CNT’s H+T® Affordability Index has just been updated, the first update since 2016. For most households in the United States, housing and transportation represent the largest and second-largest expenditures respectively. The H+T Affordability Index combines housing and transportation (driving and transit) costs to offer an expanded view of affordability, one that highlights the importance of location-efficient places in supporting livability and affordability.   In this update we... Continue reading »

I came into the world of nonprofit finance by pure accident and with no relevant credentials. After graduating college with degrees in Sociology and Peace Studies, I knew that I wanted to work in a mission-based environment but had trouble identifying an entry point. I was lucky to be hired in an administrative role by the Chicago-based Delta Institute, where I saw firsthand the difference that strong operational and financial structures can make towards organizational impact. In the... Continue reading »

“The numbers don’t lie.” We’ve probably all heard this cliché, used to claim an incontestable truth about a situation. We’ve probably even used it ourselves on occasion. But of course, numbers do lie. All the time. What questions are being asked (and just as importantly, not being asked) and who is doing the asking frame an issue through a particular subjective lens. Which dataset is used, how the data were collected and who is represented in the data offer us a limited glimpse into the... Continue reading »

Chicago is beautiful, vibrant and rich in arts and culture. So many corners of the globe are represented in the 77 neighborhoods that create the map of our City. The story of Chicago is the story of Indigenous Peoples, Immigrants, Migrants, and descendants of Enslaved Africans. It is also the story of segregation and redlining. It is a story of a City that was not designed for all of its citizens. To undo that legacy of disinvestment and inequity it takes boots on the ground, amplifying... Continue reading »

This past week, as a member of the Toward Equitable Electric Mobility (TEEM) Illinois cohort, I had the pleasure of attending TEEM’s first in-person annual convening and Forth’s Roadmap Conference in Portland, Oregon. The electric vehicle sector is revved up and eager to expand in the face of the capital to be made and legacies to build, while simultaneously acting in response to climate change. Forth’s Roadmap Conference refocuses the lens, uplifting processes, projects, and... Continue reading »

In just seven days, we have witnessed six Supreme Court Justices over turn 50 years of precedent, protection and shift power from the many, to the few. From the right for Women to have autonomy over their own Bodies, to Tribal Sovereignty, reading of Miranda Rights, Racial Redistricting and curbing the EPA’s power to limit greenhouse gas emissions. All of these decisions undermine the very fabric of what many people will celebrate this weekend, Independence and Freedom; leaving many Americans... Continue reading »

Curiosity is powerful. In that, it gives us permission to imagine the possibilities as opposed to being limited by what is. I remember as a child being a quiet observer with a lot of questions; aware of the distance traveled to access basic community amenities such as grocery stores or entertainment venues, while also discovering a love of nature because it was always accessible to me and provided for some of the best memories at holidays – or any day – with family. The natural and built... Continue reading »

What is ETOD and Why it Matters CNT has been advocating for transit oriented development (TOD) for more than 25 years. TOD looks like dense, pedestrian-friendly, mixed-use projects near train stops that allow people to use transit to access multiple needs like housing, jobs, education, shopping, healthcare etc, reducing their time spent on travel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, as TOD has been rolled out, many Black and Brown, low-income communities have been either... Continue reading »

The Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children (CLOCC) has been partnering with community-based organizations (CBOs) for more than a decade to identify and address barriers to walkability in their neighborhoods.  To do this, CLOCC developed their Neighborhood Walkability & Accessibility Assessment Tool (NWAAT), first as a paper and later as an on-line survey tool, providing CBOs with an instrument to gather data used to support their requests to the City of Chicago for local... Continue reading »

As data analysts and policy professionals, we spend a lot of time at our desks and behind screens, analyzing quantitative data, active or proposed policies and programs, and various written reports and documents. Much of what we analyze and review is -- or becomes -- an aggregation and anonymization of specific places, experience, and impacts, and fails to directly capture the intricacies of an individual’s lived experience. In our work with community-based partners, we’ve committed... Continue reading »