We’re thrilled to introduce our first cohort of Documenters Network sites, launching this Fall.
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Natalie Frazier shares information and tips she learned during her time at FOIAfest that can help you begin your FOIA journey.
This investigative reporter is joining our team to guide the next generation of journalists of color.
This futuristic thinker is joining our team to help facilitate organization and reach South side communities.
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“Will That New Development Benefit Your Community?: The People’s Guide to Community Benefits Agreements and Alternatives” will inform, engage and equip Chicago residents to be active participants in the development process.
This transmedia storyteller is joining our team to help us create accessible and engaging content and reach wider audiences.
We’re excited to announce that our newest partners, Pillsbury United Communities, have officially launched the Minneapolis Documenters affiliate. Starting now, Minneapolis residents can get trained and paid to hold local government officials accountable at the fourth official Documenters Network site.
[CJR] Ivory-tower journalism has failed. It’s time we focus on building public infrastructure where everyone can find, factcheck, and produce civic information
Check out City Bureau’s first ever holiday wishlist where we think big about the future of local media and give some reasons for why we’re feeling optimistic for the year to come!
October’s Public Newsroom showcased how disabled students and their families can advocate for the services they need.
By Mike Tish
In October, City Bureau’s Public Newsroom addressed how students with disabilities and their parents can advocate for an essential education service from Chicago Public Schools: Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). IEPs are legally binding documents that outline how educators will ensure students with disabilities make progress in school.
Since the pandemic, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has been unable to fulfill thousands of IEP evaluations. As a result, thousands of Black and Latine students have been without access to services they’re owed.
To help us gain some actionable insight into this issue, we were joined by:
Chris Yun, former education policy analyst at Access Living, where she led policy advocacy efforts to ensure inclusive education for students with disabilities.
Barb Cohen, a policy analyst and legal advocate focusing on special education at the Legal Council for Health Justice, which works statewide to help folks overcome and dismantle barriers to the care and services they need to stay healthy, fed and housed.
Rachel Shapiro, a supervising attorney at Equip for Equality, which provides advice and legal representation to students with disabilities who aren’t receiving appropriate special education services.
Our moderator was Sammie Smylie, a state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago and former City Bureau fellow, who also covered education on the city’s Southeast Side for the Hyde Park Herald.
Here’s what we learned:
During the 2019–2020 school year, CPS failed to complete thousands of IEP evaluations
“Once a year, students and their parents are supposed to have an IEP meeting,” Smylie said. These meetings should identify a student’s disability, as well as what kind of instruction or related services (think: speech pathology or physical therapy) they’ll need. State law requires that schools conduct student evaluations before they’re provided with an IEP (students with an existing IEP must be re-evaluated every three years). After filing a FOIA request, Smylie found that during the 2019–2020 school year, CPS failed to complete more than 10,000 evaluations and annual reviews. (Chicago has a little over 330,000 students; about 14 percent have IEPs.) No evaluation? No updated IEP for students.
Students across Chicago’s South, West and far east sides were most likely to have IEP delays
Smylie said the data they obtained as part of their FOIA request showed CPS students in Networks 11 and 13 were unlikely to receive re-evaluations during the school year. These networks include Englewood, parts of the Southwest Side, as well as neighborhoods on the city’s far south and far east sides. Shapiro said she heard from CPS parents all over the city who felt that CPS lacked a sense of urgency when it came to addressing its IEP backlog.
Shapiro said one of the students she represented went without services for five to six months because CPS didn’t conduct their re-evaluation on time. “The reality is no matter how many services we give [them] now, that can’t make up for the fact that, for those five or six months delay, they didn’t get the support they needed,” she said. This lack of support threatened and likely slowed the student’s progress in school.
Parents should prioritize frequent communication with their kid’s teachers
CPS’s struggles to provide IEPs for students with disabilities predates the pandemic. As Yun put it: “Denial of special education services is a product of CPS culture.” As far back as 2015, CPS was found to be in violation of federal standards that require schools to provide IEPs to their students. Cohen, a parent of a former CPS student with disabilities, said it’s hugely important for parents to communicate with their children’s teachers as much as possible.
