SHADOW REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES PERIODIC REPORT



LOCAL IMPLEMENTATION:

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Response to the Periodic Report of the United States to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination

February 2008

Prepared by:

Developing Government Accountability to the People (DGAP) network

SHADOW REPORT FROM COALITION OF CHICAGO COMMUNITY BASED ORGANIZATIONS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THE UNITED STATES PERIODIC REPORT

This shadow report was created by the following people and organizations and submitted on behalf of the Developing Government Accountability to the People (DGAP) network. The DGAP network comprises over 30 organizations working for government accountability and human rights in the Chicago region led by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Pilsen Alliance, and the Coalition to Protect Public Housing.

Submissions to this report were coordinated through the following organizations.

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law, Southside Tenants Organizing for Power, Coalition to Protect Public Housing, University of Chicago’s Students for Human Rights, Pilsen Alliance and the Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning of DePaul University.

The principal authors of this report are Nancy J. Bothne, Rian Wanstreet, Kelley Perin, Doug Schenkelberg, Wendy Pollack, Jane Bohman, and Leo Gartner.

Additional contributors include  Alysia Tate, Brian Gladstein, Dori Dinsmore, Larry Kennan, Jamie Kalven, Alejandra Ibañez, James Pfluecke, Don Washington, Jane

Ramsey, Tim Black, Nate Roth , Alex Orsini, Olivia Lopez, Aaron Trent, Rosa Newman, Cela Sutton, Rosa Newman, Cela Sutton, Saleema Nawab, Alex Orsini, Saleema Nawab, Olivia Lopez, Ioana Tchoukleva, Ann Opalka, Ebonee Stevenson, Terry

Keleher, and Lauren Hernandez.

Executive Summary

1. This report outlines the effects of racial discrimination on residents of the city of Chicago, paying particular attention to poverty, health, housing, education, transportation and criminal justice. It is written on behalf of a coalition of Chicago organizations seeking accountability from local government in ensuring the human rights of Chicago’s residents. This coalition asks the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to elicit from the United States government strategies that will encourage and compel the city of Chicago, as well as other local governments, to comply with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. It also offers direct recommendations for the city of Chicago.

2. The city of Chicago has obligations to fulfill the human rights of its residents, as well as to protect its people from the human rights abuses created by others.

3. Article 2 of the Convention calls upon state’s parties to review national and local policies which have the effect of creating or perpetuating racial discrimination. It also requires State Parties to end racial discrimination. Racial discrimination in the city of Chicago is perpetuated when the following disparities are allowed to continue, affecting human rights to a minimum standard of living. The failure to review the impact of local and state policies and regulations in perpetuating racial discrimination violates the rights of people of Chicago.

4. Article 5 of the Convention calls upon States Parties to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the rights of everyone. The rights enumerated in Article 5 are not exclusive. States parties are obliged to eliminate racial discrimination in the fulfillment of economic, social, cultural, political and civil rights.

Recommendations for compliance with human rights standards

5. This coalition respectfully requests that the Committee offer the following recommendations.

6. Call upon the United States government to encourage, facilitate, monitor and hold accountable the city of Chicago for protecting its residents from racial discrimination.

7. The United States government should oversee local compliance with human rights treaties. We are particularly interested in Chicago’s compliance.

8. The United States government can offer assistance to the city of Chicago in meeting treaty obligations, through prosecution of federal prosecution of police torture and ongoing impunity, and negotiation on rules governing city services.

9. The City of Chicago should adopt a city ordinance that anchors its policies and priorities to the fulfillment of Convention to Eliminate all forms of Racial Discrimination and develop robust mechanisms for monitoring the city's compliance.

The following information documents the pattern of racial discrimination in the City of Chicago that deprives people of their basic human rights.

Poverty in Chicago

10. Poverty alone does not measure well-being and the ability to sustain a life of value and dignity, but in Chicago, the lack of income precludes access to these basic capabilities. Extreme poverty is designated as 50% or less of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) as established by the United States federal government, which is currently an income of approximately $10,000 or less per year for a family of four. While slightly over one in five African Americans live in extreme poverty, only one in fifty-five White non-Hispanics in Illinois are living in extreme poverty[1]. Yet, Illinois has no comprehensive strategy to reduce this disparity and lift these families out of extreme poverty.

11. Minorities in Illinois are experiencing poverty at significantly higher rates than non-minority populations, perpetuating historical racial disparities in the United States. 44.3% of African American and 43.5% of Hispanic single female headed households with children are living in poverty compared to 28.9% of white non-Hispanic single female headed households with children[2]. See Attachments 1,2 and 3 for overview of Chicago poverty rates.

12. The poverty rate for children is equally as disparate. 8.6% of white non-Hispanic children live in poverty compared to 38.8% of African American and 23.0% of Hispanic children in Illinois[3].

13. The inequity gap among American seniors has grown over the past two decades. White non-Hispanic Illinois households have a median net worth that is nearly eleven times as great as the net worth of minority households. In Illinois 20.1% of African American and 17.3% of Hispanic seniors are living in poverty compared to 6.8% of white non-Hispanic seniors[4]. The disparity in the median net worth reflects the vulnerability of minorities to survive economic downturns and personal crisis.

14. Illinois poverty rate for people with disabilities varies depending on race. African Americans with disabilities experience poverty at a rate of 41.9% and Hispanics 30.7%, compared to white non-Hispanics 13.7%.

15. Poverty is currently defined as a family of four with an income of $20,000 a year or less. 21.2% of individuals in Chicago - 571,313 people - are living in poverty. In addition, 31.4% of Chicago children live in poverty. Each of these poverty rates vary widely between different populations in Chicago:[5]

|Race |Poverty Rate |Child Poverty Rate |

|White |9.7% |7.3% |

|African American |32.0% |45.6% |

|Hispanic |21.6% |29.1% |

|Asian |14.8% |16.7% |

16. Individuals that utilize the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program do not receive enough cash assistance to pull them above the poverty line. A family of three receiving the average monthly benefit from Illinois TANF receives cash assistance of only $3,036 a year. This is well below half the poverty line and insufficient in stabilizing a family as they work toward economic independence.[6] In Chicago, 6.2% of African Americans rely on cash public assistance as compared to only 1.1% of Whites.[7]

17. At the same time there is a decrease in the number of TANF recipients, food insecurity continues to increase for the working poor. 125,183 families who work year-round receive food stamps in Illinois.[8] Not all eligible for the Food Stamps program are receiving them. 74.5% of eligible Illinoisans are not receiving food stamps.[9] In Chicago, 26.5% of African Americans utilize foodstamps as compared to only 3.0% of Whites.[10]

18. Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is the main government program for people with disabilities with little or no income to meet basic needs. However, Illinois’ average annual SSI income is $7,803 –less than the poverty line for one person and not enough to meet basic needs.[11] Minorities with disabilities are disproportionately affected by poverty and SSI is not providing enough assistance to keep these individuals out of poverty and is therefore contributing to prolonged racial disparities. In Chicago, 9.8% of African Americans rely on SSI as their primary source of income compared to only 2.4% of Whites.[12]

Right to work

19. Movement into the labor force is not a guaranteed escape from poverty. 88,877 Illinoisans work full-time, year-round yet fall below the poverty line. 387,910 Illinoisans work part-time, year-round yet fall below the poverty line. 45.6% of people in poverty worked full-time and year-round, part-time, or part-year[13].

