An Open Letter from Community-Based Service Providers

You may be aware that the Chicago Transit Authority  will end its program to help ex-offenders gain work experience cleaning rail cars and buses on Dec. 31. We received the following “open letter” from the John Howard Association of Illinois this morning, urging that the program be saved. At Chicag...
December 12, 2013

The Independent Police Review Authority Calls for Engagement to Move Forward

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 the Chicago Council of Lawyers, the Chicago Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society, and the Office of the Cook County Public Defender hosted the forum, Investigating and Reporting on Complaints against Chicago Police Officers, concerning the work of the Indepen...
May 10, 2013
Seal of Cook County, Illinois

Coordination is the Key to the Cook County Electronic Monitoring Problem

The April 26th “Change of Subject” column column by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn discusses the drop in the number of defendants released on electronic home monitoring which is contributing to the critical problem of jail overcrowding in Cook County.  The current population of Cook Count...
April 29, 2013

Policy Brief: Community Courts in Cook County

Today we release a two-part policy brief discussing an alternative prosecution strategy called community-based justice. Part I makes the case for community-base justice by comparing Cook County’s current misdemeanor justice system--which adjudicates over 150,000 misdemeanors annually (pdf)--with com...
February 27, 2013

Tools: Alternative Small Dollar Loan Toolkit

Chicago Appleseed was pleased to partner with the Illinois Asset Building Coalition in the development of the Alternative Small Dollar Loan Toolkit (ASDL Toolkit). The ASDL Toolkit serves as a resource for banks and credit unions interested in offering a safe, profitable, small dollar loan (SDL) pr...
January 28, 2013