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Successful Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI) programs bring economic opportunity, security, and stimulation to an impacted population. Our partners, Equity and Transformation, have championed this success with their local GBI pilot program. The Chicago Future Fund is a GBI pilot program that offers $500 a month for 18 months without restrictions on how the money gets spent. While qualifications for GBI programs vary, the Chicago Future Fund requires applicants to be formerly incarcerated people aged 18-35 making less than $12,000 annually. The program's core objective is to alleviate the burdens associated with life after incarceration and enhance outcomes for formerly incarcerated individuals. In their first round, the Chicago Future Fund had 30 participants from West Garfield Park. In their Evaluation Report, EAT finds that the monetary compensation provided a vital stabilizing force in participants' lives. EAT found that participants were eager to use the funds for housing and living expenses, and it reduced overall engagement with the informal economy as 44% of participants reported a decline in participation in activities related to the informal economy. The report suggests that securing employment could be improved if GBI programs were linked to workforce development programs that could bolster participants’ job searches. As BlackRoots Alliance continues to support the safety and liberation of Black people, initiatives like GBI programs are important to build economic, social, and racial justice. The Chicago Future Fund Evaluation Report also outlines the impact on participants' interaction with police, mental health, and well-being. Conclusively, EAT finds that GBI programs should be an economic priority to address the hardships of directly impacted communities. To read more insights about the Chicago Future Fund and recommendations for future GBI programming, check out their round 1 evaluation report: Add Hashtags: #EquityandTransformation #guaranteedbasicincome https://acrobat.adobe.com/id/urn:aaid:sc:US:fdfd0ddd-439b-4787-9780-31d2a88e9b10

Reparations are defined as the making of amends for a wrong that one has done by paying money to or otherwise helping those who have been wronged and are given the horrifically oppressed groups of people by their oppressive nations, states, institutions, and or complicit corporations. In layman's terms, reparations are when the government tries to make up for the wrongs of the past to make it better in the present. In this case, we seek holistic reparations for Black people here in Chicago because of the impact of slavery, Jim Crow, anti-Blackness, and mass incarceration. BlackRoots Alliance is working to hold lawmakers in Illinois accountable to Black folks. How we win this is through strength in numbers. We’re having community conversations all over the city to make sure Chicago becomes the next place to offer reparations to all Black people. We’re also going block by block to speak with Black Chicagoans at their doorstep about reparations and what that looks like for them. Our goal is to take all of this feedback from our community canvassing and conversations and then turn that into policy language. We want to create a petition that folks can sign, we can get placed on the local ballot, and Black folks can vote for! Our reparations policy will reflect what community members want because they provide the foundation for it. Black folks are winning reparations right in our backyard. Cities like Evanston are making sure that some Black people get reparations for legacies of slavery and anti-Blackness. Even in Chicago, survivors of police torture were also awarded reparations. In California, a reparations task force spent two years conducting research to release a report of recommendations to Black residents for the harm caused by slavery. Those findings were handed over to elected officials and a ballot initiative was born. The strategy used in California to get reparations on the ballot can work in Chicago if all Black folks work together and force the issue because we deserve reparations too. Engaging with other dedicated Black folks is crucial, if we plan to ever make reparations a reality in our generation. BlackRoots Alliance wants to make sure all Black Chicagoans are a part of the conversation about what reparations can look like for us. Ask yourself these two questions and let us know what you have to say. Do you think Black folks deserve reparations? Who do you think is responsible for the payment of reparations to Black folks?  We look forward to hearing from you at our next community conversation on December 6th or by contacting our Network Organizer, Matthew Swalek .

In May of 2019, BlackRoots Alliance formally incorporated with a unique mission: a commitment to the safety and liberation of all Black people, promoting Black leadership and Black-centered community transformation as we work collectively to build socioeconomic power, heal our communities, and fundamentally transform our society. Over the years we have helped support and amplify the work of our founding partners, EAT, SOUL, and GGE, and expanded our network to support the leadership development and capacity of Black Live Matter Chicago, Umedics, and most recently ChiCityFoods , Earthseed Black Family Archive Project and the Black Cornerstones Project . These organizations share our vision for reimagining what is possible for Black folks as we tackle pressing issues facing our communities. Their work is the bridge between the way the world is and the way the world should be, and we are thrilled to champion and promote their Black leadership. Our Seeding the Future (STF) program has supported 23 grassroots leaders from partnering organizations in their projects within their communities. We offered leadership development, networking opportunities, and over $100,000 in financial support so leaders could organize within their neighborhoods. The STF program brings people together to explore new opportunities for their neighborhoods and sow seeds that result in increased community, civic engagement, and an expansive ability to dialogue about social issues and politics. We are about to launch our next cohort, so be on the lookout for more information soon. We are realizing Black-centered community transformation and collective work towards transforming society by facilitating door-to-door community conversations and expanding public discourse. For years we have been talking to community members about issues like racial equity in cannabis legalization, public health and safety, and reparations for chattel slavery. Our conversations have focused on uncovering and healing internalized anti-Blackness while finding the similar threads between our individual stories and weaving those threads into a civic engagement that provides concrete, on-the-ground assessments of what is needed for Black people to thrive. We are excited to continue the conversation with you. Join us from 1-3 pm CST on Saturday, June 3 to participate in our next community conversation on reparations hosted at the Chatham-Avalon Church at 8601 S State Street. We’ll continue to unpack these two main questions: what would reparations look like for you and how reparations could impact your family? You can register NOW for this free event here ! For any questions or more information please contact our Director of Organizing, Lorne Runnels, at lorne@blackrootsalliance.org.