20. Wage disparities in Illinois persist. Full-time, year-round African American males earn 72 cents on the dollar of full-time, year-round white non-Hispanic males. Full-time, year-round Hispanic males earned only 56 cents on the dollar of full-time, year-round white non-Hispanic males. For every dollar a white non-Hispanic woman earned, an African American woman earned 90 cents and a Hispanic woman earned 67 cents[14].

Recommendations

21. Public benefits programs like the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, which provides cash assistance to needy families with dependent children, must measure their success in terms of alleviating and ending poverty, not caseload reduction. Both the State of Illinois (which administers most of the public benefits programs in Illinois) and the City of Chicago (where the majority of public benefits recipients, former recipients, and those low-income people eligible for but have never received public benefits, reside) must act to ensure that every person who is eligible for public benefits actually receive them in the amount and for the duration necessary, and provide the social services and work supports needed to increase individual capabilities.

22. As an initial step, the State and the City should adopt these four measures which are both meaningful and beneficial for all low-income people to measure the success of all public benefit programs:

(a) the percent of people in Illinois (and Chicago) at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines that receive all the public benefits they are eligible for;

(b) the percent of recipients, former recipients and those never receiving public benefits who are employed, their increases in income over time, and those earning at least 200 percent of the federal poverty level;

(c) the percent of applicants, recipients, former recipients and those never receiving benefits enrolled in education and training programs and those who have completed education and training programs which leads to a job with a median income of at least 200 percent of the federal poverty level; and

(d) the percent of applicants, recipients, former recipients, and those never receiving benefits engaged in barrier reduction services, such as domestic violence counseling, mental health counseling, treatment for drugs and alcohol abuse, and vocational rehabilitation services.

23. Once an assessment is made of the need, government must act to provide the education, training, barrier reduction and other necessary services.

24. Everyone, regardless of age or ability to work, must be guaranteed the means necessary to procure basic needs and services to ensure a decent standard of living by both the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago. The State and City must focus their efforts on gaining more in the way of public benefits and other programs and services for low-income people, and provide whatever the federal government fails to provide.

25. In addition to increasing funding for child care to provide critical supports for working parents and their children[15], child care must be assessed from a child well-being point of view, not only as a work support with eligibility connected to the employment of a parent or caregiver.

26. Increase family asset building by developing a state plan for universal children’s savings accounts, ensuring every child born in Illinois can save for a more secure financial future[16]. Incentives are also needed to encourage low-income workers, those eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as well as childless workers, to save a portion of their tax refund combined with public matching funds. This will help increase the financial stability of vulnerable populations who are working hard to make ends meet and get ahead[17].

27. Remove barriers to education and training for public benefits recipients and other low-income people. Given the strong link between educational attainment and earnings, low-income people must be afforded the opportunity to participate in education and training that will improve their earning capacity. This includes Adult Basic Education (ABE), English as a Second Language (ESL), high school and general education development (GED) certificate programs, vocational training and higher education. Not only are changes in federal and state public benefits programs laws and policies that currently discourage education and training needed, but also affirmative investments in policies and programs that move people out of poverty and into career path employment, such as Transitional Jobs, bridge programs, a guarantee of at least two years of post-secondary education or training for all state and city residents, financial aid policies that support working adults and other nontraditional students, and helping two- and four-year colleges play an increasing role in workforce development by promoting innovation in program content and delivery. Chicago is starting to do this last item and should be encouraged to continue.

28. Integrate economic development and workforce development not only to ensure Illinois and Chicago are economically competitive in a the global economy, but to produce skilled workers, in strong businesses, with good jobs that foster thriving communities. To do this the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago must ensure that people develop the skills businesses demand in a modern economy; create career paths and job opportunities for all working-age people, from the least skilled and most disadvantages to middle income workers whose skills have become obsolete. As a first step, government should set the example by creating a pipeline toward career path employment for low-income people for its own workforce and that of its contractors, setting minimum standards for wages, health coverage, and retirement security. Then, taking the lead in moving private employers forward to do the same. And third, ensure that the needs of low-income people are an integral part of workforce ad economic development plans at all levels of government.

Housing and homelessness in Chicago

29. For people of color living in poverty, Chicago’s housing market is becoming more inaccessible each day. Public housing is being eradicated, project-based Section 8 contracts in buildings that house thousands of people are set to expire, homelessness is on the rise, and condominium conversions have saturated the market, and private low income and affordable housing options have virtually disappeared.

30. In Chicago’s rapidly changing housing market, the people suffering most from a lack of affordable housing are those without any housing at all. By one estimate, over 90% of the homeless population are people of color (80% African-American, 9% Latino, 1% Native American, and 1% Asian.[18] Last year, the Chicago Public Schools counted 10,516 homeless students, a 17 percent increase over the previous year.[19] In a public school system where over 90% of the students are members of racial minorities, this is a racially significant figure.[20]

31. In FY 2005, the Chicago Department of Human Services served 18,873 people in homeless shelters. In that same year, they turned away 14,476 adults seeking emergency beds, 5,000 seeking safety in domestic-violence shelters, and 738 young people from youth sanctuaries.[21] According to one estimate, on a “typical night” the actual number of homeless individuals and families in Chicago hovers around 21,078. From October 1, 2005 through September 30, 2006, 73,656 Chicagoans found themselves without a place to sleep, including 26,413 children.[22]

32. Chicago’s 10-year Plan to End Homelessness, launched in 2003, severely underestimates the number of new permanent housing units needed to address homelessness and its disproportionate impacts on people of color living in Chicago because it only counts people currently in the shelter system, ignoring increasing numbers of people living in precarious situations. Since 2003, the City of Chicago has added only $3 million to the 10-year plan. This is about enough funding to create 18 new units of affordable housing for a city of nearly three million residents.[23] Additionally, the city plans to eliminate more than 1,200 shelter beds by 2012, representing a 32 percent reduction in the number of available beds. Without new prevention and permanent housing resources, the city’s meager measures will have a devastating effect on homeless Chicagoans of color and stand in the way of any significant accomplishment in eradicating homelessness.

