Introduction

“People are struggling, and we are being so nitpicky about how and when we give money. In this world that is on fire, we are haggling over the price of the hose. Just give people what they need and let them make their own choices. We have no problem with saying just because I’m giving this to you, you don’t have a choice. But it is so good for people’s souls to have choices. Having choices is a huge part of equity.” – Lissette Castañeda

By January 2021, Chicago had been through nearly 10 months of a pandemic. The governor of Illinois and mayor of Chicago had implemented shutdown phases. Many middle and upper class families settled into working from home. Some bought new, larger homes. People all over Chicago struggled with keeping children on task while trying to work. Others faced down the isolation of weathering the shutdown alone. Lower-income Chicagoans employed in the many food, hospitality, entertainment, and travel jobs in the area found themselves suddenly out of work for months on end, with rents and mortgages to pay.

As the pandemic ground on, it became clear that low-income families already hurting bore the brunt of the economic burden. In particular, Black and Latinx communities still coming back from the last economic downturn and years of disinvestment, were being hit hard by the triple punch of lay-offs, higher rates of infection, and death. The pandemic seemed to be exacerbating inequities that have existed in Chicago for decades. 

As a result, The Chicago Community Trust partnered with New America on a new project to learn more about how the pandemic is impacting these communities economically. The project was designed to inform a larger, multi-year initiative, called We Rise Together: For an Equitable and Just Recovery. The initiative brings together the resources of philanthropy, business, government, nonprofits, and community voices to focus economic recovery investments in communities most impacted by COVID-19. To ensure that We Rise Together is grounded in the lived experiences of people in those communities, the team planned to listen to the experiences and guidance of both local nonprofit leaders and community residents. For the first round, the team set out to learn from Black and Brown nonprofit community leaders embedded in the communities hit hardest by the pandemic and past economic downturns. The results were sobering.

In the past, low-income, Black and Brown communities have often felt the effects of economic downturns longer and harder than other communities, with more lost jobs, closed businesses, and lost homes. The results of these interviews suggest this pandemic will be no different without concerted action. Low-income families and communities were already on the edge economically. The pandemic will take years for them to recover from.

A summary of what the team learned about how communities are weathering the pandemic and a vision for a more equitable recovery than years past follows. The knowledge and expertise of the leaders interviewed was invaluable. As much as possible, this document preserves the words and spirit of community leaders’ comments so that others can hear nearly directly from them. These observations and recommendations provide a roadmap to community leaders, policymakers, and philanthropists who wish to make sure communities of color have the opportunity to rebuild better than before.