On November 20th at around 10:30 AM, Cook County made history. The County Board officially passed a budget that includes a permanent $7.5 million line item for Guaranteed Income, making this one of the most significant county-level commitments to direct cash support in the entire nation. This is a historic vote that sets a precedent for what is possible when communities organize, speak out, and demand economic security and dignity.
This win was made possible due to the collective organizing of our coalition partners, the Workers Center for Racial Justice, Equity and Transformation (EAT), and Community Change. But most importantly, the impact of countless members, residents, and leaders who emailed their commissioners, testified, joined our canvassing efforts, and shaped the vision for what this program should be. This win was only possible because of the power of organized people.
But let’s be clear: winning the budget line item is only the first step. Now begins the critical phase of implementation, where we must ensure Cook County residents most impacted by economic hardship are centered in shaping and leading the permanent Guaranteed Income program.
Cook County is one of the largest counties in the nation. That means we now have the opportunity and responsibility to set a national model for what a truly impactful, community-rooted Guaranteed Income program can look like. We’ve already held strategy sessions and deep-dive conversations with member leaders from the GI Committee and community members who shared powerful input on design, eligibility, and priorities. We plan to continue these conversations and push for a truly inclusive program that includes parents, formerly incarcerated people, and immigrant communities, groups too often excluded from economic security programs despite being among the ones who need them most.
This moment is historic not only because of the size of the county, but also because of the political climate we are living through. As threats to communities escalate across the country, this Guaranteed Income program can serve as a lifeline for families and individuals navigating these crises. Most importantly, guaranteed income does not replace existing resources or benefits; it strengthens the economic floor underneath them, allowing individuals the flexibility and self-determination to address their most pressing needs, providing support for financial stability and necessities from rent to food.
We are committed to staying at the table to fight for a program that answers essential questions our communities are raising: Who gets access? Who’s eligible? How much support is enough? How do we ensure the most impacted are centered in the design?
The next phase of our fight is critical: making sure the very people who need this program the most are included, and that formerly incarcerated people, immigrants, and parents remain a priority population.
This local win is also a step toward something bigger: a robust statewide Guaranteed Income program that could reach hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents. While we helped win this Cook County line item, we do not currently have control over eligibility decisions; that’s why the next step is building a strong, statewide policy that ensures equity, fairness, and impact at scale.
We’re already exploring what a GI program could look like statewide, one that could reach up to 100,000 people, providing $600-$1200 per month, truly reshaping economic mobility across Illinois. Today’s win gives us momentum; now we capitalize on it by organizing, advocating for a process with community input, and drafting bold policy, reimagining bargaining power for individuals directly impacted by systems and decision makers.
Guaranteed Income provides a real opportunity for economic empowerment with no strings attached, and is a real solution to improving health and well-being, and investment in Illinois residents. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, Guaranteed Income is “the simplest approach to abolish poverty,” rooted in the fundamental belief that economic security is a matter of human dignity. Cook County took a historic step toward that vision.
To everyone who emailed their commissioner, spoke up, shared their story, or joined the GI conversations, thank you! Your voice made this possible!
And we’re not done. Join us on December 4th to dig deeper into what this new Guaranteed Income program means for our communities, how it will take shape in 2026, and how we can continue leading the fight for a statewide program that meets the scale of the need.
Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hit a new low when armed agents followed a daycare teacher into her workplace in the North Center neighborhood. Parents who were dropping off their children watched in horror as she was forcefully abducted by ICE, who then searched the daycare as children cried for their c
aregiver.
The Workers Center for Racial Justice (WCRJ) condemns this latest atrocity in the months-long, unlawful occupation of Chicago’s communities. In recent days, our communities have also witnessed ICE agents smashing a citizen’s face into the pavement in Evanston, disrupting a children’s Halloween parade with tear gas, and breaking a 67-year old citizen’s ribs in Old Irving Park.
Under the patently false guise of “protecting” citizens from so-called “criminal aliens”, ICE is traumatizing entire communities. They are physically, emotionally, and psychologically scarring children, seniors, workers and families. The harm they are perpetrating against Chicagoans - citizens and immigrants alike - is all in the name of lies that have been fabricated to justify attacks on communities of color.