“Teachers have always appreciated the communication and the troubleshooting we can do together,” Cohen said. “I think [that relationship] leads to better IEPs.”
Get everything in writing, and request documents you can use to show which services you’re owed
“Whatever you do, get it in writing,” Cohen said. “If you just [verbally] say to a teacher or case manager that I think I’d like to have my child evaluated...officially, it never took place.” Emails are best because they have the date on them.
Hazel Adams-Shango, an attendee at the Public Newsroom who advocates for students with disabilities in New York City, said that right now is the time to request a copy of attendance and service logs, which you’ll need whenever you request makeup services from CPS.
Word choice matters; consult free legal services before you file any complaints
You don’t need a lawyer to file a state complaint, but it helps to have someone who knows special education law look over your complaint before you send it in. That’s because slight wording changes can make a big impact. “The law doesn’t require a school to do what’s best for your child,” Shapiro said. If you tell officials that a one-on-one aide for your child is what’s best for them, they have no legal obligation to make it happen. Instead, Shapiro says, tell educators and officials that your child “needs” a one-on-one aide or other service.
Equip for Equality provides free services for folks at (866) 543-7046.
If you’re interested in advocating for yourself, your student, or want to help make a difference in your local CPS network, here are a few places to start:
Stay in touch with our guests:
Rachel Shapiro: (312) 895-7308, rachel@equipforequality.org
Barb Cohen: (312) 605-1948, bcohen@legalcouncil.org
Access Living education advocacy team: (312) 640-2100, advocacy@accessliving.org
More coverage on the issue:
“What more than 50 special education parents in Chicago told us about schooling this fall,” from Chalkbeat
Read about outstanding CPS transportation requests, of which students with disabilities account for more than 50%, from Chalkbeat
Read this report on how CPS fell behind on IEP plans, from Chalkbeat
Screenshot of the Zoom meeting where our Public Newsroom took place. A grid of smiling faces, including our panelists, moderator, organizer and interpreter, Barb Williams.
This event is part of the Public Newsroom, City Bureau’s free monthly workshop series. Learn more or support City Bureau’s workshops and events by becoming a recurring donor today.
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Reporting teams will cover utility debt, neighborhood investment and vaccination rates. Send any tips or suggestions our way!
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If spending $1.9 billion in city funds doesn’t get you excited, maybe a bingo prize will!
By Nalani Saito & India Daniels
Get your very own bingo board and play along! Instructions at the bottom of the page.
Chicago Documenters is thrilled to bring you our second annual round of Chicago City Council Budget Bingo. Tune in Wednesday at 10 a.m. on Twitter for #ChiBudgetBingo, where we’re taking our watchdog ways and enthusiasm for public meetings to bring you commentary throughout the official City Council vote to approve—or not approve—the fiscal year 2022 budget. We’ll tell you how to play at the end of this blog, but first, here’s what you need to know about where Chicago will spend its money next year, whether you’re playing bingo or not.
This year’s budget process, taking place a month earlier than previous years, kicked off on Sept. 24. Over the subsequent two weeks, Chicago City Council members have questioned government agency representatives (from the Chicago Police Department to the Department of Administrative Hearings) about their budget proposals during hearings covered by your very own Chicago Documenters. At each hearing, the departments review their past years’ successes and failures and set the stage for what they want to fund in the next year.
The Chicago Police Department wants more money
CPD’s proposed FY2022 budget is nearly $1.9 billion. To put that in context, as Alder Andre Vasquez (40th) pointed out, that’s nearly the same amount of federal pandemic relief American Rescue Plan funding and about one-fifth of the budget for 37 departments.
But also, citing negative public image and a need to fill vacancies, CPD proposed a $230,000 advertising budget for 2022, a nearly 100-fold increase over last year. Alder Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th) proposed an amendment to keep it at $2,400. Despite the huge hiring push, Police Superintendent David Brown admitted that CPD will not be able to fill all sworn officer vacancies next year, and in response, Alder Maria Hadden (49th) proposed an amendment cutting 300 of those positions from the budget, shaving $44 million off CPD’s budget.
