Daughters, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, and partners built groundswell support for police free schools during the incredible 2017 #NoCopAcademy campaign, fighting to stop Mayor Rahm Emanuel from building a $95 million police academy in a Black neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago. Black and Brown young people changed the political organizing in the city, demanding the $95 million be invested in education, community centers and clinics, mental health supports and community-led safety interventions. As a result of this immense youth and community pressure through the #CopsOutCPS campaign, the city of Chicago divested over $18 million from their contract with Chicago Police Department for school police in August of 2020. While the appointed school board voted to keep the contract with CPD, students and communities organized to move Local School Councils to remove police from 17 schools. #CopsOutCPS continues to demand the full removal of all police from Chicago Public Schools.
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council & the #CopsOutCPS Campaign in Chicago, IL