33. Under its Plan for Transformation, the Chicago Housing Authority has sought to demolish the existing stock of affordable housing in favor of mixed-income development. 19,000 units of public housing have already been demolished without significant redevelopment. The destruction Chicago public housing is an issue of racial justice given that approximately 90% of public housing residents are African-American and 5.4% are Latino/a.[24]

34. The Plan for Transformation guaranteed the CHA $1.6 billion in federal funds to demolish 51 high-rise buildings over a 10-year period and to replace them with lower-density, mixed income housing. However, when completed, a total of only 25,000 units will have been built under the plan – in other words, there will be13,000 fewer affordable housing units than Chicago had when the plan was approved in 2000.[25] Moreover, the plan was based on the number of occupied units at the time and not the number of families in need. As a result, the number of units to be constructed under the CHA plan falls well short of the estimated need for 153,000 affordable housing units for people earning less than $20,000 a year established by a city-supported study completed before the plan was approved.[26]

35. Nearly six years into the plan, evidence confirms that many families remain without housing or have been re-segregated into very poor and underserved neighborhoods.[27] Many have moved into housing with lead contamination and other problems.[28]

36. Moreover, CHA qualifying policies have a disproportionate impact on people of color. Anyone found to be in default of a CHA lease, owing money to a utility company, or to have a conviction for a drug offense is prohibited from occupying new public housing developments or Section 8 homes. Upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2002, the latter ban is based on a national “one strike” policy that can result in eviction of entire families if one member or a visitor is convicted of a drug-related offense on CHA property.[29]

37. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, housing is affordable if you pay no more than 30 percent of your income for housing costs (rent or mortgage, taxes and utilities). This means that a person working at the federal minimum wage earning about $10,000 a year should pay no more than $250 a month for housing.

38. In Chicago, there are approximately 133,000 households (about 13 percent of households in the city) who can afford no more than $250 a month for housing every month, although only about 37,000 apartments rent for that price.[30] This means that the city is short by nearly 100,000 units affordable to poor households and only a third of families can find an affordable unit.

39. Official responses to the crisis fall short of helping poor people of color stay in Chicago. In Mayor Daley’s plan to set aside affordable units in new developments, the so-called “affordable” units would be open to families earning up to 100 percent of the Chicago Area Median Family Income (AMFI), currently $72,400. In the city’s ethnic neighborhoods, however, family income is considerably lower. In the predominantly African-American neighborhood of Englewood the family median income is $37,495. In North Lawndale it is a mere $34,902. Consequently, many of the units defined as “affordable” will be too expensive for minorities whose incomes are well below $72,400.

40. According to a recent study, only 20 percent of current and potential Chicago homeowners can afford the city’s median home price of about $250,000.[31] Data from the Cook County assessors’ office reveals that between 1984 and 2004, Chicago lost half of its inventory of apartment buildings with seven or more units. The same time period saw a 94 percent increase in the number of condominiums.[32] This may explain the significant numbers of foreclosures in many communities. In September 2006, Chicago’s foreclosure rate was more than twice the national average.[33] African-American mortgage-holders in Chicago are hardest hit with 40% receiving high cost and difficult to renegotiate loans, compared to only 10% among whites.[34]

41. Elevated lead levels can even be found in soil. According to a study by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the Chicago neighborhood of Pilsen, a decidedly Latino community, has been found to contain lead levels up to 2,500 parts per million. The legal limit is only 400 ppm[35].

42. With over 50% of Chicago buildings built before 1950, Chicago’s housing is three times older than that of the national average and thus much more likely to contain paint containing lead[36].

43. Communities nearer to highways and heavily-trafficked roads are subjected to a higher concentration of the toxin due to the past use of leaded gasoline.  This fuel produced by vehicles in the past presents a modern day problem, as much of the lead remains in the soil where it was deposited over the years.[37] In Chicago, public housing units heavily populated by African Americans were deliberately put up near the highways, exacerbating an already elevated problem for those communities[38].

44. Privation tends to put family homes farther from health facilities and closer to sources of air pollution.[39] According to the American Lung Association’s “State of the Air, 2007” Chicago ranked in the top 25 most particle and ozone polluted cities in the country.

45. The dramatic demolition of public housing in Chicago (roughly 95% of which is populated by African-Americans) has greatly increased particulate matter air pollution in communities of high-risk asthmatics.[40]  This increases the risk for surrounding neighborhoods, the great majority of which are low-income minorities.[41] 

Right to own property

46. The inequities in annual personal income extend to young Illinois adults. The average annual personal earnings for white non-Hispanic youth is $18,721, while the annual earnings for African American youth is $11,464 and $15,655 for Hispanic youth.[42]

47. People of color face disproportionate obstacles to securing the human right to housing due to economic conditions. In Illinois, African Americans and Latinos comprise 55.3% of people living below the poverty line, even though they make up only 28.9% of the general population.[43] The city of Chicago’s response to these challenges has been particularly inadequate in three broad areas: homelessness, public housing, and affordability.

48. Every Illinoisan should have an equal opportunity to establish economic security for their families through asset building. Yet the vast majority of housing and saving tax subsidies, which encourage and reward asset building, accrue to households making over $50,000 annually.[44] 14% of white Illinoisans are living in asset poverty compared to 38% of minority Illinoisans.[45]

Recommendations

49. Create affordable housing guidelines at levels determined by the neighborhood family median income (e.g., $37,495 in Englewood or $34,902 in North Lawndale) instead of the metropolitan median family income (currently $72,400).

50. Pass a set aside ordinance mandating 15 percent affordable housing be allocated at 80 percent or less of the neighborhood area median income to ensure that people with limited options can find housing.

51. Significantly increase the 2008 budget allocation for affordable, permanent housing. an increase to $50 million would make it possible for the city to build and preserve two to three times more units annually than it can now and would immediately increase funding for the Chicago Low-Income Housing Trust Fund to help lower-income renters.

52. Place a moratorium on further demolition of public housing until HUD develops a concrete plan to investigate and implement changes in CHA’s funding process.

53. Investigate the finances of the CHA’s Plan for Transformation.

54. Require that the CHA involve the appropriate resident councils in all decision-making processes in public housing developments, including management, rehab of units, relocation and development.

55. Place a moratorium on CHA relocation in all developments until public housing tenants and the appropriate resident councils are satisfied with the decision-making process.

56. Invest $3 million a year for homelessness prevention and $2 million a year for supportive housing services. Implement a policy that nobody can be turned away from a shelter.

