Sharing JCUA’s 2020 Resolutions

Let’s transform Chicago together.

Happy new year and welcome to 2020. As many of us spend this time thinking about ways to improve ourselves as individuals, JCUA is thinking about the collective potential of the Jewish community. What could we accomplish if we recommit ourselves to taking care of each other? How could we live more fulfilling individual lives by extending our hearts and minds toward other people? What kind of world would emerge if we embrace the collective values that define our Jewish history?

These are the questions that animate JCUA’s work. There’s a concept we often return to within community organizing: in the process of transforming our world into a place of equity and justice, we simultaneously transform ourselves. As we work in partnership with the communities of Chicago to shift power in our city, we become powerful leaders in our own right.

JCUA has become the major outlet for thousands of Jews in Chicago to come together around critical issues of social justice. It is a place where you can grow and evolve as an individual precisely because you’re part of a community working for something larger.

We invite you to join us as we share our resolutions for 2020.

We will continue building our base of members and supporters by connecting with Jews on the South Side, North Side, Northwest Side and northern suburbs. We are expanding our congregational partnership program and gearing up to create a Jewish institutional partnership program, in which we’ll join forces with local Jewish organizations to support each other’s growth and impact (stay tuned!). Come to our next orientation program for new members in March. Email Emma (emmakagan@jcua.​org) if you’re interested in participating.

JCUA will continue to center racial equity as a principle that guides our work. We will strengthen the Kol Or caucus, which is aimed at building the power of Jews of Color and celebrating the traditions, rituals and practices that make up a pluralistic Jewish world. We are planning member training dedicated to racial justice and will continue supporting our White Racial Justice Working Group, which meets regularly to explore the role that white Jews must play in dismantling systemic racism. Email Avra (avra@jcua.org) to get involved with JCUA’s racial justice programs.

JCUA will continue to cultivate the next generation of Jewish leaders through education and on-the-ground experience with community organizing. We’re in the midst of the first full-year Or Tzedek internship program for teens and the third year of our college-aged organizing fellowship. This year, we’re focusing on further integrating teens and young adults into JCUA’s campaigns so that we can build multi-generational solidarity and learn from our youth’s urgent and insightful vision for a better world. Learn more about our youth engagement programs.

Our Community Ventures Program (CVP) will continue to fund affordable housing and economic development projects across Chicago. Since its inception, the program has provided more than $5.4 million in zero-interest loans, leading to the creation and preservation of more than 4,100 units of affordable housing. In 2020, the CVP Advisory Committee will explore how to expand the program’s impact by diversifying the types of projects CVP funds and the communities with which we work. Learn more about CVP.

We cannot lose sight of the growing racism and antisemitism that threaten Jews and other vulnerable communities in Chicago and throughout our country. We know the only way forward is to deepen our relationships and work together to create a world in which we are all safe. In 2020, JCUA will explore how we can share our understanding about combating antisemitism not only with our members but also with our community partners and the residents of Chicago.

We have an ambitious immigration agenda for 2020, which includes an upcoming session in Springfield that will focus not only on immigration justice, but also health care, criminal justice reform and other crucial issues that immigrants face. On a local level, we will work with coalition partners to remove the carve-outs in the Welcoming City Ordinance for Chicago and ensure that our city is a safe place for all its residents. Come to the next Immigration Justice committee meeting on February 20.

We have a chance to achieve monumental economic justice in Illinois with an upcoming ballot referendum to implement a progressive tax system for the state. We need 60 percent of voters to vote “Yes” in favor of the Fair Tax question on Election Day. That means we’ll spend the next 10 months canvassing voters, giving presentations and building support for the referendum. It’s going to be an exciting year of organizing. Come to the next Fair Tax committee meeting on January 29.

After decades of abuse and misconduct costing our city lives and millions of dollars, we are on the cusp of implementing structural reform and oversight of the Chicago Police Department. Our members and coalition partners have worked tirelessly on canvassing, strategizing and working with elected officials to get us to this point. Once we pass GAPA in City Council, which we expect to happen in the coming months, we’ll start preparing for the first-ever district council elections in November. And suddenly, Chicago will have the strongest and most publicly-driven police accountability measures in the entire country. Come to the next Police Accountability committee meeting on January 15.

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Are you feeling inspired? So are we. This is a perfect moment to harness the energy of the new year and deepen your connection to the Chicago Jewish community. Renew your JCUA membership. We know that through your work with us you’ll become more knowledgeable, more skilled and more connected to the city that we share and the people who live in it.

See you soon.

Join Us

January 14 — “Solidarity with Our Neighbors” immigration event @ KAM Isaiah Israel (featuring JCUA’s Marla Bramble)

January 15 — Police Accountability committee meeting @ Sketchpad

January 20 — Chicago Justice Series 2020 kick-off event @ Silverstein Base Hillel Lincoln Park

January 23 — White Racial Justice Working Group meeting

January 26 — JCUA North Suburban Organizing Team meeting

January 29 — Fair Tax committee meeting

February 13 — Gearing Up for 2020: Local Elections and Police Accountability with Mishkan Chicago

February 20 — Immigration Justice committee meeting

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