www.chicago.gov
July 6, 2023 (1 hour ago)
2023 Mayoral Transition Report
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/mayor/TransitionReport/TransitionReport.07.2023.pdf
Nearly 400 Chicagoans, representing a wealth of diverse perspectives, served on 11 transition committees that offered robust ideas and recommendations for Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration. They represent an unprecedented diversity of voices and perspectives—including diversity based on race, gender, generation, income level and neighborhood, and with representatives from business, civic, social justice and community-based organizations.
The final report is designed to serve as a blueprint, for building bridges between the city’s diverse communities and voices and between vision and action, so that every child, every family, and every neighborhood can experience the fully embodied Soul of Chicago that the Mayor invoked in his inauguration speech—so that all of our neighborhoods are safe, equitable and truly thriving.
Their recommendations are published in a transition report, which is available for viewing and download below.
Chicago Mayoral Transition Report.07.2023 Brandon Johnson on Scribd
A Spanish-language version will be available shortly.
Executive Summary: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s TransitionCommittee Report
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
We cannot build a more just future without acknowledging the injustices of the past. Therefore, we begin this report by recognizing and acknowledging that Chicago resides on the ancestral homelands of the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Miami, Ho-Chunk, Menominee, Sac, and Fox tribes. We also acknowledge the significant contributions of marginalized groups whose exploited labor played a crucial role in shaping our vibrant city. OVER VIEW, PROCESS, AND PURPOSE A diverse group of nearly 400 Chicagoans was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson to work together on a document to uplift the values and vision that will define his administration over the next four years. The group was organized into eleven issue-focused subcommittees and an overarching executive committee of fourteen. Mayor Brandon Johnson insisted that the committee and subcommittees reflect the breadth and diversity of the city. And they do. They include diversity based ongender, generation, and neighborhood, and include representatives from business, civic, and community-based organizations. Individuals, including those working in academia, philanthropy, trade, unions, health, government, faith communities, and public services, as well as those from disabled and LGBTQ communities, have been a part of this process by design. Chicagoans from various racial, ethnic, and socio-economic backgrounds were also at the table. Over the past several weeks the committees came together for a series of short intensive discussions about an array of pressing problems and issues facing our city. There were debates and differences of opinion, to be sure, but we have emerged with overall consensus on a collective vision and path toward a safer, more equitable, inclusive and just city. This path is grounded in, and builds upon, Mayor Johnson’s values and vision as articulated during his campaign for mayor. First and foremost, Chicago’s people are its greatest asset, this administration has rightly and boldly made a commitment to prioritize policies and programs that invest in people. That will occur on many fronts.
Chicago has 77 diverse and dynamic neighborhoods. They have existed in various states of disconnectedness, sometimes siloed, sometimes in tension, but always connected by the very land mass we call Chicago. The city is also a city of bridges, sturdy steel frames, strong cables, and even wooden planks carry us across the mighty Chicago River, connected waterways, lagoons, and ponds.
A city forged in fire and surrounded by a fierce and mighty body of water, bridges are a part of our architecture and our identity. Bridge- building was an important goal of this process, and an important metaphor for our work. But in order for the bridges to be sturdy, we must engage in hard conversations, truth-telling and repair. Chicago is indeed a great global city, but any great global city must take care of the neighborhoods that contribute to that greatness.
In each of the eleven subcommittee categories there are the recurring themes that reflect the complex and layered issues that confront our city. The themes represent both positives and negatives, both challenges and opportunities. They include issues of community abandonment that co-exist with inspiring narratives of community resilience; the need for greater transparency and accountability in government, and the unequal access to power and decision making across race, class, age, and zip code co- exists with a new commitment to inclusive co-governance. Race and economic disparity are two behemoth issues that transcend our city limits, but live here as well. The history of racism has a long and sordid past in Chicago and is still very real and present. It is important to note that it shows up differently and impacts communities differently and unevenly. Anti-Black racism has undergirded the neglect of neighborhoods and schools, the gentrification of Black neighborhoods and forced exodus of tens of thousands of Black people from the city over the past 20 years, and higher levels of violence, racial profiling, and harassment from law enforcement.