Health Disparities in Chicago

57. In 2005, more than 26.3 percent of the city's residents are uninsured, a far higher percentage than any other area of the state of Illinois. Slightly more than 551,500 Chicagoans younger than 65 were without medical coverage, 1.1 million non-elderly city residents had employer-based insurance, while another 410,509 relied upon type of public coverage, such as Medicaid.[46] This crisis significantly affects poor residents and communities of color, which are often one and the same.

58. While needs are increasing, current budget crisis at Cook County's Bureau of Health Services promises to make it harder for uninsured Chicagoans to get medical care. Cook County is closing more than a dozen community-based health-care clinics and cutting services at Stroger, Provident and Oak Forest Hospitals. Those most affected by these cuts will be those without insurance - 11.7% of Hispanics, 27.4% of African Americans and 28.2% of Asian/Pacific Islanders/Native Americans.[47]

59. Asthma seems to be related to impoverishment, and the number of minority children living in poverty in Chicago far outstrips whites living in poverty. Low income households often lack health care, and their homes are subject to conditions that increase asthma rates. Cockroach infestation and dust mites are such conditions. Fifty-five percent of Chicago children with asthma are exposed to cockroach feces[48].

60. While city officials state that creating asthma prevention systems would be too costly,[49] in the half of Chicago heavily populated by low-income and minority populations only 30 to 50 percent of the children diagnosed with asthma were using anti-inflammatory medication to prevent asthma attacks, and fewer than 50 percent of the children saw a doctor twice a year. This refusal to fund preventative care has severe consequences for the city in general: in Chicago, asthma is the number one reason for excused school absences, affecting federal funding and the educational opportunities of many minority children[50].

61. Despite the institutionalized knowledge that asthma strikes African American children the hardest, no one in the area conducts ongoing surveillance of child asthma rates by race or ethnicity, instead relying upon income levels and coded language that only hints at the racial disparities. No standard exists in the State, City or County for data collection among local health departments. Many have no knowledge of what statistics are available from the other government entity.

62. The Englewood and Austin neighborhoods (98% and 90% African American, respectively) were rated as the two communities with the most lead poisoning in the nation, with the Chicago Department of Public Health reporting in 2002 that 22 percent of the children screened in those neighborhoods had elevated lead levels in their blood, compared with rates of 11 percent citywide and 6 percent statewide.[51], [52] Despite known elevated risk, only 44.7% of the children aged younger than 6 years in Englewood and 28.0% of the children in Austin were tested for blood lead during 2001.[53]

63. According to the Chicago Department of Public Health, more than 6,800 Chicago children under age 6 were diagnosed with lead poisoning in 2003. Activists say the presence of lead in a home is especially hard for families of undocumented immigrants because they are harder to track, but reported data indicates that the city’s South and West sides, heavily populated with minorities, are the most affected.

64. Diabetes is one of the leading causes of death in the city of Chicago, particularly for the African American population which has higher death rate (45 diabetes deaths for every 100,000 people ) than any other racial or ethnic group. They die at more than double the rate for whites (22.9 per 100,000), and at a rate higher than all other racial groups combined (18.6 per 100,000).[54]

65. Fifty percent of the people living in the state of Illinois with AIDS are African American (while only accounting for only 15.1% of the state's population). The AIDS rate among Chicago women has nearly tripled in the last ten years, with women of color bearing the brunt of that rise - 85% of all new female AIDS cases are found in minority[55].

66. In 2002, over 11% of Chicago children had elevated levels of lead, compared to the country’s rate of 2.2%.  Chicago contains 93% of Cook County’s lead-poisoned children, and it is estimated that over 88,000 homes in Chicago have unacceptable levels of lead.

67. While the city may contain 93% of Cook County's lead-affected children, only 74% of the county's money goes towards Chicago while adjoining suburbs such as Evanston, with less minorities and less lead problems, are obtaining enough funds to clean up properties and create prevention programs.[56]

68. In 2001, the city created a plan for lead hazard control, with $15 million allocated for this effort. By 2002, only 1/3 of the fund was spent and 186 properties cleaned.[57]

69. Nutrition and availability of healthy food (i.e. grocery stores) are important environmental factors to consider as an influence on general health for a total population. It has been noted that many low-income and minority neighborhoods have poorer quality and less grocery shopping choices. The Austin neighborhood, for example, is 73% African American, 19% white, and 6% Latino. This community of 114,000 residents has only one complete grocery store, a few smaller grocery stores, and a small convenience store. The residents, who spent $134 million on groceries in 2001, spent only $34 million of that in their own neighborhood, indicating a financial drain on the neighborhood and general access hardships.

Recommendations

70. Ensure that pregnant women cannot be evicted from their homes, either through CHA demolition or eviction.

71. Advocate for the reinstitution of Cook County Health Clinics.

72. Increase education about the dangers of lead poisoning, and actively seek out available funding for cleanup.

73. Increase access to preventive care measures to alleviate the asthma epidemic.

Education in Chicago

74. Despite a massive transformation plan ambitiously named Renaissance 2010, Chicago's achievement gap remains contrary to the national narrowing trend. Schools in minority neighborhoods have less access to honors and Advanced Placement classes, and sometimes the gap is dramatic – Harlan High School Academy (100% African American) has 2 AP classes, while Northside Prep (7% Black, 21% Hispanic) has 20.[58]

75. Chicago has a handful of high performing schools where the black student population has declined by 10 percent since 2000. Indeed, while African Americans account for over half of CPS students, they make up only 29 percent of those in competitive schools, down from 37 percent in 1995. Outside of one, all of these schools rely upon entrance exams and standardized test scores. This imbalance is perpetuated despite the fact that some of the children taking the entrance exams are coming from schools where less than 4 percent of the population exceeded state standards.[59]

76. Jones Prep School is the only top school to look beyond scores, actively seeking out students from low-income minority neighborhoods. Jones had to rely upon a desegregation consent decree to accomplish this, however, an action which could only legally occur when whites make up 35 percent of the student body. The decree allows schools to pass over white applicants and admit lower-scoring minority students as soon as whites make up 35 percent of the student body.

