


Education cannot be the “great equalizer” when unaffordable housing is an insurmountable barrier
The Chicago region’s homes are under water and it is not due to the annual flooding from the Des Plaines River. Chicago ranks 2nd in the nation for the most homes that owe more money than they’re worth. And the majority of those homes are on the South Side.
The Wrong Side of Ashland: Skinner, Dett and Brown
Investment is flowing rapidly and visibly into the areas surrounding downtown Chicago. But many neighborhoods, some often just outside these zones of wealthy development, continue to shed jobs and public investment in a cycle of neglect. Chicago Public Schools had an...Environmental Racism Puts Our Students at Risk
The appalling filth and environmental hazards in our schools are driven by decades of neglect, particularly in schools that serve Black and Brown children. But Chicago’s working class communities of color have been dogged by generations of environmental racism, as well.
Chicago’s Amazon Bid: More at Stake Than Just Tax Dollars
Amazon’s logistics footprint expands with the help of billions in tax dollars, but scholars find their promise of job growth empty.

Segregationist Policies’ Impact in CPS
Recently, CPS CEO Claypool invoked the racist policies of the south to draw attention to inequitable state funding in Illinois. However, he refuses to acknowledge the ways Jim Crow policies have shaped school opportunity in Chicago, both in the past, and under his...
What we’re reading this week: June 8th
This week, we’re reading about Illinois’ regressive school funding formula, how Chicago communities are fighting deportation, and how CPS policies have worked to segregate Black students as well as Black teachers. A Just Chicago will have more on the new...
What we’re reading this week: May 18th
This week, we’re reading about the mechanisms that drive Chicago’s continued inequities in a few different sectors. First up, some new information about how CPD uses computers and profiling to track folks without arrest records. Then, a look at how private...
What we’re reading this week: April 13th
This week, we’re looking at how our brothers and sisters are organizing in charter schools, the struggle to find safe, affordable housing, and the ongoing need to fight segregation in our schools. Charter school union fight heats up : Charter schools are...