Black lives matter. Structural racism has enabled law enforcement to use incarceration and lethal violence upon Black men, women, and children, over-and-over, for centuries. These are people with names and families and stories. The current protests give voice to the suffering and righteous anger of Black communities across the nation.

We humbly stand in solidarity and allyship with this movement. We will continue our internal journey of pursuing racial equity and justice through our work as we update our mission statement and explore new ways to support the priorities of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities in Chicago, in Cook County, and beyond. Inspired by CNT’s history of supporting the initiatives of community-based organizations, we are recommitting to this as a fundamental part of our mission.

CNT will continue to listen and learn. We will reflect on the fact that environmental racism and economic inequities have allowed COVID-19 to infect and claim Black and Brown lives at high rates. We will continue to support the implementation of locally grown solutions of frontline organizations. We will use our resources to support networks of community-based organizations like Elevated Chicago, Chicago United for Equity, Chicago Environmental Justice Network, and a new Transportation Equity Network, and encourage readers of this to do the same. We will redouble our efforts to reflect the diversity of our country in our staff and board. And we will be ready to help those seeking new solutions and resources to confront the issues of racial inequity, issues that are compounded by climate change and economic disparities. These are our commitments to support the community-based organizations who are leading the way.