77. Jones' attempt to keep itself racially integrated and income-diverse is in jeopardy however – the United States Supreme Court has rejected the principle of voluntary integration in other states, prompting CPS to (unsuccessfully, for now) initiate attempts to get the Chicago decree lifted. Jones' Principal is looking into the possibility of recruitment based on geography rather than race, a de facto integration technique in Chicago.[60]

78. Chicago's general public schools have made little progress on the most recent national math and reading exams, leaving the city near the bottom when compared with other large urban areas, according to data released November 17, 2007. Chicago 4th graders had the worst showing, scoring below most other large cities . Chicago 8th graders did only a bit better. Over 50% of the Chicago Public School System is African American.[61]

79. Between 1995 and 2000, five Chicago Housing Authority developments used federal funds to demolish and redevelop existing housing. Most of the 5,669 elementary school children who left their schools during that time moved to schools in mostly poor, black neighborhoods, further segregating an already divided school system.[62]

80. The Chicago Public School system created the Renaissance 2010 Plan with the intended mission of closing 60 public schools to create smaller, elite contract or charter schools. The vast majority are in African-American neighborhoods that serve very-low-income students.[63]

81. Schools in low-income neighborhoods often provide not only academic learning, but also early or preschool education; recreational, social and health services; after-school care; and two meals a day.[64] They also provided a unique opportunity for minorities to get involved in local politics, through the highly successful form of democratic local school governance of Local School Councils, introduced in 1998.[65]

82. Local School Councils (LSCs) are empowered to make critical decisions about spending, hiring of principals, and other policy matters affecting their schools. Most critically, they have afforded major opportunities for African American and Latino grassroots leaders to become elected public officials in their own communities. About 1,800 African American and 700 Latino parents and community residents serve on Chicago's LSCs, and these members represent the vast majority of elected officials of color in Illinois.[66]

83. Local School Council powers have been systematically stripped over the past decade. New charter and contract schools, so integral to Renaissance 2010, are not under Local School Council provision.[67]

84. On an average day in Chicago, more than 266 students are suspended, and in the 2003 school year (most recent data available), more than 29,700 kids were sent home from school[68].

85. 3,000 children were expelled from school in the 2002-2003 school year, ending each a child's access to public education. In that same 2002-2003 year, 8,539 youths were arrested at school, almost 10 percent of them 12 and under.[69] In that same school year, African-American students constituted 51 percent of total enrollment, but 76 percent of suspensions and nearly 78 percent of expulsions. Similarly, between 1999 and 2003, African-American students made up 84 percent of all suspended-elementary school students. Unsurprisingly, African-American students also represent 77 percent of arrests.

86. A hidden population affected by this Zero Tolerance policy is special needs students: nearly three-quarters of all students referred for criminal prosecutions are classified with some type of learning or behavioral disability. They are, in other words, being criminally charged for behavior arising from a disability.[70]

87. Children with disabilities face many particular challenges. In 1999, CPS settled a lawsuit brought by parents and advocates who charged that the district was illegally segregating students with disabilities. Since then, the district has made improvements, but still lags behind other districts in Illinois. Last year, 30 percent of special education students spent the majority of their time outside of a regular classroom, compared with only 18 percent elsewhere across the state.[71]

Recommendations

88. Implement a moratorium on all school closings under the Renaissance 2010 plan until further evaluation of the effects can be completed.

89. Redistribute discretionary Title I money to benefit the most disadvantaged students in the city.

90. Increase funding for Local School Councils (LSC), and increase their power to have more control on budgets and principal accountability including hiring and firing.

91. Develop a plan with LSCs, policy groups and community organizations to increase graduation rates.

92. Support equal per-pupil state funding.

93. End the Zero Tolerance policy, and create alternative ways for children who have been expelled to graduate.

Criminal Justice

94. Chicago’s criminal justice system continues to plague efforts to secure respect for fundamental human rights in Chicago. Long-observed patterns of police abuse continue unabated and lack of accountability within police structures have led to widespread distrust of the justice system in minority communities. Sharp disparities in service and inadequate efforts to establish better community relations reinforce the distressing reality of unequal treatment.

95. The Chicago Police Department is notorious for lack of transparency, openness or willingness to share information, particularly as it relates to instances of serious misconduct by its officers. Faced with a “blue wall of silence” in which “fellow officers [turn] a blind eye to corruption and later [resist] cooperating with criminal investigations of their colleagues,” community organizers and academics often resort to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filings to have any chance of getting the information they seek.[72]

96. Between 2001 and 2005, the city paid nearly $100 million to settle 864 civil lawsuits that alleged abuses such as excessive force, false arrest and improper searches by Chicago police officers.[73] Most abuses are committed by a small percentage of officers, many of them members of gang tactical outfits, such as the Special Operations Unit, which works in low-income African-American and Latino neighborhoods.

97. Although the department denies fostering a culture that tolerates corruption, little is done to discipline the less than 5 percent of officers who are responsible for nearly 50 percent of all complaints from civilians. During the last five years, 662 officers – in a police force of roughly 13,500 – received 11 or more complaints. From 2002 to 2004, the city investigated 18,077 misconduct allegations of which 44 percent name those same 662 officers.[74] Statistics provided by the city in a federal civil-rights suit show that the 10,150 complaints of police abuse in the categories of excessive force, illegal arrest, illegal searches, and racial and sexual abuse from 2002 to 2004 resulted in only 18 officers receiving any “meaningful” discipline – a suspension of seven or more days.[75]

98. The Mandel Legal Clinic found that “the odds are two in a thousand that a Chicago police officer will receive any meaningful discipline as a result of being charged with abusing a civilian.”[76] For police brutality complaints filed by citizens between 2002 and 2004, the change of meaningful discipline for a police brutality complaint was less and 3 in 1,000.[77] A brutality complaint is 94 percent less likely to be sustained in Chicago than the nation as a whole.[78]

99. The Chicago Police Department fails to discipline officers who have repeatedly been accused of misconduct and brutality. According to a report issued by the Mandel Legal Aid Clinic of the University of Chicago, many of the identified as repeated objects of complaints operated in low-income minority areas of the city. Specifically, the report found that, “[a]buse is concentrated among certain officers who work together in particular units or teams and who police certain parts of the City—generally lower-income African-American and Latino Communities.[79]

100. The police’s lack of transparency has kept the ugliest chapter in Chicago police history from being closed. Between 1972 and 1991, police commander Jon Burge tortured approximately 135 African-American men and women in the Area 2 police facility on Chicago’s South Side. A four-year investigation by city-appointed special prosecutors, released in 2006 and costing $7 million dollars to Chicago taxpayers, acknowledged that torture had occurred but made no indictments. Recently, a report from Northwestern University Law School called the prosecutors’ efforts “hopelessly flawed.”[80]

101. Beyond the issue of serious misconduct, there continues to be widespread perception of racial discrimination and abuse in minority communities. In 2001, 26 percent of African Americans reported having been stopped by Chicago police that year, compared with 20 percent of Latinos and 16 percent of whites. Reportedly, 64 percent of black males are stopped in the course of a year.[81] In spite of this, racial profiling data, collected since 2004 as mandated by the state, cannot be used as a “disciplinary tool,” even when they supply evidence of racial bias.[82]

102. A two-tiered system of police service also is evident. Examining 911 emergency response time, a WMAQ Channel 5 special report aired in November 2006 detailed how getting prompt service depends on where you live. The story involved a radio disposition called a RAP – radio assignments pending, a list of crimes in progress waiting for police to arrive. The report illustrated that South and West side communities that are heavily African American and Latino have grossly more RAPs than white areas.[83]

