Equity and Transformation wants to build Black equity

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BY TIA CAROL JONES

Equity and Transformation Chicago was founded by Richard Wallace in 2018, with the goal of uplifting the voices of Black people in Chicago who participate in the informal economy – economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state.

What does that mean? The bucket boys, the person who sells bootlegged DVDs, the person who sells loose cigarettes, the commercial sex workers are all part of the informal economy. Equity and Transformation launched the Chicago Future Fund, a guaranteed income program for people who are impacted by the system and/or formerly incarcerated, primarily in West Garfield Park, Austin and Englewood. Those who are eligible receive $500 a month. In the first iteration of the pilot program, there were 30 people from West Garfield Park, in the second there were 100 people from West Garfield Park, Austin and Englewood.

“He really wanted to create a program where, instead of excluding people based on their background, that is the eligibility criteria,” said Rachel Pyon is a research coordinator at Equity and Transformation and Chicago Future Fund Manager. EAT was involved in the legalization of cannabis legislation. Pyon said the organization believed it was really important to acknowledge the harm done by the War on Drugs. The vision for the Chicago Future Fund is that it can be the start of a form of reparations.

Pyon said, right now, even though cannabis is legal in Illinois, there are still thousands of people who are still incarcerated because of a cannabis-related charge. And, once they are released, they aren’t getting their records expunged, which causes them to face barriers in facets in their life.“As one of the forms of reparations, not saying that direct cash payments is an end-all-be-all solution, but one of the things we can do to start to win reparations in the State of Illinois is to advocate for direct cash payments for system-impacted people,” Pyon said. The criteria for eligibility is that they have to be system-impacted, have to live in West Garfield Park, Austin and Englewood, make less than $20,000 a year and are aged between 18-45.

While EAT is based on the West side, it works throughout the city to pass policy and do community events. West Garfield Park, Austin and Englewood communities were chosen because they have the largest Black communities. “We are really trying to change the narrative around deservedness and hopefully use the results of our program to eventually support the Big Payback Campaign,” Pyon said.

EAT’s Big Payback Campaign is a comprehensive campaign to win reparations for the War on Drugs. The War on Drugs has and continues to have devastating effects on the communities that EAT works with. EAT wants to use the United Nation’s five conditions for reparations. Those include satisfaction, compensation, restitution, rehabilitation and guarantees of non-repetition.

“I think the Chicago Future Fund is a great way to capture people’s stories and understand how this money is impacting their lives and how this money could be beneficial if we were to have something like this statewide and not just privately funded and run by us. But, really a permanent fund for survivors of the War on Drugs,” Pyon said. Pyon added, as Guaranteed Income Programs are launched throughout the city, county, state and country, there is a movement to organize and gather the people and power to make the pilot programs permanent.

For more information about Equity and Transformation Chicago, visit www.eatchicago.org. For more information about the Chicago Future Fund, visit eatchicago.org/Chicago-future-fund-1.