In order for us to build a better future, we have to be willing to let go of the practices and traditions that are not in alignment with the values of the future we’re trying to build. While we’re still unlearning traditional “work” culture, we’re implementing methods that proactively address burnout. Burning out has no value in the future that we want to build. Time is the most valuable currency, and we’re building a work culture where we spend our time currency on soul expansion, creative exploration, and never on capitalist exploitation. This is paramount for minority health, especially in organizing spaces. For us, liberation that’s equitable and transformative requires an intentional reimagining of how the self-determination of Black health impacts our community’s needs. Umedics is a great example of creating pathways to transformative relationships to help, through their asthma and seizure support training, their new partnership with the South Side Birth Center to support the health of people who are giving birth, as well as their gunshot wound training that can respond to community health during a crisis. EAT also takes time to center Black health through its yoga series. Grow Greater Englewood is changing the way Black communities relate to health by reigniting our connection to the land that grows our food, and creating thriving marketplaces where local people can get access to fresh fruits and vegetables. Everything that works requires rest; it’s part of the process of “working”. Even your phone needs to be turned off and restarted. For this reason, BlackRoots Alliance fosters a culture where folks can be dedicated to the mission without the need to glorify the culture of overworking. For those of us in Chicago, we hope you take the changing weather as a time to enjoy your rest outdoors, and for everyone to take the change in seasons as a signal to listen to the wisdom of the planet, and honor your own cycles of rest, renewal, and rebirth.  How are you protecting or improving your health? How do you know when you need to rest? Let us know in the comments below.

We’ve approached the end of another Black History Month where America attempted to recognize all things Black for 28 days. Here at BlackRoots Alliance, we know that Black history is made 365 days a year. Black history is American History, our ancestors built the foundation of this country and we, as their descendants, are committed to improving it! Our partners are changing the course of history. Equity and Transformation (EAT) launched the Chicago Futures Fund , a guaranteed income program that is interrupting cycles of poverty in the lives of formerly incarcerated people. Grow Greater Englewood’s Nature Trail is reclaiming the physical land for the self-determination of Black community spaces. Earthseed Black Family Archive Project’s Ancestral Reparations Cohort is healing family histories by looking to a future where harm is repaired. Black people are leading innovative work concerning reparations, health, and economic security. Black History Month is a month to celebrate Black accomplishments and imagine bright, Black futures. We are eager to move forward in this new year with absolute conviction that our people will continue to press on toward new heights of transformative justice. One way we are transforming the criminal legal system is through our Survivor’s Healing Project, where we’re reimagining community safety and exploring prison abolition with a committee of sexual assault, violence, and harassment survivors. For more information about this work contact Tomicka Glenn at tomicka@blackrootsalliance.org . BlackRoots Alliance is conducting a city-wide project in collaboration with the Black Public Defenders Association (BPDA) and a Northwestern University research team. We want to hear from the Black community about their experiences with safety and the criminal legal system to then host more meaningful community forums and craft policy demands for supporting safe and thriving communities. If you’re interested in being interviewed please contact Gabby Green at gabby@blackrootsalliance.org or Lorne Runnels at lorne@blackrootsalliance.org .  BlackRoots Alliance is expanding the conversation around what it means to build toward Black liberation. We learn from our history so that we can intentionally shape the future. For this reason, we’re supporting community-led visions of thriving by incorporating everyone’s dreams into creating a new world that centers our freedom. For more information on how you can get involved please contact us !

