Don’t miss Liberating Love, this year’s Annual Membership Assembly, Saturday, October 23, 2021 at 10:00 AM Central Time via Zoom. Hear inspiring words from Rev. Dr. Danielle Buhuro and learn about our legislative wins this year and our ongoing work to build Beloved Community.

This past week, Chicago lost a champion of civil rights, when author and historian, Timuel Black passed away at the age of 102. Read more about the important role played by Timuel Black in advancing social justice.

Community Renewal Society strengthened its commitment to showing liberating love by embracing the LGBTQIA+ community. Our LGBTQIA+ Faith Race and Equity Platform was introduced at CRS’ 2020 Annual Membership Assembly and Rev. Jason Carson-Wilson was commissioned as the Bayard Rustin Fellow to lead the work.

Learn more about ECPS and how you can get involved by attending one of our teach-ins!

On September 11, 2001, in his capacity as General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ, Rev. John Thomas was visiting church partners in Germany. On the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of those events he shares recollections as well as reflections on the significance of the day for himself, the church, and the world in the ensuing years. He shares, “The cascading tragedy in Afghanistan only seems to confirm the timeliness of this kind of reflection.”

As we somberly and soberly reflect on the lives lost two decades ago on this anniversary of the heinous acts of September 11, let us also do the hard work and reflect on how fear can create our own inner terrorist. Terrorism evolving from our fear of the “other” – whether that be an “other” gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race, political party or religion. CRS Board Member, Avalon Betts-Gaston, shares a reflection on the events of September 11.

Our worlds have been turned upside down in the last 20 months, as we have adapted how we worship, work, educate our children, grocery shop, and so much more. This has also been a time when many of us more fully realized the stark injustice of income inequality and its suffocating impact.

The start of a new school year marks an exciting new beginning. This especially true this year as we embark on a new normal after experiencing over seventeen months of a once-in-a-century global pandemic. A global pandemic that has caused you to be disconnected and isolated.

Chicago Public School (CPS) students returned to their classrooms this past Monday for the first time in 17 months. There was great optimism about returning to school, as well as hesitancy due to COVID-19 and the rising number of cases due to the Delta variant.

Learn about ways you can help Haitians seeking asylum.

While these new laws bring us steps closer to the Illinois we want to live in, the work is not done. All of us must continue to do the good work of organizing our communities, taking action and demanding meaningful change!

On July 21, 2021 The Empowering Communities for Public Safety Ordinance passed! This achievement could not have happened without your involvement and the support of these Alderpeople. Please take the time to thank them.

by Rev. Karen Mooney, Executive Co-Director - Unitarian Universalist Advocacy Network of IL

On Friday, July 2, 2021, Superintendent David Brown appeared at Chicago’s City Council to answer questions regarding the Chicago Police Department’s strategy to address gun violence over the Fourth of July weekend. During his remarks, the Superintendent repeatedly fell back on the same false narratives about pretrial justice reforms that the police and City have been using for the last several years.

Over the last several months, Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown and Mayor Lori Lightfoot have repeatedly tried to blame pretrial justice reforms for the city’s gun violence without being able to back up their claims with anything more than fear.

Your voice is needed! Grassroots organizing and public policy advocacy requires consistent work by individuals, especially those from communities most impacted by systemic racism and structural inequality.

The campaign to end permanent punishments on people with criminal records in Illinois

Community Renewal Society pledges to continue working against all forms of voter suppression, supporting advocacy groups, community organizations and our private sector partners to strengthen voting rights, as well as push for passage of voting rights legislation on Capitol Hill.

Chicago has experienced an unprecedented amount of violence in recent months. As we enter into the Fourth of July weekend, the violence continues, and calls for immediate action have been heard throughout the City. To get to the root of the violence, however, we must change our approach to public safety.

In this new America, we not only acknowledge the harm done by slavery, but we also invest in the lives and communities of Black folks who continue to reel from hundreds of years of economic devastation caused by slavery, Jim Crow, red-lining, the war on drugs and the prison industrial complex.