Some officers accused of misconduct are still receiving checks
Alder Vasquez asked Supt. Brown a question he’d previously presented to the Police Board: How many officers accused of wrongdoing are still receiving pay? Dana O’Malley, CPD’s lawyer, said that officers have due process rights, and some allegations are still being investigated and have not yet led to officers being taken off the job. “To take every officer and relieve them of power based on allegations ...would leave us with a manpower issue,” O’Malley said.
As Documenter Chloe Vitale pointed out, “If CPD’s general counsel admits that taking every officer who has allegations of misconduct filed against them off the streets would leave CPD with a manpower shortage, what does that say about the sheer volume of Chicago police officers with complaints lodged against them?”
Requests for more police accountability
Along those lines, COPA, the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, is requesting $14.7 million for 2022, up from $13.3 million the previous year. A substantial chunk of that funding is to hire personnel, including staff for their video unit and three Freedom of Information Act officers.
This year, City Council passed an ordinance approving an elected police accountability commission. Spearheaded by the Empowering Communities for Public Safety coalition, the ordinance creates a board that would wield power in hiring, firing and approving policy across the Police Board, CPD and COPA. The Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability has a proposed budget of $3.4 million, though it doesn’t look like they were part of a budget hearing.
The end of ShotSpotter?
ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection software currently used by CPD whose $33 million contract was renewed in December 2020, came up quite a bit in the CPD hearing, including in many of the 150 written public comments. Alders questioned the decision to renew the contract despite evidence from several sources, including the Office of the Inspector General, that indicates the tool is not helping CPD gather evidence on gun-related crimes.
In fact, during the CPD budget hearing, a group of alders questioned Brown about the contract renewal and whether there were other technologies that could replace it. Brown insisted that the decision around the contract lay with the Office of Public Safety Administration, which Alder Vasquez called “CPD lite.” It looks like Alder Carlos Ramirez-Rosa took that redirect to heart because he introduced an ordinance that would cut a $8,967,998 line item for software maintenance and licensing (read: kill the ShotSpotter contract) from the budget of the Office of Public Safety Administration.
How to spend federal COVID relief funds
There are differing opinions on how to spend American Rescue Plan funding. What Lightfoot proposes is to use a chunk to pay off the city’s $733 million debt. But some alders have different ideas.
Alder Hadden has proposed putting $70 million of ARP funds toward preservation of single-room occupancy projects, a critical source of low-income housing. For context, the budget proposal currently dedicates $32 million of ARP funding for homelessness support services generally.
While Alder Hadden’s plan focuses on housing, Alder Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) has proposed earmarking $10 million of the Department of Public Health’s ARP funds for reinvestment in city-run mental health clinics. Twenty-five other alders have signed on to co-sponsor this ordinance.
And some 🔥 music
Last, but certainly not least, we will say the Committee on Budget and Government Operations supplied a fire playlist while waiting to meet quorum. Hits included “You’re the Only One” by Eric Benet, “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics, “ABC 123” by Tune-Yards and “Who Let the Dogs Out?” by Baha Men. Alder Pat Dowell (3rd) gave a shout out to the elusive DJ: “I specifically want to thank my man Michael Smith up there and his great music,” and despite our preliminary digging, we have not found the Michael Smith to appropriately credit. Michael, if you’re out there, thank you and we hope to see you at the City Council meeting.
Will the alders’ proposed amendments make it through? Will the budget pass? Will sparks fly? Tune into Budget Bingo on Wednesday, Oct. 27th at 10 a.m. to see how it shakes out.
Here’s how to play:
Pull up your bingo board—this link will give you your very own randomized bingo board, with squares thought up by City Bureau’s staff.
Tune into the @ChiDocumenters live-tweet thread for updates and follow along with the City Council live-stream. Let us know you’re playing by tagging us on Twitter and using the hashtag, #ChiBudgetBingo.
