Coalition members, grassroots leaders, elected officials, and other community partners commemorated CCH’s recent successes at our annual Victory Celebration held on December 5 at Grace Episcopal Church.
CCH staff recognized the many partners who were instrumental to passing new legislation, improving systems, and increasing access to resources – all supporting people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and working towards housing as a human right.
The celebration featured a performance by Board Member and Grassroots Leader Carla Johnson – reading a poem she wrote through the Horizons creating writing program – and a special ceremony to honor the organizing and advocacy of CCH’s grassroots leaders over the past year.
”We have the distinct honor of lifting up leaders in this space tonight and shining a light on what they have done to get us closer to a just world,” Executive Director Doug Schenkelberg shared in his opening remarks.
Thank you to all who joined us at our 2024 Victory Celebration! It was an evening of joy, reflection, and community.
2024 Victory Celebration Honorees
For Advocacy in Protecting Tenant Rights
Senator Karina Villa
Representative Will Guzzardi
With partner Housing Action Illinois, CCH passed HB 4768: Ending Housing Retaliatory Behavior during last year’s state legislative session. This legislation supports renters by outlining behaviors protected from landlord retaliation, including requesting repairs, reporting code violations, and joining a tenants’ union. HB 4768 also defines clear examples of retaliation and provides legal remedies to challenge unlawful behaviors.
”I am so thankful for Sen. Villa and Rep. Guzzardi and their advocacy in the housing space. It is great to have them as champions and this bill was hard fought. Thank you for your fierce and unstoppable advocacy.”
Niya KellyDirector of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
For Advocacy in Supporting Students Experiencing Homelessness
Senator Adriane Johnson
Representative Michelle Mussman
Championed by Sen. Adriane Johnson and Rep. Michelle Mussman, CCH passed HB 5407: Strengthening Supports for Homeless Students, which re-establishes a state grant program that allocates funds to support the enrollment, attendance, and success of students experiencing homelessness. State funding will supplement but operate independently from the McKinney-Vento federal grant program, while allowing more flexibility to best meet the needs of each school district.
”Rep. Mussman and Sen. Johnson both understand that every child living in Illinois deserves access to educational opportunities, and it is even more important that we make sure that youth experiencing homelessness have a wide safety net that catches them in those circumstances.”
Niya KellyDirector of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
For Advocacy in Supporting Homeless Prevention Services
Senator Lilian Jimenez
For more than two decades, the Homelessness Prevention Program has helped thousands of families to stay in their home, with 88% of people receiving assistance maintaining their housing. Passed last session, HB 5564 strengthens the program by allowing housing providers to use up to 20% of their funding for case management services.
”Rep. Jimenez is not able to attend this evening, but I want to say thank you to her for her work to get changes to the Homelessness Prevention line-item into the budget.”
Niya KellyDirector of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
For Advocacy in Better Identifying Students Experiencing Homelessness in Illinois
Nathan Yuan
At just 17-years-old, Nathan Yuan researched and authored an article on Illinois’ undercount of students experiencing homelessness and the need to create a better methodology for counting and supporting these students. Thanks to his efforts and partnership, we were able to develop legislation to recreate Illinois’ Homeless Education line-item alongside administrative advocacy to create a dashboard to show the number of homeless students in each school district.
”Nathan can’t be here tonight because he is at Columbia University in New York studying for his finals, but Illinois is able to succeed in homeless education because of people like him.”
Niya KellyDirector of State Legislative Policy, Equity and Transformation
For Tireless System Improvement Advocacy
Lauren Henderson
Sally Ehrlich
Convened by CCH, the Homeless Youth Committee mobilizes 30+ organizational partners, young people, and advocates to address the unique challenges of youth experiencing homelessness. Thanks to the amazing efforts of Youth Committee members Sally Ehrlich and Lauren Henderson, the Illinois Collaboration on Youth was awarded a 2-year Youth Homelessness System Improvement grant of $1,369,451. This funding will bring together the youth and young adult homelessness systems of Chicago and Suburban Cook County to evaluate and create a joint plan to improve both systems.
”The deep change needed to end youth and young adult homelessness requires courageous critical examination of the systems – including our own contribution to them – and leaders willing to reach across boundaries to build relationships and create collaboration. I have witnessed Sally and Lauren doing just that with openness, community centered values, persistence and grace.”
