As many of you know, this past Saturday, a tragic set of events led to a shooting at Endeavor Swedish Hospital that took the life of Officer John Bartholomew and wounded another officer who is now fighting for his life. Like many of you, I am heartbroken by what happened, and struggling to understand the events that led up to it. In the […]
Category: News
PRESS RELEASE: Joint Meeting on Welcoming City Ordinance Violations
Posted onOn Tuesday, January 27th, The Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights and the Committee on Police and Fire are holding a joint meeting to discuss legislation to clarify and strengthen the investigation process for violations of the Welcoming City Ordinance. This meeting follows the CCPSA listening session earlier this month, at which hundreds of Chicagoans […]
2025 Annual Report of the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights
Posted onIt’s been a challenging year for the City of Chicago and the Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, as we’ve navigated the brutal campaign of immigration enforcement and its impact on our neighbors. But we are so proud of how our city has come together to stand up for the rights of immigrants and refugees […]
Statement from Ald. Vasquez on the FY2026 Budget
Posted onThank you to all of you who have taken the time to fill out our budget survey and otherwise reach out over the past few weeks about your thoughts, questions, and concerns about this year’s budget! In this year’s budget survey results, the top five priorities our neighbors identified for this year’s budget were: housing, […]
Announcing the 2026 People’s Budget!
Posted onVoting for the 2026 People’s Budget is open! Vote by December 31st, 2025. The 2026 People’s Budget is officially open for voting! From now until December 31st, 2025, 40th Ward residents ages 14+ can vote on how we should spend one million dollars in infrastructure funds, including: To learn more about how participatory budgeting works, […]
Budget 2026 Update
Posted onOur team has been hard at work analyzing the 2026 City of Chicago Budget proposal, as well as meeting with independent budget watchdog organizations to get their feedback! Here’s what we’ve learned so far: New or Notable Revenues The budget proposal includes many proposed new revenues, including: Notable Investments CPD continues to be the best-funded […]
Ald. Andre Vasquez Statement on Potential Deployment of Federal Troops to Chicago
Posted onPresident Trump may want to abuse his office by sending military troops into our city to terrorize our people––but we don’t have to let him. If the president sets federal troops on our city, we will fight back with every tool available to us. We will not sit back and allow him to terrorize the […]
2025 Policy Town Hall
Posted onThis past week, we hosted a Town Hall for 40th Ward neighbors to come together to discuss the most pressing policy issues facing our city! We hosted breakout discussions to hear from neighbors about their ideas and priorities, and talked about some of the priorities we’re working on. If you missed being there in person, […]
Haven on Lincoln Community Update
Posted onOn Wednesday, August 20th, we held a community meeting to update the community on the most recent happenings with the Haven on Lincoln! If you missed the meeting, you can watch the video below, or read on for a summary of what we covered. Operational Update Based on federal funding changes, the Chicago Department of Public […]
Release of Information from the June 4th Incident
Posted onUPDATE: Body-worn camera footage from the June 4th mass detention at 2245 S. Michigan was released on September 12th and can be found on the Chicago Police Department website. The Committee will be reviewing and providing analysis, and we encourage the public to do the same! Last Friday, the Mayor’s Office released much of the […]
Statement from Ald. Vasquez on the Mayor’s Office Internal Review of the June 4th Mass Detention
Posted onToday, the Mayor’s Office released the findings of their internal review of the June 4th mass detention at the 2245 S. Michigan Avenue ISAP office, as well as the records and communications requested by the Order (SOr2025-0017810) that we introduced in June. I’m grateful that some movement has been made toward accountability for what happened […]
Statement from Ald. Andre Vasquez on the Mid-Year Budget Report Release
Posted onFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STATEMENT FROM ALD. ANDRE VASQUEZ ON THE RELEASE OF THE MID-YEAR BUDGET REPORT July 31, 2025 CHICAGO, IL – On July 30th, the Office of Budget Management released the Mid-Year Budget Report, in response to budget transparency reforms Ald. Andre Vasquez submitted to the management ordinance during last year’s budget process. During […]