Our Initiatives
Chicago is facing urgent civic and structural challenges. Leading a Better Chicago is focused on restoring trust, improving public safety, strengthening public education, and addressing long-term financial instability. Read more below.
Chicago is finally seeing what works in public safety: sustained, neighborhood-based work.
That looks like mentorship, violence interruption, trauma-informed care, and trusted relationships built over years by the people and organizations doing the work. These organizations deserve the city’s funding and support. This progress will not continue if funding does not.
We do not need more rhetoric. We need better funding models, faster contracting, and the political will to invest in success rather than deflect responsibility.
Leading a Better Chicago is serious about public safety and sustaining the gains the city is finally seeing.
Systematic fiscal changes and a lack of community care have deeply impacted the stability of education in Chicago.
As CPS alums and parents, we recognize the need for equity and equal opportunity for all students. Our education sector suffers from a deep budget deficit and leadership instability. Bad contracts and risky financial dealings should not get in the way of our children’s education.
City Hall needs to balance its books.
Chicago cannot grow its way out of a deficit built on wishful math. We need a disciplined, transparent budget that lives within its means. This means:
- Right-size the city workforce and ensure staffing matches actual service needs.
- Working with other units of government to reduce overlap and cut waste.
- Requiring every department to justify spending annually (“zero-based budgeting”).
- No new taxes until existing dollars are audited and accounted for.
- Require independent financial audits of all major agencies—including CPS and CTA—so taxpayers know exactly where their money is going.