Mark off boxes as they happen (click on a square to check it off or download your card). The ChiDocumenters Twitter account will have the official say on which boxes you get to check, so keep refreshing.
Win the #ChiBudgetBingo prize–a $30 gift card to Build Coffee–and bragging rights by being the first to email us your winning board at documenters@citybureau.org
Special thanks to The Daily Line for this helpful budget recap!
Read more on the budget from City Bureau here:
Chicago City Council - 2022 City Budget Hearing [Police Board, Chicago Police Department] 10/04/2021
Chicago City Council - Committee on Budget and Government Operations 09/30/2021
https://www.citybureau.org/newswire/2020/11/3/how-did-chicagos-aldermen-vote-on-the-2021-budget
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Our September Public Newsroom highlighted the ways Chicagoans can push for a city budget that serves their needs
By Ebony Ellis
This September, our Public Newsroom focused on how community members can start a People’s Budget event in their own neighborhoods. The People’s Budget Chicago (PBC) is a series created by Chicago United for Equity (CUE) in order to change the fact that the budget-setting process is not very accessible to people outside of government.
We were joined by folks who work with the People’s Budget:
Paola Aguirre, founder of Borderless — a Chicago-based city design and research practice focused on cultivating collaborative design agency through interdisciplinary projects; she was also a 2019 CUE Fellow
Vanessa Dominguez, a PBC coordinator
Kiara Hardin, a PBC facilitator
Troy Gaston, a PBC facilitator
Here’s what we learned:
Understand Your Community
One cannot always assume that people who live in the same neighborhood have the exact same ideas on how the neighborhood can be improved. “What do our communities need to be safe and thriving?” is the question that is PBC’s main focus. At the beginning of each of the pop up events (whether in-person or virtual), this question is asked before the main activity. This question is important because it encourages participants to start thinking about the changes they would like to see in their communities.
“I’d say—I’m still trying to find my community. Chicago has been a really big part of how I see the world,” a participant said.
The Importance of Consensus
The truth is we all may have different ideas about how we think resources should be allocated around the city. But we all have to live and work together. In the breakout groups, participants were given a particular amount of money and had to decide how each of them would allocate their funds. This involves a lot of thought and conversation between participants. There is a set amount of time for this activity, but ultimately it seems like there is never enough time. In one of the groups, members were deciding on placing some of the funds either in housing or infrastructure. Out of $100, the group decided that $24 would go towards housing and $19 would go towards infrastructure.
We Need Resources, Not Just Cops
This may sound self explanatory. Or maybe not. For one of the breakout groups, as a result of the activity, groups allocated funds to every section of the budget—except for the carceral system, which involves the police. The city of Chicago spends the most amount of money on policing. When the question was asked, a participant responded with her experiences of contacting the 311 non-emergency service for individuals seeking mental health assistance.
“One of the things that stood out to me was the amount of times I called 311 trying to get someone who is not a police officer to help someone who is in need of mental health services and how I get laughed at,” the participant said. “I think that’s absolutely ridiculous and we can do so much better.”
Want to learn more or get involved?
Check out some of the take-aways for this month’s workshop.
Next steps
Attend the People’s Policy School: Who decides how Chicago spends our tax dollars? Join CUE in launching our new public program, The People's Policy School! This event will be online on September 23rd, 6-8pm.
Host your own Budget Party: sign up through this form to get the resources you need to lead your own budget conversation
Sign these petitions & support these campaigns to help pass a People’s Budget
Take action: more you can do to help us create an equitable budget
Join us: want to keep holding local government to account? Sign up today to become a City Bureau Documenter and get trained and paid to cover public meetings. Register with no commitment. We have three events coming up for Documenters:
September 21, 5pm - Community of Practice gathering
Further reading
The full People’s Budget report, including the 2020 People’s Budget compared to the actual city budget
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An ordinance, passed unanimously this week, will require data transparency and annual hearings to vet banks that do business with the city of Chicago.
This civic media enthusiast is joining our team to help us grow a connected and collaborative national Documenters Network.