There are also a set of racial realities in Chicago beyond “Black and white.” The Latino/a/e/x community continues to experience racism in various forms based on race, immigration status, and language, which must be addressed. The city has a critical Indigenous community which has suffered historical marginalization, dispossession, and exclusion from power. The city must be deliberate and conscientious in correcting this trend and in addressing past wrongs, including in hiring, appointments, and decisions on public symbols. Diverse Asian communities and MENA (Middle East and North Africa) communities are growing in Chicago but have been under-represented in cultural, civic, and business leadership. In this area too, the city needs to make positive interventions to maximize inclusivity and equity and root out racism in all its forms. This, as several subcommittees point out, includes not just “let’s get along” programs or cosmetic diversity programs, but hard-hitting interventions that get at structural racism built into our institutions and hierarchies of power.
Another critical theme is “intersectionality,” a term borrowed from Black feminist writers and activists, but one that has wide resonance. What we mean by this is simply the interconnectedness of our various issues, issues, aspirations, and identities. None of us are one dimensional people, and our issues are not insular. For example, we cannot talk about a just housing policy without simultaneously talking about disability rights, economic justice, and race. They are not in competition with one another, they are all intimately related. The list goes on. An intersectional approach also means a coordinated approach. In order to achieve its goals, this administration will have to coordinate and work closely with state, federal and county partners.
There are many entry points to tackling Chicago’s many problems. We opted for eleven points of entry centered around sets of issues that have been of deep concern. These correlate to Mayor Johnson’s ambitious and robust campaign commitments. Even though we live in difficult times and the new administration has serious problems to address, there are also many creative solutions. We only need the resources and the will to implement them. With a mindset of abundance, a collective spirit, and a willingness to work through our differences, we can move our city toward a more just and sustainable future.
VALUES AND VISION
The subcommittees have wrestled with ways to build bridges using shared problems and collective desires as building material. The Arts and Culture subcommittee indicated that where they could not initially reach consensus, they “built new bridges and then covered them with art.” That was not always the outcome in our groups. These are hard questions and there are different perspectives all around. This was an important and generative process, even though there is much more work to do in the months and years ahead. We are determined, however, that this report will not collect dust on a shelf. We intend for it to be a living document and a North Star for the Johnson administration to work toward.
The vision and values articulated by the transition subcommittees are consistent with the vision and values uplifted by Mayor Johnson during his electoral campaign. The subcommittees advanced three large value sets that are consistent throughout the reports. The first value is the importance of the dual pillars of equity and inclusivity, and particularly racial justice. We are a big, beautifully eclectic, and disparate city. A celebration of diversity must be paired with an acknowledgement of Chicago’s gross and persistent inequalities, and with concrete mechanisms to undo them. Mayor Johnson has spoken about Chicago being a tale of two cities with extreme disparities in access to resources (including health care, housing, and education), life chances, exposure to violence, and overall quality of life. So, the goals of equity and inclusivity must be critical components of the building a just future for a city once referred to as the most segregated northern city in America, a city with a legacy of not only racial segregation but racial violence. We can learn from that legacy and build a better future.
The second value that emerged and re-emerged in our committee work is the importance of a co-governance practice grounded in participatory democracy. Co-governance means that those communities and organizations on the frontlines of various issues need to be engaged in the work of defining, deciding, and implementing solutions that will address the suffering and injustice that they experience. Chicago has the opportunity to be a real pioneer in this regard.
Finally, engagement and accountability are key. Each of the subcommittees remind us that all the good ideas in the world are worthless if we do not map and monitor implementation. This requires ongoing collaboration, co-creation, and engagement with communities. That is the core of co-governance, a principle to which our new mayor is deeply committed. It is not simply co-decision-making, but it is co-investment of time, ideas, energy, and heart.
THEMES, ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FROM THE SUBCOMMITTEES
Based on these values, we ask the question – what is our collective vision for this amazing city of ours? These highlights represent a small glimpse of what our subcommittees had to say in response.
Fully resourced neighborhood schools are needed to make good on the goal of Education as a fundamental right for all, from pre-K through college. This must center those that have been historically marginalized: disabled students, Black and Latino/ a/e/x students in underserved communities, undocumented and immigrant students, those for whom English is not their first language, LGBTQ students, unhoused students, alternative learners, and low-income students. Community colleges must be reimagined to be within reach of all our young people who want to attend. Policies must also honor the labor and dedication of educators at all levels. These were some of the highlights of a very detailed education report.
“Healthcare (including mental healthcare) for all” must be more than a slogan. It must become our reality. The Health and Human Services subcommittee insists we focus our new policies on marginalized populations who are often neglected, and that the overall challenge is to develop an “expansive integrated approach to problem solving public health issues,” with an emphasis on coordination with other agencies on illness and harm prevention, like Cook County health care system. The subcommittee report defines violence overall as a public health issue, which should be treated as such. The healing, care and service model of crisis intervention reflected in the “treatment not trauma” concept is wholly consistent with the priorities and emphasis of the subcommittee.