103. The Chicago Alternative Policy Strategy[84] (CAPS) has failed to provide effective community involvement for all of Chicago’s communities of color. Latinos’ views of the police remain negative, usually having to do with lack of trust, perceived police prejudice or racism, and communication problems. For instance, CAPS meetings, billed as Spanish-speaking, often have no Spanish-speaking officers or bilingual translators.[85] One police sergeant noted, “[Latinos] don’t expect any great service from us, and a lot of officers are, frankly, a little racist… there are many officers that, once they have a negative stereotype formed, they treat all people with the same attitude.” He said this is the case in both the Latino and African-American communities.[86]

104. Although both crime and police misbehavior ultimately affect the entire city, albeit in different ways, perhaps those who suffer most are minority children who grow up in perpetual fear, even at home. Youngsters who witness violence (reportedly about 30 percent of children in Chicago) have a more difficult time concentrating in school, and have lower reading and IQ scores. Neighborhoods with high levels of violence have difficulty retaining teachers, businesses and quality housing.

105. Despite solid evidence of rampant police torture and abuse, none of the parties involved has been prosecuted or punished. Impunity is allowed to prevail as the Chicago Police Department, Cook County State’s Attorney, and the United States Attorney’s office have failed to pursue legal accountability for perpetrators of human rights violations. Without immediate and substantive action by local government, the failures of the criminal justice system are only worsening, to the detriment of Chicago’s racial minorities.

106. Cook County, where Chicago is located, accounts for 90 percent of all active death penalty cases in Illinois.[87] Of the inmates sent to Illinois’ death row from Cook County, 60% are African American; 20% are Hispanic and 20% are White. This is in contrast to the population of Cook County, where 26% are African American, 23% are Hispanic, and 45% are White.[88]

107. Likewise, the racial breakdown of defendants facing the death penalty in Cook County as of December, 2006:[89] indicates the following racial disparities. 74% are African American; 15% are Hispanic and 10% are White.

108. As of 2005, Illinois had the following prison incarceration rates:[90]

|Race |Percentage Of |Percentage Of |

| |Overall Population |Prison Population |

|White |60% |28% |

|African American |12% |60% |

|Hispanic |13% |11% |

109. The rate of incarceration per 100,000 citizens of Illinois in jails and prisons was as follows.[91]

|Race |Number Incarcerated Per 100,000 Citizens |

|White |223 |

|African American |2020 |

|Hispanic |415 |

Recommendations

110. Encourage the State of Illinois to follow the recommendations made by the Governor’s Commission on Capital Punishment to reduce arbitrariness in the application of capital punishment.

111. Force the Cook County States’ Attorney to make public the process it uses to analyze potential capital cases and determine whether it will seek the death penalty.

112. Allow civilians to submit anonymous complaints, treat civilian complainants appropriately and eliminate lengthy and duplicative steps in the disciplinary process.

113. Institute whistle-blower immunity for police officers who provide information about other officers’ wrongdoing, and provide protection from reprisals.

114. Require the CPD to produce printed annual reports and make monthly statistics available to allow sufficient public monitoring and reasonable analysis of the disciplinary system.

115. Provide more funds to alternative crime prevention programs.

116. Install personnel performance software that will enable the Police Department to identify rogue police officers and hold them accountable.

117. Expand the state’s ex-offender hiring program and create incentives for Chicago businesses to initiate a similar program.

Transportation in Chicago

118. Northeastern Illinois is home to the nation’s second largest transit system. About 130,000 riders use the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Pace, and Metra everyday, a testament to the value of transit in moving the region’s goods, services and people where they need to go.[92] Yet prioritization of public transportation projects and services benefit mostly white-collar workers and tourists, while most Chicago area residents, particularly in communities of color, are not seeing their needs adequately addressed. See Attachment 4 for racial disparities in access to transportation.

119. The regional transit system of Chicago is being eroded by continuation of a 1983 state funding formula that bases funding levels on geographic boundaries and retail spending, ignoring transit ridership and other criteria related to transit performance and needs. As a result of this formula, Chicago’s people of color experience substantial service cutbacks and fare increases.

120. A $482 million renovation of the Douglas Branch Blue Line was completed in 2005 to improve access from the primarily Latino and Black communities of the Southside of Chicago (Pilsen, Little Village, and North Lawndale) to the University of Illinois medical district, stops northwest of the Loop (where jobs are available), and O’Hare airport. In June 2006 late-night and weekend services on the Douglas Blue Line, which serves predominately low- to moderate-income African Americans and Latino populations, were cut back. Trains are coming less often (every 30 minutes) as compared to the frequency of trains prior to the re-establishment of services in January 2006.

121. In August 2005, President Bush signed into law a transportation bill allocating $590 million to fund capital-improvement projects including expansion of the Red Line to 130th Street to serve the predominantly Black communities of Chicago’s South Side (Roseland, Pullman, and Riverside). The CTA has deemed the expansion of the Red Line through Chicago’s South Side African American communities as a low priority.

122. The CTA favored plan, dubbed the Circle Line, was proposed in 2002. The Circle Line would be a single new 6.6 mile rapid-transit circle around the growing city center. There is growing concern that the new route would redefine downtown and displace people of color living in lower income neighborhoods.

123. Another controversial CTA capital priority is the plan to crate a Super Station for the city-owned “Block 37” located in downtown Chicago. The plan calls for express business-class service costing riders up to $13 to Midway Airport and $17 to O’Hare Airport. Plans for this high-end train service demonstrates the CTA’s willingness to serve business and tourists while ignoring the needs of low income and people of color needing increased capital improvements, affordable fares and bus transfers, and more reliable and equitable train and bus service throughout the system.

124. In early 2004 the CTA began raising fares for the first time in a decade and riders currently pay up to double the price of the pre-2004 fare increases. Additionally, in 2006 the CTA penalized cash riders by increasing their fares from to $2 while “Chicago Card” riders were still only paying $1.75. Further, cash riders no longer could get a bus transfer while card riders can have a transfer for only $.25. These changes discriminate against low income users, affecting proportionally people of color, as a credit card and savings must be available to utilize the transit card system.

125. In some cases, the CTA map itself tells a tale of inequality (Attachment 4). The Red Line in many ways is Chicago’s backbone, connecting the North Side to the South Side, but there are yawning gaps between the north and south in terms of CTA service. The predominately African America South Side has 10 stops, averaging 9.2 blocks apart. The North Side, in comparison, has 21 stops that average 3.1 blocks apart. But it is those who live on Chicago's west side who experience the longest gaps between stations on the Green Line – 1.5 miles from Clinton to Ashland and another 1.5 miles from Ashland to California.[93]

Recommendations

126. Establish a third-party commission to pursue equity in service for all communities, and create a Transportation Equity Plan to be fully implemented by 2015. 

