans of color have access to these affordable units.
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After more than three years of grassroots community organizing, state legislators this month passed the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, one of the most ambitious and equitable clean energy laws in the nation.
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Developed by community groups and co-sponsored by 14 City Council members, the Water for All ordinance would make sure every Chicago household can access safe and affordable water.
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Last week, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee joined seven other civil rights and fair housing advocacy groups to file an amicus brief in federal district court defending legal protections for Black, Latinx, and other communities of color who seek housing.
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Last Friday, Illinois legislators voted to pass HB 1443, a bill that aims to make the cannabis industry fairer and more accessible to Black and Latinx communities who’ve been disproportionately harmed by the War on Drugs.
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Segregation in Chicago is getting worse, not better. If Fair Housing Month means celebrating the passage of the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act, it should also mean being honest about the persistent barriers that have undermined the law’s intended outcome.
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This April, we’ll celebrate the organizers and advocates who fight housing discrimination and shine a light on the work still needed to desegregate our city and country.
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More than a year into cannabis legalization in Illinois, profits from the booming industry (including a staggering $1 billion in sales) have flowed to white-owned companies while Black and Latinx businesses remain shut out of the industry.
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In order to better support growers, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights has partnered with Advocates for Urban Agriculture to create a survey for urban growers to share their most pressing needs.
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Representing the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, Yates French went to court three times over the course of three years in order to show that the small nonprofit had neither misspent nor improperly withheld $17,000 in government grants.
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“It’s unprecedented for community groups to have a win like this,” says attorney Allegra Fischer. “This is a change in power dynamics.”
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We hear and support the calls from local community groups for a reduction in funding for the Chicago Police Department and for a strategic reinvestment of these funds to directly benefit Black and Brown neighborhoods through health and educational programs, economic development, restorative justice, and community violence prevention.
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The president’s recent dog whistle, coming on the heels of the new HUD rule, reveals the administration’s clear intent: to enable and legally sanction racial segregation and to undo decades of work to create healthy and inclusive communities.
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“By signing the CBA, Zen Leaf has taken concrete steps to provide economic opportunity to those who’ve been most harmed by the War on Drugs” said Doug Kelly, President of the Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition.
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As protests continue for a third day following the horrific murder of George Floyd by officers of the Minnesota Police department, we want to make it clear: we stand in solidarity with communities of color and protesters who are saying enough is enough.
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Data shows that about 70 percent of coronavirus deaths have been Black people, in a city where Black people make up only 30 percent of the population. There are two tragedies found in that horrifying statistic, if we are willing to face them.
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Read our statement on the 9/16/19 Lincoln Yards TIF ruling.
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The newest proposed HUD rule will have devastating consequences for immigrants who rely on public housing.
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