Advancing Healing and Justice through Organizing

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OUR RECENT IMPACTS

DAQUAN FORD: WE YOUTHS NEED CHICAGO LEADERS TO ENGAGE, LISTEN AND ACT

In an Op-ed recently published by the Chicago Tribune, Communities United youth leader Daquan Ford discusses the urgency for mental health support for youth in Chicago. He says that elected officials need to involve young people in the conversations. They need to invest in youth-led initiatives to address the gaps in mental health resources, rather than make unilateral decisions that implement punitive and policing policies. When utilizing healing-centered approaches led by those most impacted by the issues, the vision for a healing-centered city becomes clearer.

RECENT MEDIA COVERAGE

WTTW

Development of CPS Safety Plan Can Serve as Model for Other School Districts: Study

Nearly two years after Chicago Public Schools removed police officers from campuses and implemented a new holistic approach to school safety, officials believe that shift could serve as a replicable model for school districts across the country.

Those findings come from a new study from the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research and the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital, which examined the CPS process for removing school resource officers in 2024 and replacing them with a new Whole School Safety plan.

THE TRIIBE

Organizers and civil rights advocates voice opposition to proposed change to Chicago’s youth curfew policy

The Black and brown youth are members of Communities United (CU), an intergenerational racial justice organization that develops grassroots leaders to build collective power to achieve racial justice and transformative social change. The youth organizers, along with ACLU Illinois, provided public comment during today’s public safety committee meeting and said that the updated proposal doesn’t address the root causes of violence and urged alders and city leaders to invest in alternative spaces for and programming for young people.

BLOCK CLUB CHICAGO

Most Chicago 911 Calls Don’t Need Urgent Police Response, Report Shows

In response to the release of the Alternatives to Policing: How U.S. Cities Are Advancing Community Safety by Taking a Multidisciplinary Approach report, Communities United Leader and Board President Roxanne Smith courageously spoke with Block Club Chicago Reporter Rachel Hinton to share about her family’s experience with generational violence at the hands of the Chicago Police Department and the road toward policing alternatives in Chicago.