127. Secure state funds to supplement the $590 million already allocated by the federal government to expand the Red Line to 130th Street. 

128. Halt all plans to create a Circle Line until the needs of underserved communities are met first, and re-evaluate the Circle Line plan to optimize the addition of the system to benefit those who need it most. 

129. Modify the Block 37 plan to ensure that it improves transportation and transfer opportunities for all Chicago residents. 

130. Reinstate the CTA transfer system that was in place prior to 2006 for all buses and trains. 

131. Bar further fare increases except for inflation increases.

Attachment 1: Snap-shot of Poverty in Illinois and Chicago

|Illinois Poverty Rates: 2006 |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |8.9% |

|African American |28.0% |

|Hispanic |17.6% |

|White Non-Hispanic |7.7% |

|Chicago Child Poverty Rates: 2006 |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |16.7% |

|African American |45.6% |

|Hispanic |29.1% |

|White Non-Hispanic |7.3% |

|Illinois Child Poverty Rates: 2006 |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |8.3% |

|African American |38.8% |

|Hispanic |23.0% |

|White Non-Hispanic |8.6% |

|Chicago Poverty Rates: 2006 |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |14.8% |

|African American |32.0% |

|Hispanic |21.6% |

|White Non-Hispanic |9.7% |

|Illinois Poverty Rates for People with Disabilities: 2006 |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |N/A |

|African American |41.9% |

|Hispanic |30.7% |

|White Non-Hispanic |13.7% |

|Rates of Illinoisans Living at 200% of the Federal Poverty Line* |

|Group |Poverty Rate |

|Asian |15.4% |

|African American |51.6% |

|Hispanic |48.5% |

|White Non-Hispanic |19.3% |

Attachment 2

Attachment 3

Attachment 4

-----------------------

[1] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: A Primer. Chicago: Author

[2] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). Freedom from Poverty in America: A National Agenda. Chicago: Author

[3] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). Freedom from Poverty in America: A National Agenda. Chicago: Author

[4] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. Calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[5] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. Calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[6] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. Chicago: Author.

[7] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. Calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[8] Theodore, N., & Doussard, M. (2006, September 5). The hidden public cost of low-wage work in Illinois. Chicago & Berkeley, CA: Center for Urban Economic Development & Center for Labor Education and Research.

[9] Albelda, R., Boushey, H., Chimienti, E., Ray, R., & Zipperer, B. (2007, October). Bridging the gaps: A picture of how work supports work in ten states. Washington DC & Boston: Center for Economic and Policy Research & Center for Social Policy.

[10] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. Calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[11] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[12] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. Calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[13] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance

[14] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance

[15] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). Freedom from Poverty in America: A National Agenda. Chicago: Author.

[16] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. Chicago: Author.

[17] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). Freedom from Poverty in America: A National Agenda. Chicago: Author

[18] “Hunger and Homelessness Survey.” United States Conference of Mayors, December 2006, available at

[19] Heybach, Laurene. “New measure would reduce homelessness.” Chicago Sun-Times. December 8, 2006.

[20] “CPS at a Glance.” Chicago Public Schools. Available at

[21] “Unaddressed: Why Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness will not work.” Coalition for the Homeless August 2006, available at .

[22] “How Many People Are Homeless in Chicago?” Coalition for the Homeless December 2006. Available at .

[23] “Unaddressed: Why Chicago’s 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness will not work.” Coalition for the Homeless August 2006, available at .

[24] Grogan, Paul S. and Tony Psoscio “The Fall (and Rise) of Public Housing” Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. September 2000.

[25] “Chicago Housig Authority: Plan for Transformation.” Chicago Housing Authority. January 6, 2000.

[26] “For Rent: Housing Options in the Chicago Region.” Great Cities Institute University of Illinois at Chicago

1999.

[27] “Chicago Housing Authority and Housing Advocates Settle Lawsuit over Resident Relocation.” Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. Available at . Based on Wallace v. Chicago Housing Authority, No. 03 C 491 (N.D. III.) settled June 2, 2005.

[28] Olivo, Antonio, John Bebow and Darnell Little. “Landlords fail to fix poor’s housing woes.” Chicago Tribune. May 22, 2005.

[29] Lawrence, Curtis, “CHA Tenants May Get Boot.” Chicago Sun-Times. March 27. 2002.

[30] 2005 American Community Survey, U.S. Census

[31] “Affordable Housing Outlook and Conditions: An Early Warning for Intervention.” UIC Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement March 2006. Available at .

[32] Chicago Rehab Network. Information available at

[33] Yue, Lorene. “Chicago foreclosure rate twice national average.” Crain’s Chicago Business. October 24, 2006.

[34] Hughes, Zondra. “Middle Class and Homeless – Unlikely Families Face Foreclosure.” Chicago Defender. May 21, 2007. Available at

[35] NBC5 Chicago, “High Lead Levels Found In Pilsen Neighborhood.” September 9, 2005

[36] Banchero, Stephanie. "Public School Scores Stagnant on National Test." Chicago Tribune.  November 15, 2007.

[37] “Lead Poisoning.” National Safety Council. Available at library/facts/lead.html

[38] Dueholm, Ben, Josh Segal. “Housing: A Short History.” Available at .

[39] “Chicago’s Lawsuit Over Lead Paint Dismissed.” Associated Press, October 9, 2003.

[40] Grogan, Paul S. and Tony Proscio. “The Fall (and Rise) of Public Housing.” Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University. September 2000.

[41] Dorevitch, Demitras S., VW Persky, S Erdal, L Conroy, T Schoonover, PA Scheff “Demolition of High-Rise Public Housing Increases Particulate Matter Air Pollution in Communities of High-Risk Asthmatics.” Journal of Air and Waste Management Association. July 2006

[42] U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey 2005-2007 Annual Social and Economic Supplement, Microdata, calculation by the Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[43] “2007 Report on Illinois Poverty.” Mid-American Institute on Poverty, available at

[44] Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights. (2007). 2007 Report on Illinois Poverty. Chicago: Author.

[45] U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 2006. calculation conducted by Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[46] Graham, Judith “More lack health policies.” Chicago Tribune. April 29, 2007.

[47] Graham, Judith "More lack health policies." Chicago Tribune. April 29, 2007.

[48] Dumke, Mike "What Is Asthma."  The Chicago Reporter. September 2004.

[49] Dumke, Mike "What Is Asthma."  The Chicago Reporter. September 2004.

[50] Mobile C.A.R.E. Foundation: Comprehensive Care for Chicagoland's Children with Asthma. "Facts About

Asthma in Chicago." 3chicago.html.

