Building Power: Advancing Issues through Legislation

Grantee partners are harnessing this moment to bring about real change through legislative action

Demonstrating their resourcefulness and effectiveness in organizing, Woods Fund Chicago grantee partners are harnessing the kinetic energy of 2020, to funnel the captive attention of an outraged public into legislative action. 

Public debates around the criminalization and disproportionate incarceration of Black and poor people, racial wealth disparity, income inequality, and affordable housing are fueling the current push for change — and grantee partners are successfully building on that movement and organizing to pass state and city legislation that improves their members’ daily lives. 

Removing barriers for greater participation

Early in the pandemic as Chicago went remote, legislative efforts initially came to a screeching halt. In response many grantee partners raised money to buy and distribute laptops and tablets to their members, and spent countless hours training their communities on how to use the technology. The value of this investment and support quickly became clear: by removing the physical barrier of having to attend meetings in person, both community members and local and state officials had more availability to meet. Community members who have difficulty moving around such as seniors, or parents and guardians who may require child support, were able to log into meetings from home. Legislators had more time to meet with constituents because sessions were no longer being held in person. As a result, many organizations are now considering keeping a hybrid of video conferencing and in-person meetings post mass vaccination.   

Recent legislative wins that are bringing about concrete change

Woods grantee partners Chicago Appleseed Fund, Community Renewal Society, The People’s Lobby, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, SOUL, and Workers Center for Racial Justice are among the organizations responsible for passing the Pretrial Fairness Act (HB 3653 SFA2). Successful passage of the Pretrial Fairness Act makes Illinois the first state in the nation to abolish cash bail — ensuring that people who are accused of a crime, and legally considered innocent until proven guilty, do not have to await trial in jail because they cannot afford to pay their bond. 

Grantee partners Housing Action Illinois, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, and the Woodstock Institute worked to assure the Illinois Predatory Loan Prevention Act (SB 1792) bill’s passage during the January 2021 lame duck session. Addressing systemic racism by curbing the predatory lending industry that has long targeted borrowers of color, the act places a 36% interest rate cap on consumer loans such as payday and auto title loans. 

At the municipal level, the Obama Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) Coalition achieved a major win in the effort to stop potential gentrification and displacement of Woodlawn residents due to the arrival of the Obama Presidential Center. Many Woods Fund grantee partners are part of the Coalition including Kenwood Oakland Community Organization’s (KOCO), Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), BYP100, and Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. After a years-long campaign of organizing and months of negotiating with local alderpeople, the Mayor’s office, and the departments of Planning and Development and Housing, the Chicago City Council passed the Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance in September 2020. The ordinance ensures protections for Woodlawn residents, including $4.5 million in funding for new and expanded affordable housing programs and an allotment of 52 city-owned lots.

These wins have been substantial and garnered real change for the people of Chicago and beyond. Even when there were legislative losses — like we saw with the Graduated Income Tax Amendment (SB 687), also known as the Fair Tax — grantee partners demonstrated their capacity to educate the larger public and encourage conversation while successfully engaging their diverse memberships during a pandemic — critical steps in creating narrative and cultural change to inform the next legislative win.