Each and every one of God’s children has been endowed with the divine. This divine blessing is what connects all of humanity and when one of us is oppressed and suffers, all of us are oppressed. The Englewood shooting on Sunday, August 9, and the ensuing riots speak powerfully to this.

It is the truth that to be a person of faith in America today is to recognize that America desires Jesus slogans over morally grounded Jesus-inspired action.

Chicago police shot someone on the South Side last night. By looting downtown, protesters are addressing the root cause of police violence.

Community Renewal Society, as a member of the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability coalition, continues to fight for the GAPA Ordinance developed by community members and coalition allies.

Where are the sanctuaries for Black people in America? Where can we go to be free, to breathe, to laugh, to love and be loved, and be human without the fears and threats of being harmed? For many, the answer has largely been the Black church.

We share this video, produced by Black Lives Matter, as a resource for faith communities seeking to facilitate the eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence in honor of Brother Floyd.

The Illinois Conference of the United Church of Christ writes to express our acknowledgement of the communal pain, outrage and lament felt by so many of our citizens.

We share in the righteous lament of stolen lives and reject white supremacy and a normalized culture of violence that sanctions the undue lynching of Black and Brown bodies.

It has been a year since Lori Lightfoot took office and she has yet to fulfill a critical promise to communities of color to establish a civilian oversight board over the Chicago Police Department.

Read a press release issued by the GAPA coalition denouncing May Lori Lightfoot’s inaction in police reform. GAPA will continue the fight for police accountability and civilian oversight and we will keep you updated on how you can support our work.

Superintendent Eddie Johnson accepted the mantle of leadership during one of Chicago’s most tumultuous moments in recent history.

Community Renewal Society is in solidarity with the Justice 4 Laquan collective. Join us by taking action!

In 2017, CRS, alongside Communities United, One Northside, Next Steps, Equity for Equality and the ACLU of Illinois, launched a lawsuit against the City of Chicago and we officially settled that lawsuit on May 17, 2019.

On Thursday, January 31, 2019, history was made in Chicago. Never before has a court-enforced consent decree to reform a city's police department been filed without the support of the U.S. Department of Justice. Here in Chicago, with the final approval of Federal Court Judge Robert Dow, the first measure of this kind became a reality.

Our coalition, and CRS specifically, showed significant representation at the Federal Building to testify on the consent decree that could change the way Chicago police interact with the public.

Fundamental to navigating the staircase is understanding racism, or perhaps better stated, "racialization.”

A prayer vigil is held in front of the Chicago Police Department headquarters in memory of Laquan McDonald and to call for a federal investigation into the case.

Rahm Emanuel shocked the city when he announced he would not be running for a third term. Many think it is time. Amid the largest round of school closings in Chicago’s history, record tax increases for Chicago residents to pay city pensions, record high days of gun violence, and the cover-up/debacle of the murder of Laquan McDonald that resulted in a federal investigation, many would argue that it has been time for Emanuel to leave for a while.

CRS's Police Accountability work can be visualized as a three-legged stool. Our coalition work in the areas of community-based police oversight (Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability) and police contracts reform (Coalition for Police Contracts Accountability) stand as the first two legs.

The public has until this Friday to call for Chicago Police reforms! Comment period ends August 17.