OUR APPROACH
vision
How do we close the racial disparities of Chicago?
We believe that those who are most impacted by policy decisions should be in the room, at the table, and active participants in determining their future.
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We work with community members and government partners across Chicago to facilitate Racial Equity Impact Assessments, as a tool and process that brings people together and helps us find better answers to our most challenging policy problems.
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We are able to do this thanks to our Fellows, who come from government, research, storytelling, organizing, advocacy, and philanthropic organizations. CUE Fellows learn how to use a Racial Equity Impact Assessment, then lead racial equity reforms in their organizations and to support communities across Chicago.
Strategic Plan
Transforming Chicagoans' Relationship to power
We codified our vision for the future through five strategic directions and implementation plans, set to begin in 2024 and span the next five years. This collaborative effort involved more than 50 members of our community, board, staff, Fellows, and partners. Together, we engaged in a co-designing process facilitated by Seva Gandhi from Collaborative Connections to identify and define these strategic directions.
Read our full strategic plan here. ​​​​
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​​We’re working to transform Chicagoans’ relationship to power
By activating a constellation of racial justice advocates inside and outside civic systems, changing how they work and who they work for, we’re drawing a collective blueprint of the future we deserve and building the foundations of a new world.
Expanding Our Capacity and Nurturing Our Well-being
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Staff & Board Development, including recruiting, hiring, and onboarding new executive director.
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Recruiting, hiring, and onboarding additional staff to support communications, policy,
and organizing.
Telling Our Story to Grow Our Impact
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Building a Foundation for Expanded Narrative Work
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Collecting stories of impact for the CUE Storybank
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Sharing CUE Network Projects to seed wide impact through our annual report and Equity Playbook.
Catalyzing and Aligning the CUE Network
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Connecting Fellows via an online database and website updates
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Developing a shared analysis through various community convenings and cafe-style discussions.
Redesigning and Supporting Civic Institutions for Public Accountability
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Co-designing a vision of structural change for government, philanthropy, research, and media through civic strategy tables.
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Defining co-governance through public engagement series and a co-governance committee in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice
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Implementing models of co-governance with city departments.
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Supporting Fellows’ projects to redesign civic institutions.​​​​
Tools
Let's find better answers.
The art of making policy is in finding solutions to community problems. Yet so many of our solutions come with new harmful effects. Too often, that harm is repeated on communities of color. ​To interrupt this cycle, over 125 government bodies across 30 states have adopted a Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA). This tool weighs the benefits and burdens of a new idea to protect against new harm.
We believe that Chicago must adopt this tool to promote racial equity in the decisions leaders make every day.
who inspires uS
Seattle Lighting Case Study
Minneapolis Schools Case Study
Learn more
Curious to dig deeper into this work?
Check out the great work of these national organizations.
