A Fond Farewell to Ryan Cortazar
This week, Chicago Lawyers’ Committee says farewell to an exceptional lawyer, Ryan Cortazar.Ryan is completing the prestigious Redstone Fellowship for Harvard Law graduates, and we are deeply honored that he chose to make Chicago Lawyers’ Committee home for his fellowship. We congratulate him on his upcoming clerkship with Judge David Hamilton on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Bloomington, Indiana.
Illinois Must Not Comply with the Pence-Kobach Commission's Request for Private Voter Data
On Wednesday, the vice chairman of Donald Trump's Election Integrity Commission, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, sent a letter to election authorities across the United States seeking voter roll data that includes name, address, birth date, the last four digits of Social Security numbers and voting history going back to 2006. Read our letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
New Voter Data Site Shows Over 1,000 Voting Issues on Election Day in Illinois; Suggests Solutions for Reform
During the 2016 general election, our Voting Rights Project ran a hotline to assist people experiencing problems trying to vote. More than 300 legal volunteers were trained to answer phone calls and monitor hundreds of polling places throughout Chicago and the suburban counties. With the help of Moment Design, you can now explore the data to see how different Illinois voters experienced various barriers to the polls in 2016.
A Civil Rights Blessing for Spring from Executive Director Bonnie Allen
This spring, with dark clouds gathering in our country and city, I wish you blessings that you and your loved ones can hold fast to hope.
Not That Kind of Lawyer: Q&A with Jonathan Baum, Director of Pro Bono Services at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
"Housing discrimination personally offends me because of my background."
The Discrimination Test: How We Detect Bias Against Voucher Holders
The Chicago Lawyers’ Committee has a pool of about 33 testers and conducts roughly 140 tests every year.
"We Don't Rent to Section 8": How Latonya English Fought To Leave East Garfield Park
“It made me feel like, am I good enough to be in an opportunity area? And it made me stop my search. You can’t judge a book by its cover and you can’t just say ‘I don’t want to be bothered with it.’ Everybody deserves a chance.”
Stand With Us in 2017: A Message for the New Year
Not since the 1960s have our city and state so urgently needed powerful civil rights legal advocacy.
A Post-Election Message From Executive Director Bonnie Allen
With clear signals that more than 60 years of hard-won civil rights gains may be rolled back, our historic mission to champion racial equity and combat discrimination is now more important than ever.
Spotlight on Success: How Auburn-Gresham Fought Back and Won
“Not only are we receiving services that we could not possibly afford, but through your services we are empowered to challenge those entities that have more resources and are inherently more powerful. You give us equal ground.”
Jobless and Out of School: The Education Equity Project Fights for the Rights of Students
“My friend would be alive today if he had a job.”
Those are the haunting words of a young woman at a community hearing quoted in a recent report by the Great Cities Institute at UIC. The recently released report entitled, “Lost: The Crisis of Jobless and Out of School Teens and Young Adults in Chicago, Illinois and the U.S.,” provides data and anecdotal evidence of young people in Chicago and throughout the state who are unemployed and/or out of school.
