When Chicago mayors talk about their budgets, they typically talk in the billions of dollars. But on city's South and West Sides, the questions are smaller—and more urgent.
Will the pothole on your street finally get filled?Will your cousin get a summer job?Will Grandma’s building be rehabbed before another winter hits?
The 2025 Chicago city budget promises equity, investment, and transformation. But in neighborhoods long passed over, promises have a shelf life.
This year’s plan, spearheaded by Mayor Brandon Johnson, allocates record funding to affordable housing, youth employment, and community-based safety initiatives. On paper, it reads like the budget Black Chicagoans have been asking for. But the real test is execution.
Housing Headlines, History WarningsAffordable housing leads the narrative. A newly formed city-run nonprofit developer will begin constructing “green social housing,” with guaranteed unit allotments for low- to moderate-income residents. Targeted areas include Roseland and Englewood—neighborhoods long bypassed by developers, banks, and brokers.
The city is also expanding rapid rehousing programs, shelter networks, and small-scale development on long-vacant lots. In theory, it’s a multi-tiered strategy designed to curb displacement before it starts.
But longtime housing advocates remain cautious. “Groundbreaking is easy,” one organizer in Greater Grand Crossing told Chicago News Weekly. “It’s the ribbon-cutting—and what happens five years later—that counts.”
Jobs, Not Just PolicingYouth investment is another cornerstone. More than $50 million will fund youth jobs, many through the One Summer Chicago program. Teens and young adults on the South and West Sides will have access to paid roles in the arts, tech, city services, and more. The underlying goal: shift the public safety conversation from punishment to prevention.
City leaders have called this a “generational investment.” But for families where income and stability are fragile, what matters most is whether these programs start on time—and stick around.
Violence Prevention ReframedPublic safety funding has taken a notable turn. Over $100 million will go to community organizations focused on conflict mediation, trauma care, and workforce training. For Black-led groups long operating on scraps, the support is overdue. But many stress that one-time funding can’t undo decades of erasure.
“We’ve been here,” said a South Side violence interrupter who asked not to be named. “The difference now is whether they keep showing up when the cameras leave.”
Infrastructure and AccessThe budget also addresses neglected infrastructure. Aging viaducts, crumbling residential streets, and long-forgotten bus stops are now slated for repair. The long-awaited Red Line extension to 130th Street remains funded, with officials saying it will better connect the Far South Side to the broader transit grid—a promise first made generations ago.
Accountability in the Fine PrintOversight will come through an expanded Office of Equity and Racial Justice, now charged with tracking how city dollars are deployed. Some Black alderpersons are pushing for more aggressive audits, citing a history of funds that “disappeared quietly between departments.”
Still, the narrative appears to be shifting. Last fall’s community budget forums drew thousands of residents. In Austin, Bronzeville, Englewood, and beyond, neighbors gave feedback—and this year, some of those voices made it into the final line items.
From Line Item to Lived ExperienceFor decades, Black Chicagoans have asked for the basics: safe streets, stable housing, dignified infrastructure, meaningful work. The 2025 budget says yes. But in a city where follow-up often outruns follow-through, “yes” isn’t a guarantee—it’s an invitation to hold power accountable.
Progress in this city doesn’t just show up in headlines. It shows up in block club meetings and bus schedules, in working streetlights and the sound of a summer job orientation on a Monday morning.
Budgets may be made at City Hall. But belief? That starts at the block.