Chicago used federal money to launch two pandemic-era programs to help renters with cash and legal assistance to keep them ...

Newswire: Inside the Bridgeport vs. Amtrak controversy Welcome to Newswire — your weekly guide to Chicago government, civic ...

2025 was a year of urgent challenges and undeniable impact—we equipped communities to take action, deepened connections, and strengthened civic infrastructure nationwide. Dive into our 2025 Yearbook & ...

Join us for an interactive workshop on zines as a form of creative self-expression and a tool for community organizing and mobilization! Join City Bureau and Chicago Documenter/Civic Reporting Fellow, ...

Join us for a virtual workshop on Creating a Climate Disaster Plan with Your Community! In this workshop, we will share resources and decide how they will be shared at a hyperlocal level. This could ...

NOTE: “Perfect Storm” is a series produced by City Bureau in partnership with Documenters Network sites focused on how federal funding instability is affecting local communities. It looks at how ...

Tell us where we should distribute our Chicago Housing Pocket Guide: We printed 1,000 pocket-sized copies, and we need help deciding where to pass them out! Do you frequent a local library, coffee ...

Editor’s note: Our Civic Reporting Fellowship reporting series, Decoding the City Budget, relied on extensive Documenters notes covering City Council budget hearings last fall. Find more public ...

Peoples Gas wants to institute a $202 million rate hike. If passed, customers would pay an average of another $11 a month, or about $130 a year. Organizers are pushing back against the move, saying ...

Years pass, budgets are approved, but people are still confused. In the weeks after Chicago finalized its $16.8 billion budget, City Bureau Civic Reporting Fellows spoke to South and West siders about ...

Editor’s note: This story discusses crisis mental healthcare and mentions violent crime. Chicago Documenters notes from Nikebia Brown-Joseph, Katie Busch, Fabienne Elie, Ava Grubb, Holland Harmon, ...

A Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) is a legally binding contract between a community and a developer that includes commitments the developer will make to the neighborhood, in exchange for the ...