Make sure you follow us on social media this summer! Find out how here. Continue reading

The filed and stamped copy of the motion for the injunction can be downloaded here: https://www.clccrul.org/s/20190619Brief-in-Support-of-Preliminary-InjunctionDRAFT6192019-FINAL.pdf Two community organizations filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction in circuit court yesterday to force the City of Chicago to freeze its plan to create the Cortland and Chicago River TIF District with up to $1.3 billion in taxpayer money for a luxury development in Lincoln Yards. Grassroots Collaborative and Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education filed a lawsuit in April through a team of attorneys from Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and the National Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. The injunction argues that the TIF district where the Lincoln Yards development is located does not meet the legal standard for use of TIF subsidies in a “blighted” community, violating the state’s TIF law. Continue reading

Please welcome Jianan Shi as the new Executive Director of Raise Your Hand! Jianan has worked across several Chicago communities as a high school teacher and as an organizer. We can’t wait for you and your community to get to know him as the RYH ED! Jianan will be busy meeting with various people and organizations over the coming months. You will hear from him very soon. Here’s a quick bio: Continue reading

On Monday, Mayor Lightfoot officially appointed the new CPS Board of Education: Miguel del Valle (president), Sendhil Revuluri (vice president), Luisiana Melendez, Amy Rome, Lucino Sotelo, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, and Dwayne Truss. We are pleased by the appointment of Dwayne Truss, former vice president of the RYH board. He played an instrumental role in shaping our organization and is a phenomenal human and advocate for public schools. Read this from Austin Talks to learn more about Dwayne: Austin Resident Dwayne Truss appointed to the Chicago Board of Education. Continue reading

Mayor Lightfoot announced her CPS Board of Ed appointments today. Donate now to help RYH work for transformation in CPS. Continue reading

It was a huge relief to hear CPS Board of Education president Frank Clark announce at Wednesday’s meeting that it was his and the entire Rahm appointed board’s last meeting. There will be a whole new unelected CPS BOE seated at the June meeting! Chalkbeat Chicago: ‘It’s our last meeting’: New mayor Lori Lightfoot moves to disband Chicago’s school board, setting up major shift Sun-Times: All 7 members of the Chicago Board of Education step down And, in case you are wondering about the CEO position... Chalkbeat Chicago: Lori Lightfoot makes it official: She’s keeping Janice Jackson as Chicago schools chief Continue reading

We’ll be at the unelected Board of Education meeting today, as we are every month. It's also the first day of our Grow With Us fundraising campaign! Support our work and help us grow, by making a donation today to help us raise $15,000 in the next 2 weeks! Continue reading