At BlackRoots Alliance our mission is to support the safety and liberation of all Black people, promote Black leadership, and cultivate Black-centered community transformation as we work collectively to build social, economic, and racial justice, heal our communities, and fundamentally transform our society. We fight for our liberation from a place rooted in love for all Black people. Today, states and cities across America are calling for councils or task forces, to study the connection between the State, chattel slavery, discrimination, and racial disparities in the Black community. Last year, California became the first state to adopt a law to study and develop proposals for potential reparations to descendants of enslaved people and those impacted by slavery. More recently, St. Paul, Minnesota , created a committee dedicated to reparations for descendants of enslaved Africans. Inside our capitol at Springfield, state lawmakers are introducing reparation bills that start conversations on statewide involvement with multiple aspects of anti-Blackness. This month, the House heard the first reading of HB0997 introduced by Representative LaShawn Ford. This bill creates hiring preference for American descendants of chattel slavery which provides reparations through the framework of employment. Chicago has taken some action against the historical racist structures they’ve built and enforced. In 2015, Chicago paid $5.2 million to several dozens of people tortured by the Chicago Police “Midnight Crew,” from the 1960s and 1970s. The midnight crew was a group within the Chicago Police Department given specific instructions to harass people of color. Reparations looked like direct pay compensation, a change in the city's public school curriculum to teach about police torture, waived tuition at city colleges for victims and families, a memorial monument, and a formal apology from the former mayor, Rahm Emanuel. BlackRoots Alliance has partnered with Earthseed Black Family Archive Project on their facilitation of the second Ancestral Reparations Cohort. The Earthseed Black Family Archive Project is a collective archival history project with the intention of healing through exploration, creation, and storytelling. It also explores reparations as part of a journey to heal their family stories. Nine cohort members will be creating something at the end of their time in the project that can serve as a visual representation of their research and experience in the program. We’ve also canvassed Chicago communities asking people for their biggest imagination of what reparations could be and how it would impact their families. As we move forward, we want to bring more diverse Black perspectives into the conversation because Black people are not a monolith, so we want to ensure that all Black voices have an opportunity to speak up and speak out about reparations. So let's keep the conversation going. Join us and Earthseed Black Family Archive Project Saturday, February 25th, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm CST for our free event, Reparations: Past, Present, and Future Models of Healing and Liberation .  We’ll be bringing together thought leaders, cultural workers, and activists to discuss what reparations could mean for Black folks living in America specifically in the Chicagoland area.

The state of public education in Chicago has struggled with overcrowding, financial crises, racism, divestment, and wage theft of educators. Stemming back to the early days of Chicago’s incorporation into a city, these issues have been planted into the foundation of this district. There’s been numerous superintendents and board members who have failed the children of Chicago. With the different administrations and approaches to managing public education affairs for such a large district, there have been countless missed opportunities to correct past mistakes. The Chicago Teachers Union was formed out of a response to an emergent need within the community: ensuring our children receive the best education possible. There was a time in Chicago’s history that teachers were being paid with IOUs or not at all, literally. The school-agers of our city deserve to be taught by folks who feel appreciated and are paid properly for their contributions to the community. Parents and students recognize the huge importance of our educators and stand with them to ensure they thrive. This solidarity was the catalyst for the birth of the Chicago Teachers Union. September is the 10-year anniversary of this historic teacher's union strike. The Chicago Teachers Union's mission is comprised of seven pillars of education justice including but not limited to childhood development, protection of teacher’s rights, and equitable education. Its affiliations include the Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL), the Illinois State Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (ISFL-CIO), the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The Chicago Teacher’s Union has been working feverishly to protect the health of all students and their teachers by decreasing the spread of the coronavirus. They’ve confronted opposition from some parents and the current mayoral administration. Their response to this persecution has always been a deep commitment to ensuring the city of Chicago keeps the infection rate down and never ends another school year with 22,000 positive cases. A big component of equitable education is to create an environment that feels safe so children can flourish. It’s hard to accomplish that when they’re confronted with sickness and uncertainty.  BlackRoots Alliance is dedicated to education justice because it’s a huge milestone towards experiencing Black liberation. We know that every Black child should have a robust and rigorous public education. We also know that supporting the Chicago Teachers Union is a necessary step towards realizing a better future for our children and the generations to come.

I recently realized I have been in community organizing, in one way or another, for 18 years. I hardly feel old enough to have nearly two decades in a career, but since 2004 I have been working to build a better future for Black people and a system that works for everyone. I have had some amazing career highlights, like winning the minimum wage campaign, being a delegate to the 2016 DNC, and founding BlackRoots Alliance. Here I am, in the future, and I am so incredibly tired. I’ve burned out at least twice that I can recognize. My extreme tiredness is a sign that the slow burn of dedicated work could turn into full-on burnout if I do not do something. Everything that works requires rest; it’s part of the process of “working”. Even your phone needs to be turned off and restarted. Reflecting on my experiences with burnout, I wanted BlackRoots Alliance to have a culture where folks were dedicated to the mission without the need to glorify the culture of overworking. We have had generous leave policies from nearly the beginning, currently experimenting with 4-day work weeks, and this year, inspired in part by one of our partners ( Ujimma Medics ) and part by my own experience of burnout, we took the first ever week-long summer sabbatical right after Juneteenth. I am encouraged by the topics of this article, The Great Awakening: Redefining Work, Values, and Purpose , because I think in order for us to build a better future, we have to be willing to let go of the practices and traditions that are not in alignment with the values of the future we’re trying to build. While I am still unlearning traditional “work” culture, I don’t want people to leave BA because they’re burned out. Burning out has no value in the future that I want to build. Time is the most valuable currency, and I am dreaming of a work culture where we spend our time currency on soul expansion, creative exploration, and never on capitalist exploitation.