The 25th Ward hosts a Town Hall Meeting for residents in order to discuss the city’s upcoming budget plan
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez addressing residents during Budget town hall meeting. Photo taken by Valeria Garcia.
Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th Ward) and community groups held a town hall meeting for 25th Ward residents to discuss the possibilities for the city’s 2022 budget.
It has been a little over a month since Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed her 2022 $16.7 billion city budget to city council. Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez, along with community organizations such as CBCAC, 25th Ward IPO, Pilsen Alliance, PUI Tak Center, and Pilsen Neighbors Community Council held a budget town hall meeting at The Pui Tak Center on October 19 to discuss what he sees as priorities for the upcoming budget.
Sam Clendenning, the treasurer of the 25th Ward independent political organization (IPO), explained that the outline of the budget may seem to be a complex and non-transparent document.
“It offers little opportunity to give input on our needs and priorities,” said Clendenning, who also spoke with residents on how to reflect on the budget by asking themselves.
“What does the budget say about our city’s priorities? Does the budget respond to community needs?”
Chicago will receive federal funding through The American Rescue Plan. This federal grant would be able to help discover different funding opportunities for youth and families, along with communities who were hit the hardest during COVID-19. According to Ald. Sigcho-Lopez, this federal funding could expand all the way into 2026. Therefore, he deemed it important to understand both the budget and this federal grant in order to “coordinate the wards so the impact of this funding goes a long way.”
During the community meeting, Ald. Sigcho-Lopez discussed a range of topics he believes are important investments to be considered and passed in the upcoming budget. He said he has been working with community groups and former Governor Pat Quinn on the following budget items in order to “ensure that we have equitable allocation of funding.”
Housing
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez declared housing as one of the fundamental components in the budget.
“Housing is the cornerstone of all communities, so that’s what I think is an important conversation to have,” he said. “How are we going to address the issues of housing today in Chicago and Cook County?”
He not only presented these topics to residents, but also offered possible solutions that reflect the best interest for Chicago communities. He proposed a $70 million allocation for shelter service.
“This is not only about addressing housing to put people in a room; this is also investing to make sure that they have the social services that are needed, so that we can have a workforce development program, so that we bring some of the residents back into our communities,” said Sigcho-Lopez.
Cash assistance for vulnerable families
When it comes to the topic about basic income programs, Lightfoot proposed $31 million for the upcoming budget. Ald. Sigcho-Lopez acknowledged that the cash assistance for vulnerable families in Chicago reaches $126 million.
“We continue to have many residents who are behind on payments or rent property taxes, emergencies, and utilities that right now are not being covered. It is critical that we have these emergency assistance for the most vulnerable families in the city of Chicago,” he said.
Environmental Justice
For environmental justice, Ald. Sigcho-Lopez noted that there has been an $188 million allocation in the upcoming budget along with promising strategies such as the planting of 75,000 trees. Yet, there still needs to be better future strategies according to him as well.
“Many of our industrial corridors need to think about the future, greener initiatives, greener technology, green justice for the future. That's where the future is at. We are not investing in the future,” he said.
Mental health services and access to rapid response teams
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez also expressed a concern regarding the lack of support for reopening public mental health clinics and offering easier mental health access to communities.
“We have residents in our community that are not receiving adequate public mental health access. We know that there are many of our residents, many of our neighbors who are vulnerable to violence themselves, and we need to ensure that we address that issue as a community,” said Sigcho-Lopez.
The response to emergencies was also discussed during the meeting. Ald. Sigcho-Lopez supports the Treatment Not Trauma Ordinance , demanding for social workers and EMTs to become first responders in certain situations such as domestic violence or a mental health crisis instead of law enforcement.
“We believe the best way to respond to these emergencies is through proper and adequate staffing experts in the field,” said Sigcho-Lopez
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez suggested for this next upcoming budget to consider shifting strategies in favor of funding public mental health and expanding mental health access to communities.
“...despite the narrative, we have not changed our strategies. That’s why we are calling urgently on a change of strategies to fund mental health. Proper mental health means that we need to have public health access to these services,” he said.
Ald. Sighco-Lopez considered the lack of these resources is considered as a contributing factor in city violence and is asking for a drastic increase for this amendment.
“I know that’s (violence in the city) a really tough issue,” he said. “This is why it’s important that we discuss what is in the budget, but also what we can do as a community to keep our communities safe.”
Violence prevention programs
When it comes to the subject of violence, Ald. Sigcho-Lopez calls for the funding of violence prevention programs. According to the alderman, violence prevention programs were only distributed to 15 of the 77 Chicago communities. Which is why they call for the budget to cover these programs across the entire city of Chicago. There isn’t enough clarity on allocation for local initiatives and how the budget will be funded into these programs, according to the alderman.
“The studies have shown time after time that the best way to address violence is to make sure that there are investments in programming,” Sigcho-Lopez said.
Ald. Sigcho-Lopez calls for an additional $50 million increase in order to ensure every neighborhood has adequate funding specifically for youth engagement programs and violence prevention programs. The 25th ward has also noted that this type of programming, along with following up on community responses, will open communication between the community, direct communication with social workers, and create effective interventions in the office.
There was a strong stance for the next upcoming budget to start investing in Chicago communities first.
“We do have the funding to make a strategic investment for the city that we all deserve,” said Sigcho-Lopez.
At the end of the meeting, residents were asked by Clendenning to participate in an exercise where they created a budget that reflected what they want to see funded.
25th Ward IPO shared the results of the budgeting exercise completed by residents.
The city of Chicago and community groups across the city have created different forms of resources in order to educate residents on the city’s investments and priorities.