Clergy, community, and labor have come together to assert that Chicago residents need good jobs with living wages.  Good jobs are key to enable hard-working people to care for their families and lift themselves out of poverty.  We believe no one should work a full-time job and still be poor.

Many claim the recession is over, but Chicago’s families continue to struggle.  People on Main Street continue to suffer layoffs and high unemployment.  11.2% of city residents are currently unemployed.  Black communities face almost double the rate of unemployment as Whites.  Latinos are disproportionally impacted as well.

In addition, Chicagoans that are able to work full-time minimum wage jobs earn only $16,640.  That still is $5,410 under the poverty level for a family of four.

As new development comes into our city, economic improvement should improve the quality of life for people.

Our coalition sees the great opportunity to invest in our city by transforming job quality and city development, especially in communities of color who have been hardest hit by the recession.  Chicago’s neighborhoods cannot be improved unless residents have good jobs.

Communities across Illinois have been hit hard by the current economic crisis. Closing and vastly under-funded schools, shut down community health clinics, and more new families than ever applying for food stamps illustrate how working families have been hit throughout the state. The state faces an incredible $12.8 billion dollar deficit and this number continues to grow. Illinois ranks near the bottom of all states for equitable education funding. The convenient answer that more cuts are what is needed is in fact not a real solution for our children and their families.

The current fiscal crisis makes it more apparent than ever that Illinois' tax system is in need of major reform. Illinois has the fifth lowest income tax burden and is one of the few states in the country with a flat tax. We seek to promote reform that creates a long-term, sustainable solution to our budget crisis and to resolve the unfair burden our current system places on low and moderate income families.

In order for Illinois to have a tax system that meets the state's structural needs for funding, we must raise the income tax. Vital social services – including education, healthcare, and basic human needs – are in immediate danger of facing drastic cuts unless new, reliable revenue is generated. To prevent deep cuts to programs that serve our children, older adults, and individuals with disabilities, we need to raise revenue to close the gap.

The Grassroots Collaborative is a key member of Communities for an Equitable Olympics (CEO) 2016. CEO 2016 is a coalition of community and labor organizations working to ensure that Chicago’s bid for the 2016 Games leads to equitable policy changes for low-income and working families. The Collaborative is working with CEO 2016 to make sure that community residents have a real voice in the process of planning for the Games. CEO 2016 is working to win a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) that ensures equitable policies around affordable housing, jobs and economic development, and transportation.

In 1998, the Grassroots Collaborative organized with our allies to pass the original Living Wage ordinance to increase the minimum wage for contracted employees of the City of Chicago. We won a subsequent campaign to index increases to cost of living adjustment.

We marched in Chicago with fellow organizations supporting Comprehensive Immigration Reform in 2000. Over 10,000 people were firmly joined together in the belief that undocumented immigrants deserve humanitarian consideration and treatment.

The Collaborative networked with statewide groups to extend insurance coverage to the children of the working poor, increasing eligibility for an estimated 170,000 additional kids. Together, we negotiated with Illinois government entities to address unfair denial of state services to qualified Illinois families.

From 2002 to 2004, the Grassroots Collaborative coordinated resources across Illinois to present an economic package of housing, healthcare, immigrants' rights, highway safety, jobs and income supports to state legislators. Our effort resulted in a 4,000 person march in Springfield to hold the state legislators and the governor accountable to their constituents. Two outcomes of this campaign were the restoration of state funding for certain local education programs and In-State Tuition rates for undocumented college students.

In 1998, the Grassroots Collaborative organized with our allies to pass the original Living Wage ordinance to increase the minimum wage for contracted employees of the City of Chicago. We won a subsequent campaign to index increases to cost of living adjustment.