In 2021 BPI was busy with the passage of a community oversight ordinance for the Chicago Police Department, the release of our Reentry Housing Report, and the installation of a community-driven monument to honor Ida B Wells in the Bronzeville community, along with adding new staff to the team and a new strategic plan!

As demonstrated, this year offered BPI and its supporters opportunities to fight for racial, social, and economic justice.
Decreasing The Illinois Prison Population

In 2021, BPI continued to fight to decrease the Illinois prison population equitably, including expanded mechanisms for midsentence review.

Ashton Hoselton, BPI Staff Counsel and Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow, fought for the parole of Mr. Allen, an inmate incarcerated at the Dixon Correctional Center who had been in jail for more than 40 years. Although Mr. Allen became eligible for parole in 1992, he had never been represented by legal counsel and had received zero votes for parole over 29 years.

Ashton prepared the case with only one in-person legal visit and 30-minute legal calls that had to be scheduled in advance due to COVID-19. Arguing for Mr. Allen's release at the Prisoner Review Board resulted in him receiving favorable votes from all 12 Prison Review Board members, and he was released in spring 2021.

Despite the nearly thirty years it took Mr. Allen to be released on parole, he is relatively lucky. Illinois has not had a complete parole system since 1978, the year of Mr. Allen's conviction. Parole offered him a chance to prove that he is accomplished, transformed, and unlikely to recidivate. Without this opportunity for parole, Mr. Allen would have been required to live behind bars whether or not his continued incarceration served any purpose. Others behind bars in Illinois also deserve this second chance.

Stable housing is imperative for reentry success, but returning residents face several obstacles that limit their ability to find a home. Unlocking Reentry Housing: Keys to Building Collaborative Tenant-Based Voucher Programs, a new report released by BPI, presents the Partnership for Housing Access findings. This 18-month pilot program involving carceral and housing system stakeholders and reentry advocates provided returning residents in Cook County with tenant-based vouchers and supportive services to help them obtain affordable housing and settle into their neighborhoods. 
New Initiative Launched
Justice 20/20: The Demand for Equity

BPI partnered with Cabrini Green Legal Aid (CGLA) and the Illinois Justice Project (ILJP) to launch Justice 20/20: The Demand For Equity. This multi-year initiative brings together individuals and organizations to collaborate to address issues within the Illinois criminal legal system. The name of this effort reflects the future vision of this work: achieving collective clarity among those working to change the criminal legal system and focus on the work that needs to be done. Justice 20/20 is driven by participants' priorities, strategies, and decisions in workgroups organized by specific topic areas.

In 2022, BPI will continue to help build out Justice 20/20 to achieve a coordinated collective of individuals and groups working to advance change in the criminal legal system through:

  • effective implementation of recent and future policy changes,
  • development of new legislative and administrative initiatives to pursue, and
  • identification of and response to administrative barriers.
IDA B. WELLS MONUMENT UNVEILING

As a member of the Ida B. Wells Monument Committee and fiscal sponsor of this project, BPI attended the unveiling of the monument in June 2021. Created by sculptor Richard Hunt, the monument honoring renowned journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells stands in the center of Oakwood Shores, the new mixed-income community on the former site of the Ida B. Wells public housing development.
BPI SUPPORTS A MORE JUST AND EQUITABLE HOUSING MARKET

Together with a broad coalition of organizations, BPI supported legislation that will make source of income discrimination illegal in Illinois real estate transactions. Source of income discrimination is widespread and increasing in Illinois.  This bill amends the Illinois Homelessness Prevention Act by creating additional legal defenses and protections against discrimination for renters and preventing undue administrative burdens when applying for housing assistance.
 
Protected sources of income under the bill would include emergency housing assistance, social security, disability support, and federal Housing Choice Vouchers.
BPI's Partnership with the Empowering Communities for Public Safety Coalition Got a Big Win in 2021

In July, the Chicago City Council passed a transformative ordinance to empower Chicago communities in building public safety in Chicago. The Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) is a historic ordinance that represents many years of work by the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA) and the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR), two broad-based community coalitions. Thousands of people and more than 100 community groups took part in creating the ordinance. BPI's Police Accountability team provided extensive support to the GAPA coalition since the group came together more than five years ago and worked with the ECPS Coalition since GAPA and CAARPR joined forces behind a joint ordinance earlier this year. 

BPI is committed to working with our community partners and other stakeholders to ensure successful implementation and to see to it that the ordinance realizes its full promise.
In a year when enrollment in early childhood programs declined across the city of Chicago, our children and families at Altgeld Gardens, served by the enduring Altgeld-Riverdale Early Learning Collaborative, enrolled in pre-K programs at a rate higher than the city average. The Collaborative, which BPI convenes, met the many challenges of 2020 and 2021 and continues to provide a comprehensive system that supports children from birth to age eight, along with their families. 

We celebrate the success of the Altgeld-Riverdale Early Learning Collaborative, which is based on the partnership and power of the community stakeholders that remain dedicated to the children of this community.  
2021 Highlights

On September 24, Co-Director of Public Housing, Senior Staff Counsel Alexander Polikoff, interviewed Sheryll Cashin virtually and discussed her new book, White Space, Black 'Hood: Opportunity Hoarding and Segregation in the Age of Inequality.
BPI's virtual annual event, Power In Community, premiered on October 27. Hosted by Lolly Bowean, the incredible speaker lineup included White House Correspondent for PBS NewsHour, Yamiche Alcindor; Carmack Waterhouse Professor of Law, Civil Rights and Social Justice at the Georgetown University Law Center, Sheryll Cashin; U.S. Representative, Jesús G. "Chuy" García; and Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul 
BPI's Team Grew


BPI would like to welcome Tamara Reed Tran, Suresh Sharma, Nancy Negrete, and Loren Jones to the team.

About BPI

BPI is an innovative public interest law and policy center, utilizing a combination of legal tools, policy research, advocacy, organizing, and convening to work towards transformational change.  

At BPI, we are committed to addressing the structural racism and systemic oppression that has led to inequities and injustices in Illinois, particularly for people and communities of color.