Since summer 2020, Civic Consulting Alliance has devoted considerable staff resources to support the City of Chicago, Cook County, and other public and social sector clients across our three platforms in working towards an equitable recovery that results in enduring change. This work amplified our initial collaborative COVID-19 crisis response management—which you can read about in our 2020 Impact Report—and relied on our unique institutional knowledge and our deep public and private sector relationships. Moreover, it was done in tandem with—and informed by learnings from—efforts to promote racial equity in practice and policy.

We are incredibly grateful to our philanthropic and corporate partners, whose generous support enabled Civic Consulting Alliance to undertake these critical equitable recovery efforts.

EXPLORE OUR WORK TOWARDS AN EQUITABLE RECOVERY

• Racial Equity

• Economic Vitality

• Education

• Safety and Justice

Economic Vitality

In 2021, Civic Consulting Alliance undertook recovery-focused projects that aligned with our Economic Vitality platform vision of contributing to the Chicago region’s long-term vitality by growing an economy that works for everyone.

City of Chicago –
Vision for an Equitable Recovery

One of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s chief policy priorities is to eradicate poverty and address systemic inequities. This priority only grew in importance due to the COVID-19 crisis, as thousands of residents faced unemployment, loss of income, and other hardships. While the City worked to address the impact of the COVID-19 crisis, it sought to ensure an inclusive and equitable economic recovery—pursuing strategies that would lead to enduring change. Civic Consulting Alliance and our partners McKinsey, EY, Deloitte, BCG, and Bain supported a series of critical projects with the City to achieve this vision for economic equity and vitality—including standing up a project management structure for the Recovery Task Force, advancing recovery workforce initiatives, and providing business management support for INVEST South/West.

Advancing Equitable Recovery through the American Rescue Plan Act

The federal American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law on March 12, 2021, providing nearly $2 billion to the City of Chicago and $1 billion to Cook County in direct, flexible funding to combat the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on our region. From mid-March through the summer, we committed more than 30% of our consulting staff to help the City of Chicago and Cook County plan for efficient and effective investment of these funds, with significant support from our partners Mayer Brown, BCG, and EY.

We Rise Together:
For an Equitable & Just Recovery

We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery is an initiative uniting partners across philanthropy, business, government, nonprofits and communities to help our region build back better, stronger, and more just following the crises of 2020. Hosted at the Chicago Community Trust, We Rise Together’s mission is to support an equitable economic recovery for Black and Latinx Chicagoans via community-centered, cross-sector solutions that lead to structural change. From January to March 2021, Civic Consulting Alliance engaged pro bono partner BCG to help translate the Trust’s broad vision and theory of change framework into an actionable plan that, with stakeholder input, would guide investments and partnerships. As a result, We Rise Together is equipped with a comprehensive plan—including priority initiatives (to increase employment, strengthen small business, and spur neighborhood development), an operating model, an organizational and governance structure, and materials to facilitate ongoing efforts of working groups. With this plan, as well as ongoing thought partnership from Civic Consulting Alliance and BCG, We Rise Together has the tools it needs to carry this critical work forward. The initiative’s first round of grants totaled $7.5M in investments in real estate development projects slowed by the advent of the pandemic across eight communities in the Chicago region.

Formed in 2016, the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities (PSPC) has grown to be a coalition of more than 50 funders aligning their funding on a catalytic basis to urgently and sustainably reduce gun violence in the Chicago region. From the beginning, Civic Consulting Alliance has guided this coalition, building upon our body of Safety and Justice platform work and our experience managing complex collaboratives, to provide project management, operational, strategy development, and fundraising support. Additionally, from July 2020 through May 2021, Civic Consulting Alliance—with pro bono support from a Protiviti fellow—facilitated a process to assess and update PSPC’s strategic priorities and governance structure.

Youth involved in the justice system, their families, and advocates have long called for changes to Chicago’s and Illinois’ approach to juvenile justice. In recent years, public leaders have increasingly heard these calls, recognizing that our system does not promote community safety or positive youth outcomes, and it oftentimes re-traumatizes youth. Moreover, leaders recognize that the current system is unjust and inequitable—with young Black men arrested and incarcerated at significantly higher rates than other groups. Nationwide protests for racial justice in 2020 only heightened public support for rectifying the systemic failures impacting our youth. Over the past year, Civic Consulting Alliance supported two projects focused on transforming our juvenile justice system from a punitive to a rehabilitative model—one for the City’s Juvenile Intervention and Support Center and another—with support from pro bono partner Protiviti—for the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.