Disability is not just about some people, it’s about all of us. The longer you live, the more likely you are to acquire a disability over time. I will ramp up investments in these areas over four years to $1 billion per year, and pay for them by reducing unneeded and wasteful spending in other areas.Īpproximately 10% of Chicagoans identify as a person with a disability, a number that will only rise with increases in long COVID-19 and other challenges. We also need investment in education and training to ensure that we can attract better jobs in growing industries, and that Chicagoans can hold those jobs. These investments include not just needed infrastructure but also investments in housing, health, mental health and child care. I have a detailed plan to pay down our debts while ramping up needed investments. The longer we do that, the worse the eventual cost will be and the longer we’ll have to keep paying off yesterday’s mistakes instead of making needed investments in a better tomorrow. For too long, including under the current mayor, we’ve been kicking the can down the road. We need to start by getting the city’s finances in order. As mayor, Brandon will work to make the wealthy pay their fair share and get our city’s budget priorities in order, just as he did as a teacher, organizer and Cook County commissioner. No one should be too poor to live in one of the richest cities in the world. Brandon will break down the gatekeeping to Chicago’s arts resources, ensure Chicago Public Schools have the funding needed to prioritize arts education and after school programs that provide young Chicagoans a safe place to get creative and find joy, and be a vocal ally in funding public art that allows the most marginalized voices in Chicago the necessary platforms to tell their stories and preserve our histories. With Chicago having the nation’s third largest artist labor force, employing over 63,000 artists, 31% being self-employed, it is the duty of the mayor to ensure that Chicago’s artists, art workers, and cultural producers have access to the financial support and stability needed to continue shaping our city’s vibrant and innovative arts community.Īs mayor, Brandon Johnson will be a champion for art workers across the city demanding safe working conditions, pay transparency, and more accessible funding opportunities. According to a report from Americans for the Arts, 63% of artists experienced unemployment and 95% lost creative income at the height of the pandemic, with BIPOC artists seeing higher rates of unemployment than white artists. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on America’s arts sector. And we need a Chicago that keeps pathways to home ownership alive, so that Chicago’s homes aren’t all purchased by private equity firms and the wealthy few. We need a City Hall that will “Bring Chicago Home,” delivering real funding to house the unhoused and combat homelessness. The bottom line is this: We need more housing for those at every income level, so that from public housing to affordable housing, Chicagoans can afford to stay in our city and raise families here. The status quo is unacceptable, and the people of our city deserve better. And it is an injustice that one-in-four Black students in Chicago Public Schools experience homelessness at least once during their lives. It is an outrage that one quarter of renters pay more than half of their paychecks just to make the rent, with little left over for other necessities. It is a moral crisis that on freezing January nights, we have 1,500 Chicagoans sleeping out in the cold. Here in Chicago, homelessness is up 12% since 2019. But Chicagoans know that these days, making rent or the mortgage payment is harder than it’s been for a very long time.
Homelessness has long been a problem in Chicago, and families have always struggled to make the rent. The cornerstone of that vision is our ability to confront our city’s housing crisis. This will allow us to promote student achievement, and grow the jobs and resources Chicago needs.
We create public safety by directly addressing the poverty, economic, racial and environmental injustice that creates disorder in many Chicago communities. That’s not just the right thing to do morally, it’s a smart approach to keeping our neighborhoods safe and strong. Everyone in Chicago deserves to have a roof over their head.
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