The citywide community engagement effort will explore the impacts of systemic discrimination while gathering personal testimonials and resident feedback to inform the Mayor’s Reparations Study.
CHICAGO — Today, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the launch of Repair Chicago, a citywide community engagement effort designed to explore the impacts of systemic harm faced by Black Chicagoans and devise reparatory pathways. Through bus tours, panel discussions, town halls, and hearings, Repair Chicago will collect the experiences and input of Chicagoans to help inform the Johnson administration’s Reparations Study.
“Your experience is evidence—and we’ve placed it at the center of our work,” said Mayor Brandon Johnson. “Repair Chicago is about listening to Black Chicagoans across our city, acknowledging the harms of the past and present, and building a path forward rooted in truth, accountability, and opportunity. By engaging directly with residents, we are grounding this work in the voices and lived realities of the people it is meant to serve.”
As part of this engagement effort, Black Chicagoans are invited to complete a public survey seeking to gather the lived experiences of Black Chicagoans to further understand systemic harms. You can find the survey at Chicago.gov/RepairChicago and complete it by May 31. Survey participants will also have the opportunity to enter a gift card drawing.
Feedback and resident testimonials will guide the development of the City’s first comprehensive reparations study—a historic step towards acknowledging, addressing, and repairing generations of harm experienced by Black communities.
The community engagement process will gather input from Chicagoans across the city to better understand Black Chicagoans’ experiences across generations and how systemic racism has shaped their lives, opportunities, and well-being.
The Mayor’s Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) aims to host a community-centered engagement process, underscoring the Johnson Administration’s commitment to inclusivity and collaborative decision-making.
“We cannot talk about reparations without centering the lived experiences of Black Chicagoans,” said Carla Kupe, Chief Equity Officer. “This series is an opportunity to listen deeply, learn collectively, and ensure that community voice is not symbolic, but foundational to the policies and recommendations the task force bring forward through the study.”
Engagement opportunities will begin today with the panel conversation “From Understanding to Action,”, and will continue throughout May with a series of bus tours, community town halls, and public hearings, offering residents throughout the city the chance to participate in the conversation, share their experiences, and help shape the future of reparations in Chicago.
FROM UNDERSTANDING TO ACTION (PANEL)
Tuesday, March 24 | 2:00 PM – 4:15 PM
It Takes A Village Academy — 4930 S. Cottage Grove
A panel with community experts exploring systemic harm in Chicago and pathways toward meaningful repair.
MALCOLM X COLLEGE TOWN HALL
Thursday, April 9 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Malcolm X College — 1900 W. Jackson Blvd
An open forum for residents to share experiences and help shape Chicago’s reparations conversation.
KENNEDY KING COLLEGE TOWN HALL
Wednesday, April 22 | 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM
Kennedy King College — 6301 S. Halsted St.
A community town hall inviting Chicagoans to share perspectives and inform the city’s Reparations Study.
OERJ will work with Chicago’s Reparations Taskforce and consultants from prominent community-based organizations specializing in archival research, qualitative data, and communications to compile and synthesize both existing data and new insights gathered through this engagement series.
Mayor Johnson codified the City’s Reparations efforts, establishing Chicago’s Reparations Task Force to support the development of the Chicago’s Reparations Study, with a 2024 executive order which called upon the City to carry out a broader community engagement strategy in order to gather lived experiences of harm of Black Chicagoans. To learn more about this work and how you can join task force meetings, visit chicago.gov/reparations.
About The Office of Equity and Racial Justice
The Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) seeks to advance institutional change that results in an equitable transformation of how we do business across the City of Chicago enterprise. This includes the City’s service delivery, resource distribution, policy creation, and decision-making. OERJ will do this by supporting City departments in normalizing concepts of racial equity, organizing staff to work together for transformational change, and operationalizing new practices, policies, and procedures that result in more fair and just outcomes. Visit chicago.gov/equity.