Join a renters’ rights workshop hosted by our partner the Law Center for Better Housing. This is an excellent chance to deepen your understanding of tenant rights and empower yourself with valuable knowledge.
Impact for Equity
Non-profit Organizations
Chicago, IL 1,056 followers
Combating injustice together
About us
Since its founding in 1969, Impact for Equity has been a catalyst for racial, economic, and social justice in Chicago and Illinois. Originally named Businessmen for the Public Interest, and later renamed Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, or BPI, we were founded with the belief that the public interest should be served by fierce advocates who take on pressing issues of inequity with determination and fearlessness. We have rebranded from BPI to Impact for Equity to better express our mission, inspire action and communicate our ongoing commitment to seeking justice through meaningful action. More than fifty years after our inception, we have grown from a small, upstart public interest law firm to one of Chicago’s most respected law and policy centers. We are the organization to which many turned when creative, cooperative legal strategies were needed. Today, Impact for Equity continues to build on its history of combating systemic inequities and fighting for racial, economic, and social justice.
- Website
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https://www.impactforequity.org/
External link for Impact for Equity
- Industry
- Non-profit Organizations
- Company size
- 11-50 employees
- Headquarters
- Chicago, IL
- Type
- Nonprofit
- Founded
- 1969
- Specialties
- Social Justice, Chicago Police Reform and Accountability, Public Housing, Affordable Housing, Education and Early Learning, Political Reform, Public Interest, Law, Policy, and Public Policy
Locations
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Primary
25 E. Washington St.
Suite 1515
Chicago, IL 60602, US
Employees at Impact for Equity
Updates
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We believe racially disparate and ineffective traffic stops must be urgently addressed by policymakers across Illinois. Lawmakers and officials should adopt three key policies: Eliminate pretextual stops Limit stops for low-level offenses End suspicionless consent searches To learn about traffic stops in Illinois: https://lnkd.in/gwbz5wMF
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To love America is to acknowledge its imperfections and to look ahead to a more hopeful future. As we celebrate the 4th of July with the rest of the country, we commit to our part in advancing future milestones in the fight for equity. Thank you for supporting our work and sharing in our vision of true equality and justice for all.
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Impact for Equity strongly condemns the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson. Today’s ruling further criminalizes people experiencing homelessness by allowing local governments to penalize people for sleeping outside when they cannot access shelters or secure permanent housing. At Impact for Equity, we believe housing is a human right and the solution to the crisis of homelessness is more affordable housing, not criminalization. Today’s decision will aggravate the existing housing crises in cities across the country by legalizing the criminalization of homelessness at a time when the number of families experiencing homelessness on any given night is at an all-time high. Impact for Equity remains committed to addressing the root causes of housing instability and we will continue to fight for more affordable housing throughout metropolitan Chicago and Illinois.
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Broken down into three categories, the briefs studied the policing reforms included in the bill: the widespread adoption of body-worn cameras, a revised officer decertification system, and updated, more stringent standards around when officers can legally use force. But, according to Loren Jones, the criminal legal system director at Impact for Equity and the co-author of one of the briefs, implementation of those reforms has been “uneven,” with some departments “lagging” behind. https://lnkd.in/gtc3EypG
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Last week Impact for Equity and Free2Move Coalition Members attended a federal court hearing on including traffic stops into the consent decree's oversight of CPD. "We heard a lot from community members and their concern with the structure of the consent decree and also their fear that including traffic stops into the consent decree will create stagnant progression," said Joi Imohbio with the group Impact for Equity, an organization that has researched CPD's use of traffic stops for years. We believe traffic stops must be urgently addressed and that CPD should adopt the Free2Move Coalition's proposed three-part policy: Eliminate pretextual stops Limit stops for low-level offenses End suspensionless consent searches https://lnkd.in/gk8xDQSA
Debate over Chicago Police Department's traffic stop strategy moves to federal court
abc7chicago.com
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"The latest study, comparing enforcement to who is using the road and looking at both traffic stops and camera tickets, builds on Impact for Equity’s findings, said Wenfei Xu, another of the study’s authors and a professor at Cornell. ‘If the aim is to arrest, (a traffic stop) doesn’t seem very effective in terms of how we’re spending taxpayer money,’ she said, citing the low arrest rate found by Impact for Equity." "‘It’s not resulting in any sort of public safety gains,’ said Amy Thompson, staff counsel for Impact for Equity’s criminal legal system section. ‘that really degrades trust between communities and law enforcement, when they perceive that they are just a target for law enforcement and not a true partner.’" https://lnkd.in/gss2Z62u
Black Chicago drivers more likely to be stopped by police than to get traffic camera tickets, study finds
https://www.chicagotribune.com
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Meet our 2024 law & policy interns and the newest stars in our Impact Innovators Series! Impact for Equity hosts law and policy summer and academic-year interns and externs. Law and policy graduate students work individually and in collaboration within one of our two program areas—Criminal Legal System/Police Accountability and Housing! We can’t wait to see all the work they do this summer! Stay tuned to see them dive into Impact for Equity projects this summer! #ImpactInnovators #SummerInterns Welcome to Impact for Equity: April, Simone, and Emily!
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"Chicago police exercise discretion to target drivers and communities of color, with Black drivers being six times and Latino drivers two times as likely to be stopped. This "traffic stop and frisk" strategy treats Black and brown drivers solely as opportunities to find guns, rather than as valuable partners in creating public safety who are just as entitled to move freely throughout the city as any other Chicagoan." There has been progress with recent drafted policy changes within the State Attorney's Office, a step in the right direction. However, we need an all hands on deck approach to create long-term solutions. https://lnkd.in/gKJ39v_D
Letters: State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s draft policy is a positive step forward
https://www.chicagotribune.com
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Give a warm welcome to Daniel Kay Hertz! 👋 As Director of Housing, he's leading the charge on Impact for Equity’s housing work. With a rich background in housing policy, Daniel's past roles include driving impactful initiatives at the Chicago Department of Housing. From strengthening tenant protections to spearheading a $1.25 billion housing and economic development bond, Daniel's commitment to housing equity shines through. In 2018, he published a history on the origins of gentrification in Chicago, The Battle of Lincoln Park. He was named to Crain’s Chicago 40 Under 40 in 2022. Outside of work, Daniel loves diving into fiction, biking, and cherishing moments with his family. Learn more about Daniel here: https://lnkd.in/gVAaGkZ3