We must continue to shine a light on their lies. They are lying when they say they’re only targeting violent criminals, and they’re lying when they say they aren’t detaining citizens.
Sending armed militia into a school - to arrest one person, whose only offense is allegedly being in this country without proper documentation - is a violation of children’s human rights. Parents should be able to drop their children off at school and know that they will be safe. Children should feel as safe and secure at school as they do at home.
As our own government sends masked, armed men into our schools, churches, and hospitals, that sense of safety is rapidly eroding in Chicago, with consequences that these children will feel for decades to come. This has got to stop now.
In solidarity with the impacted family and community, please support their GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-our-teacher-help-support-costs?attribution_id=sl:9e2aef43-8bda-43b8-b9e1-0c4c843e48d0&lang=en_US&ts=1762361775&utm_campaign=man_sharesheet_dash&utm_content=amp17_te&utm_medium=customer&utm_source=copy_link
We stand against the abduction of our community members - whether they are undocumented, documented, or U.S. citizens. We stand against the violent suppression of peaceful protesters who are trying to protect their cherished neighbors. And we stand against a federal administration that turns its weapons on the American people.
What can we do about this?
ICE and DHS aren’t acting alone - other agencies and vendors are enabling their atrocities. It is time for us to speak out against every organization and corporation that is profiting off the kidnapping of our neighbors.
Join us on Thursday, November 6 at 12:00pm as we expose ReloDirect, a relocation service who is benefitting by relocating ICE agents.
We are demanding they cease all business with DHS and stop supporting the destruction of our community.
And if you can’t be there, you can contribute by boycotting the following brands and services:
Spotify (for giving a platform to ICE recruitment ads)
AT&T (for supplying ICE with telecommunications and facial recognition technology)
UPS and FedEx (for delivering supplies for ICE - use the USPS instead!)
In the early morning hours on Tuesday, September 30, a group of masked, armed, and alleged ICE agents raided an apartment building in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago.
Under the guise of trying to find and arrest undocumented immigrants, these armed personnel - who we can only hope were real federal agents and not vigilantes - also detained and/or arrested Black and brown U.S. citizens, including four children.
They tore up apartments, destroyed property, and disrespected our community. They shook people out of sleep and zip-tied their hands, regardless of their citizenship status.
We know all too well what can happen when armed mobs and law enforcement enter Black homes in the middle of the night - just ask the families of Emmett Till, Fred Hampton, Sr. and Breonna Taylor.
"They had the Black people in one van, and the immigrants in another van", stated Marlee Sanders, whose partner was wrongfully detained in the raid. On this night, immigrants and Black citizens shared the same plight. History teaches us that what may start as an attack on one group spreads like a cancer to all marginalized communities.
The Workers Center for Racial Justice has always stood in solidarity with immigrant communities, who are close partners in our shared efforts to foster a more equitable society here in Chicago and beyond.
This solidarity isn't just morally just, empathetic or charitable. It is also in our self-interest to build cross-community solidarity: because ICE's actions aren't actually about undocumented status. They are about race.
Less than 24-hours later, another group of alleged federal agents nearly choked a Black man to death, this time on the West Side of Chicago. This scene was eerily similar to what happened to Eric Garner in New York and George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The time has come for all of us to tell this administration, loud and clear, to get out of Chicago, out of Illinois, out of our states. To demand that they stop terrorizing our immigrant brothers and sisters. We can no longer afford to sit on the sidelines of this fight. Our lives are literally on the line.
There is no "us vs. them". We must all reject all forms of occupation and oppression, perpetrated against any community. Let us all be reminded that targeting one community will result in the targeting of every community. Supremacy has always been the ultimate prize in this country, and white Christian nationalists will continue to use force and violence to erase those of us who don’t look like them, behave like them, or share their beliefs.We stand with impacted families during these times of federal occupation and terror. If you or someone you know needs assistance - or you have information on ICE activities to report - please contact the Family Support Network Hotline that our comrades at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) are managing. You can reach them at 855-435-7693.
P.S.: ICIRR has been at the forefront of Chicago's response to ICE, working round the clock to monitor their whereabouts, support vulnerable community members, and protect Chicagoans. Please consider making a donation to support their essential work!