[51] U.S. Census Bureau, 2000 Decennial Census, calculation conducted by the Mid-America Institute on Poverty of Heartland Alliance.

[52] Karp, Sarah. “Left out: Chicago's still struggling to fix the homes of lead-poisoned children, while other communities get the job done.” The Chicago Reporter. September 2004.

[53] Dignam, Timothy A., Anne Evens, Eduard Eduardo, Shokufeh M. Ramirez, Kathleen L. Caldwell, Nikki Kilpatrick, Gary P. Noonan, W. Dana Flanders, Pamela A. Meyer, and Michael A. McGeehin, “High-Intensity Targeted Screening for Elevated Blook Levels Among Children in 2 Inner-City Chicago Communities.” American Journal of Public Health. November 2004.

[54] Pickett, Debra. "City's racial gap detailed in black and white." Chicago Sun-Times. Nov 14, 2003.

[55] The Human Relations Foundation/Jane Addams Policy Initiative with the Center for Urban Research and Learning, Loyola University Chicago “Minding the Gap: An Assessment of Racial Disparity in Metropolitan Chicago.” November 2003.

[56] Karp, Sarah. "The Parent Trap." Chicago Reporter. September 2004.

[57] Karp, Sarah. "Left out: Chicago's still struggling to fix the homes of lead-poisoned children, while other communities get the job done." The Chicago Reporter. September 2004.

[58] Karp, Sarah. "Top School Less Diverse." Catalyst-Chicago. November 2007.

[59] Karp, Sarah. "Top School Less Diverse." Catalyst-Chicago. November 2007.

[60] Karp, Sarah. “Top School Less Diverse.” Catalyst-Chicago. November 2007.

[61] Banchero, Stephanie. "Public School Scores Stagnant on National Test." Chicago Tribune.  November 15, 2007.

[62] "Segregated Schooling" The Chicago Reporter.  April 2001.

[63] Paulson, Amanda. “Chicago hope: ‘maybe this will work.’” The Christian Science Monitor. September 21, 2004.

[64] Einhorn, Catrin. “New law givers boost to community schools.” Catalyst-Chicago. September 2002.

[65] Fung, Archon, Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. “Street Level Democracy: Pragmatic Popular Sovereignty in Chicago Schools and Policing.” Prepared for American Political Science Association Annual Meeting. September 2-5, 1999, available at papers/SLD99.pdf.

[66] Moore, Donald R. and Gail Merritt. “Chicago's Local School Councils: what the research says.” Designs for Change. January 2002.

[67] Duffrin, Elizabeth. “Where councils lost ground.” Catalyst-Chicago. March 2004.

[68] “Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track.” Advancement Project in partnership with Padres and Jovenes Unidos, Southwest Youth Collaborative, Children & Family Justice Center of Northwestern Law School of Law March 2005, available at reports/FINALOLrep.pdf.

[69] "Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track." Advancement Project in partnership with Padres and Jovenes Unidos, Southwest Youth Collaborative, Children & Family Justice Center of Northwestern Law School of Law March 2005, available at reports/FINALOLrep.pdf.

[70] "Education on Lockdown: The Schoolhouse to Jailhouse Track." Advancement Project in partnership with Padres and Jovenes Unidos, Southwest Youth Collaborative, Children & Family Justice Center of Northwestern Law School of Law March 2005, available at reports/FINALOLrep.pdf.

[71] Karp, Sarah. “Leaving Special Ed Kids Behind.” Catalyst-Chicago. October 2006.

[72] Heinzmann, David, and Todd Lightly. “Report: bad cops protected.” Chicago Tribune. November 29, 2006.

[73] Marin, Carol. “Chicago paying millions to settle police cases.” NBC 5 posted Feb 23, 2006, updated Feb 27, 2006. Available

[74] Kalven, Jamie. “Cops with criminal tendencies operate with impunity.” Chicago Sun-Times. September 16, 2006.

[75] Kalven, Jamie. “Cops with criminal tendencies operate with impunity.” Chicago Sun-Times. September 16, 2006.

[76] Futterman, Craig B., Mather, H. Melissa, and Miles, Melanie, “The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Department’s Broken System.” November 15, 2007.

[77] Futterman, Craig B., Mather, H. Melissa, and Miles, Melanie, “The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Department’s Broken System.” November 15, 2007.

[78] Futterman, Craig B., Mather, H. Melissa, and Miles, Melanie, “The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Department’s Broken System,” November 15, 2007.

[79] Futterman, Craig B., Mather, H. Melissa, and Miles, Melanie, “The Use of Statistical Evidence to Address Police Supervisory and Disciplinary Practices: The Chicago Police Department’s Broken System,” November 15, 2007.

[80] “The Failures of Special Prosecutors Edward J. Egan and Robert D. Boyle To Fairly Investigate Police Torture in Chicago.” Macarthur Justice Center, Northwestern University Law School. Available at

[81] Skogan, Wesley G., Dennis P. Rosenbaum, Susan M. Hartnett, Jill DuBois, Lisa Graziano, Cody Stephens, Chelsea Brown, Ashleigh Campi, Jarrett Feinstein, So Young Kim, Dukhong Kim, Sarah Rosenbaum, Steven Ryan, Barbara Seiden, and Institute for Police Research, Northwestern University & University of Illinois-Chicago. "CLEAR and I-CLEAR: A status report on New Information technology and its impact on management, the organization and crime-fighting strategies." Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium February 2005, available at .

[82] “Chicago won’t use race profiling to discipline.” Crime Control Digest. January 23, 2004.

[83] “Does where you live affect police response time?” NBC 5 WMAQ Special Report. Aired November 29, 2006. Available at .

[84] The Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy is the police’s primary means of reaching out to communities. Initiated in 1993, the plan was to establish teams of officers with relatively long-term assignments in each of the city’s 279 districts. Teams were expected to spend more time responding to calls and working on prevention projects in assigned areas.

[85] “Mixed Review for Chicago’s Community Policing.” Institute for Policy Research News, Northwestern University. Summer 1999. Available at

[86] "Mixed Review for Chicago's Community Policing." Institute for Policy Research News, Northwestern University. Summer 1999. Available at

[87] Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty 2007 Annual Report.

[88] Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau. (2007, September). Annual Estimates of the Population. Retrieved

September 26, 2007, from

[89] Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty 2007 Annual Report.

[90] Illinois Department of Corrections

[91] Bureau of Justice Statistics, Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 2005.

[92] Illinois PIRG. (2007). Finding Solutions to Fund Transit: Combining Accountability & New Resources for World-Class Public Transportation. Chicago: Author.

[93] Developing Government Accountability to the People. (2006). DGAP Report Card for Chicago 2006: Transportation. Chicago: Author.

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