Housing should be a basic human right for all, and all Chicagoans should have safe, accessible, and stable shelter. That is a goal we have consensus on. The housing needs of Chicagoans exist on a spectrum. The City must create better pathways to secure and affordable homeownership, affordable rent, and policies that prevent the displacement of longtime residents for the sake of ‘progress’ and ‘development.’ We must ask what does fair and balanced development that benefits us all look like. Our unhoused neighbors, longtime and new arrivals, bear the brunt of the housing problem in the city and therefore must be our priority, their lives depend on it. We also seek to create conditions for those who have been pushed out of the city to feel able and welcome to return. The term, “Bring Chicago Home,” resonates in two ways: make ‘homes’ possible for all Chicagoans, and welcome back those who had to leave. The obstacles to realizing these goals are many, and are interwoven with other issues such as education, public safety, jobs, economic inequality, immigration status, and transportation.
In additional to a cleaner, safer, more reliable public transportation trains and busses, accessibility and affordability at all levels, and ample bike paths, an expansive view of Transportation must also factor in racism (such as racial profiling in traffic stops).
Access to clean, safe reliable transportation is related to economic security, economic vitality and an overall cleaner environment. The transportation subcommittee insisted the City “needs to work with community in planning transportation strategy.” Again, the importance of engagement and ongoing accountability were uplifted in the transportation subcommittee report as they were in all the other groups.
Our environmental justice subcommittee insists we take a holistic view of environmental issues including water safety, access to energy and safe housing, and issues of pollution and climate change. The issue of wealth disparity and racism resurface in this report as issues embedded in the way environmental issues have unfolded. Environmental racism is real. They invite us to see the rubric of a “just transition,” and the policy framework of a “Green New Deal” for Chicago as guiding principles for our efforts to realize a cleaner, healthier, more just, and sustainable city.
Workers’ Rights and Labor was the focus of another transition subcommittee. Workers’ rights, including the right to organize, and workplace protections are fundamental to a vibrant economy and to healthy communities. And again, consistent with the values and vision of this overall report, an emphasis was placed on vulnerable and often marginalized workers and the importance of meeting their needs. It also pushes us to look to the future in our policy plans in terms of guaranteeing future career paths for our youth, as well as formerly incarcerate returning citizens and immigrant, disabled and LGBTQ workers.
The Immigration subcommittee uplifted the city’s pledge to become a welcoming city and a sanctuary city, while underscoring the fact that we need to make those commitments more robust. At the same time immigrant and migrant communities need housing, healthcare, and jobs, those needs overlap with those of non-immigrant communities, therefore we need an inclusive and holistic approach in which no group feels left behind. Investment in immigrant communities is critical and respecting our immigrant neighborhoods as contributors and full-fledged stakeholders in the city’s future is essential. It is also important to note that Chicago’s immigrant communities are not a monolith. They are ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse, historically, and today. In addition to other needs, language access in all areas of city business is also key.
Public Safety (and police accountability) was the largest subcommittee and had one of the most challenging tasks. To realize a safer, more peaceful, and just community is the goal of public safety. It was one of the most intensely debated issues of the mayoral campaign in Chicago and is a challenge that faces many big cities throughout the country as guns proliferate and violence grows.
Three areas of consensus stand out in this subcommittee report.
1) The need to “chart a new path to public safety,” relying on community-based interventions, involving strategies to de-escalate conflicts to reduce harm, giving “communities most impacted a meaningful voice, and addressing the related issues of mental health, economic disparity and disparate economic opportunities including lack of full-time year-round youth jobs, and gun proliferation exacerbated by the gun industry.
2) We cannot escape history. The subcommittee stresses the need to repair harm caused by past police practices and ongoing violence in various forms. This would include following through on full funding and support of the Chicago Torture Memorial and survivor services, and resources for the police district councils to insure greater community oversight and police accountability.
3) As Mayor Johnson has reiterated many times, our best crime and harm reduction strategy is to invest in people. We need full and expanded domestic violence services, overall investments in communities most impacted by violence, more first responder wellness and support programs, and employment and support services to formerly incarcerated persons to decrease recidivism and better facilitate community re-entry. Finally, during his campaign Mayor Johnson pledged to end programs that have not proven effective at crime and harm reduction and those which promote biased surveillance and/or violate basic rights. The City should also proceed swiftly with the implementation of the Consent Decree and ensure an ongoing policy of maximum data transparency for the public with all matters to do with public safety and policing.
