Chicago City Wire

CHICAGO — May 11, Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) released the Year of Healing Impact Report and kicked off activations for the Folded Map Action Kit – Together We Heal edition in partnership with Tonika Lewis Johnson. This marks a historic commitment from the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office in explicitly acknowledging the need for racial healing and providing a set of concrete tools, frameworks, and investment strategies for how to approach this work.  

The Year of Healing Impact Report is an interactive summary of the healing efforts conducted by the City of Chicago Mayor’s Office, City Departments, and our community partners throughout the 2022 initiative. The report outlines the Together We Heal Framework (Reflect on Our Past, Reclaim Our Present, Reimagine Our Future); the $6M investment into arts-based healing projects; five policy case studies, and a series of City and community-led activations. The Impact Report also provides a guide for City leaders and community leaders on how to apply the City’s lessons learned to their work allowing them to intentionally center healing in the design of policies and programs.      

“Racial healing work is a critical part of our efforts to recover from the pandemic and reckon with the many underlying inequities that led to a disproportionate impact on Black and Brown communities,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “Thanks to the Office of Equity and Racial Justice and our many community partners, we now have a set of tools and practices on how to best center healing in the design and implementation of our policies and programs.”  

Additionally, on may 11 the Office of Equity and Racial Justice kicked off activations of a new partnership with Englewood artist Tonika Lewis Johnson and her popular Folded Map Project. The Folded Map Action Kit – Together We Heal edition is a guided exploration of Chicago neighborhoods that draws attention and reflection to the impact of Chicago’s racial segregation. The project invites residents to visit a neighborhood with a different racial make-up than their own, reflect on the inequities they see and experience, identify personal opportunities to disrupt the cycle of segregation, and take action toward creating a fairer, more equitable, more healed Chicago.  

“Healing work is happening all across our City, and the Folded Map Project is just one of many excellent, tangible examples,” said Chief Equity Officer Candace Moore. “Partnerships like this one show how government can support and build upon the healing momentum happening in community and provide accessible tools to make healing work feel more personal and more possible!”  

Residents across Chicago are encouraged to participate in the Folded Map Action Kit. After their activity, they should visit the interactive healing map at www.chi.gov/HealingMap where they can share their experiences, virtually explore experiences in other neighborhoods, and learn about the demographic differences and similarities of different Chicago neighborhoods. This innovative tool was created with the generous partnership of Esri.  

For more information on the Together We Heal initiative, Year of Healing, and the Folded Map Action Kit, visit www.chicago.gov/TogetherWeHeal.  

To access the Year of Healing Impact Report, visit www.chicagoyearofhealing.org.  

About The Office of Equity and Racial Justice:  

The Office of Equity and Racial Justice (OERJ) seeks to advance institutional change that results in an equitable transformation of how we do business across the City of Chicago enterprise. This includes the City’s service delivery, resource distribution, policy creation, and decision-making. OERJ will do this by supporting City departments in normalizing concepts of racial equity, organizing staff to work together for transformational change, and operationalizing new practices, policies, and procedures that result in more fair and just outcomes. Visit chicago.gov/equity.  

Original source can be found here.