South Side Community Reparations Coalition

The South Side Community Reparations Coalition (SSCRC), is a community-based participatory assessment and planning project that seeks to help local residents understand, recommend and prioritize community-based reparations strategies to repair and restore Black communities on the South Side of Chicago. The SSCRC works to plan for how Restore Reinvest Renew “R3” grants (cannabis tax money) funding is used but cannot directly influence the use of other funds. The South Side Community Reparations Coalition is funded by an “R3” Assessment and Planning Grant and is guided by and housed in the Chicago Urban League’s Research and Policy Center.

The project focuses on ten Chicago community areas: Douglas, Fuller Park, Greater Grand Crossing, Oakland, South Shore, Woodlawn and Washington Park, Grand Boulevard, Englewood, and West Englewood. However, since many people do not identify with these community areas and because families often move but still maintain ties to their former communities, the project has been adjusted to consider the Black South Side as a whole with a focus on the ten aforementioned community areas. Members of the Black community who live in a majority Black community in Chicago are considered part of the project scope.

SSCRC Principles

• Community participation
• Uplifting & centering the voices of those directly impacted by structural racism and the War on Drugs
• Inclusion of a diversity of voices and experiences