Each of the eight aforementioned subcommittees focused on a single set of issues as an entry point a larger set of intersecting issues. The overwhelming majority echo the need for greater transparency, community access to data, bringing marginal constituencies to the center of our vision for the future, and engaging community members and organizations in decision- making (co-governance) as a way of insuring greater accountability on policy matters that impact our lives.
The remaining three subcommittees cut across all the issue areas and highlight intersectionality as an anchoring approach to addressing social justice issues. The Human Rights, Equity, and Inclusion subcommittee calls for a deepening of our definition of “equity,” and reminds us of not only the ever-present legacy and reality of structural racism, including anti-Blackness, as other subcommittees do also, but underscoring the importance of strengthening services to, and inclusion of, the LGBTQ community and communities of people living with disabilities. The Economic Vitality and Equity subcommittee uplifts the importance of addressing wealth inequality as manifest in Mayor Johnson’s references to the ‘tale of two cities.’ They suggest both conventional and innovative community-centered strategies to generate revenue, allocate resources, build community wealth, and combat poverty and all its attendant ills. Economic vitality and equity are essential to realize the goals of all the other subcommittees.
Greater economic vitality will require revitalizing commercial corridors and galvanizing development and infrastructure improvements throughout our neighborhoods, with local advisory panels to make sure development projects meet community needs. A thriving downtown hub continues to be important, but one that feeds into neighborhood development and is accessible to all. And last, but not least, there is the work and provocations of our Arts and Culture subcommittee. Art holds up a mirror to show us who we are and provides a window to help us imagine a better future. It is also a site of bridge-building and individual and collective healing. So, our city must redouble its investment in the arts and protect and honor the labor of arts and creative workers, many of whom labor on the margins of economic security. Mayor Johnson has offered the biblical reflection that where one’s heart is, there is your treasure. Art is the heart of this city in many ways and artists are key to helping us grow, build, unite and thrive. We must give them the security and resources to continue.
LOOKING FORWARD : NEXT STEPS
Our executive committee and subcommittees were comprised of very busy people who took time out to prioritize deliberations about the future of Chicago with an earnest group of fellow residents, many of them strangers. We will honor that sacrifice by making sure the recommendations here are kept alive and made meaningful through ongoing policies and practices. Some suggestions that rose organically from this process include, but are not limited to, the following.
One suggestion is that a manageable, but representative, subgroup of our team of 400 be convened regularly (perhaps quarterly) to monitor and support progress toward the goals of the report. When appointed that group must accept and take seriously the responsibility of engaging not only their immediate community or organization but debriefing, reporting back and engaging with the broad ecosystem of community leaders and organizers in Chicago pushing for progressive change. Otherwise, there are individual representatives but again without full community input. Another suggestion is to schedule a one-year anniversary check-in to assess progress toward the recommendations in the report, and to have that event be public. A third suggestion is to build progress reports into ongoing, and widely publicized community engagement events and platforms.
Attaining all the goals in this report might not be possible in the first hundred days or even the first year, but part of co- governance is transparency. Therefore, metrics to determine whether goals were met, and if not, why not, is a critical part of self-assessment, growth, and collaboration.
Each subcommittee has offered a range of tiered recommendations and metrics for assessing progress. These recommendations are grounded in the expertise, experience and collective wisdom of hundreds of people who have invested decades of energy navigating, analyzing, and confronting these issues. We encourage the administration to build on and invest in these insights, and not only make specific staff assignments, but perhaps appoint a designated senior advisor responsible for this task only, to oversee implementation strategies, and to manage and monitor the specific recommendations.
The revered Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs once commented. “These are times that grow men and women’s souls.” She spoke of the daunting problems that faced her city at that time, but also of the enormous soul growing opportunities that existed for bold and innovative change. We are in such a moment in Chicago. It is a time to break with business as usual, to break long standing silences and to make good on long overdue promises. This transition report is not a list of demands, but a blueprint for building a bridge to a better future. We pledge to work shoulder to shoulder with the mayor and his team to build that bridge.
• Kennedy Bartley
• Jitu Brown
• Martin Cabrera
• Jim Connolly
• Brendan Deenihan
• Juan González
• Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch, Sr.
• Michelle Morales
• Dian Palmer
• Richard Price
• Delia Ramirez*
• Dr. Barbara Ransby*
• Charles Smith*
• Margaret Stender
• Emma Tai
*DESIGNATES CO-CHAIR
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/supp_info/transition-report.html
