The Justice Project: the March Continues originated nearly six years ago on the 50th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s speech before thousands on the Winnetka Village Green. At that time in 1965, residents and religious leaders founded a broad-based campaign called the North Shore Summer Project to end racial discrimination in the north suburban Chicago area and sponsored Dr. King’s visit.
Over the decades the NSSP became the North Shore Interfaith Housing Council and today, Open Communities, with more name changes in between, but the intention remained steadfast: bringing the people to the forefront in the push for racially and economically diverse and inclusive suburbs.
From its inception the Justice Project founders were seeking a meaningful way to mark this historic event and realized this meant a long-term commitment to correct wrongs that still exist, rather than a onetime rally on the Green. It also meant putting new life into a grassroots organizing campaign for our time.
The goal became making all of our communities more welcoming. The Justice Project was to be a campaign involving sixteen member communities, each lead by a team to determine the most pressing need in that community, then developing a strategy to improve.
The Welcoming Community is based on three pillars: Access, Safety, and Engagement, and each of these pillars is supported by measurable benchmarks. These standards and specifics ensure that the campaign’s efforts can be measured and quantified to determine if the efforts have really made the community more welcoming and just.
Residents formed Justice Teams in several suburbs in 2015. Admittedly, there was some drift in this original plan and some teams stagnated for some time, but it is well to note that positive outcomes resulted too.
The Highland Park Justice Team brought Curt’s Café, a social enterprise, to the suburb, bringing people together across race, age, and faith. The Northbrook and Wilmette Justice Teams help gain support for a living wage and sick leave. Northbrook’s team, which became Northbrook Working Families, also elected supportive individuals to the Village Board who adopted strong mandates for mixed-income housing.
Now the Justice Project has re-awakened with some of its original members along with some enthusiastic new folks from various suburbs.
Timed with spring and re-birth, the campaign seeks to engage more residents and go deeper into the issues that get in the way of being a Welcoming Community. We will invite, meet and talk together to better understand our strengths and deficits and take action to insure that we are manifesting inclusionary, diverse and equitable communities. This is the goal of the Justice Project and the way everyone will benefit.
— Andy Amend, Highland Park
