Politicians love to say that a budget is a moral document; it shows you what government values enough to put money behind. So what can we learn from Chicago City Council’s 2024 budget process underway this month? How is the City spending those billions of dollars each year? And how does Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget stack up to his campaign promises on movements like Treatment Not Trauma and Bring Chicago Home? 

Join Chicago Documenters — folks City Bureau trains and pays to take notes on these public meetings so you don’t have to — as we dig into what we’re seeing this budget season, who holds power and what it looks like to operationalize change.

RSVP for free today!

Our guest line-up:

• Any Huamani is a community organizer at Brighton Park Neighborhood Council. She is one of the leads for the Collaborative for Community Wellness (CCW). CCW is the coalition that started the Treatment Not Trauma campaign that calls for the reinvestment in Chicago's public mental health care system by reopening all of the currently closed public mental health centers, and the development of a citywide non-police crisis response for mental health emergencies. Any is currently a candidate for a Master’s in Public Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and she hopes that one day her two boys will know that when community members come together, they can change policy for the majority and not just the few.

• Veronica Tirado-Mercado is the Chief of Staff for Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward) and works with the City Council Committee on Health and Human Relations.

• Citlali Perez is a freelance multimedia journalist with a background in community organizing, working with diverse, intergenerational groups on immigration and equitable funding for community resources. They document local public meetings for City Bureau via Chicago Documenters.