M NelsenManager of City Policy
For Remarkable Contributions to the Redevelopment of Streetlight Chicago and for Improving Young People’s Access to Resources
Stephen Walter
The Night Ministry (accepted by Anthony Monterroso, Latice Woodard, and Michelle Thomas)
Thanks to partners Stephen Walter of Shine Studio and The Night Ministry, CCH completed a full redevelopment of Streetlight Chicago, a free app and website for unstably housed young people. New features include tags and filters, enhanced mapping and directions, the ability to save resources and notes in the app, youth user reviews, and improvements to and automation of Book-a-Bed. A new “Spotlight” section provides step-by-step guidance on relevant topics such as navigating the coordinated entry system, strategies for working with case managers, and unique considerations for minors.
”Thanks to Stephen’s commitment, flexibility, and creativity, we were able to relaunch Streetlight earlier this year, and the feedback so far has been wonderful. Folks who’ve used the new Streetlight have been just blown away, and I am so grateful for his continued support and vision for the project.”
Sue UmScholarship & Streetlight Coordinator
”The Night Ministry was a critical collaborator in our rebuilding process, hosting focus groups and serving on our redevelopment committee. We are so grateful for their generosity in their invaluable time and expertise.”
Beth MalikAssociate Director of the Law Project
For Remarkable Contributions to the Bring Chicago Home Campaign
Leadership Committee of Bring Chicago Home
The Bring Chicago Home Leadership Committee – made up of social service, advocacy, legal, and health organizations – went above and beyond during last year’s ballot campaign. Though we experienced a painful loss last March, it is essential to acknowledge the hard work and celebrate the progress made, even though we did not meet our goal – yet.
BCH Leadership Committee members organized dozens of house parties and lunch and learns, filled hundreds of phone banking and canvassing shifts, and provided legal support when the realtor lobby filed a lawsuit that sought to toss BCH off the ballot, a battle that we won. The team also raised over $150,000 from their personal networks to support the campaign.
”I continue to be inspired by all of the contributions you made to the ballot campaign, and am excited to keep building on the progress we made together for the next fights ahead.”
Mary TarulloDirector of City Policy
For Leadership and Dedication to Ending Homelessness in Chicago
Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness (accepted by Emily Krisciunas and Kathy Niedorowski)
Chicago Funders Together to End Homelessness has been a tremendous ally and partner in CCH’s work to achieve housing as a human right. They awarded the Bring Chicago Home Coalition a $200,000 2-year grant in 2022, just days after we experienced a serious setback to moving the BCH proposal forward in City Hall. This vote of confidence helped our coalition continue to fight to move our work forward. Once BCH got on the ballot and we needed to rapidly raise money to fund the work, Chicago Funders again stepped up. Their advocacy and partnership has resulted in $1.7 million invested in the Bring Chicago Home campaign, including an incredible $500,000 investment from Michael Reese Health Trust.
”I can’t tell you the number of calls and texts and Zooms from me that Emily and Kathy have had to put up with from me. Chicago is so very lucky to have such a focused and dedicated group of funders working on this issue that get the importance of community organizing and systemic change.”
Doug SchenkelbergExecutive Director
Les Brown Award
For Significant Contributions to Housing Justice in Chicago
Julie Dworkin
In her 27 years at CCH, former Director of Policy Julie Dworkin led and contributed to many important policy and budgetary improvements in Chicago and across Illinois. Her legacy includes the creation of the Chicago Low Income Housing Trust Fund, the Illinois Homelessness Prevention Program, the state’s Rental Housing Support Program, and the Chicago Airbnb tax, which funds a program to house Chicago Public Schools families experiencing homelessness. She has also been a stalwart advocate for including people who are living doubled-up in official definitions of homelessness, laying the groundwork for CCH’s homeless estimate being used by city agencies and expanding housing opportunities for people experiencing doubled-up homelessness.
”Julie worked both for and alongside Les Brown for many years. I can think of no one more worthy of receiving the Les Brown advocacy award than Julie.”
Doug SchenkelbergExecutive Director
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless is now Chicago Coalition to end Homelessness (CCH).