Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) organizes and advocates
to prevent and end homelessness based on our belief that housing is a
human right in a just society.

Recent News:

Checking up on the CTA

Late on the snowy evening of December 9, 2008, CCH fanned out at CTA hub stations to determine to what extent the
transit agency is cracking down on homeless people who ride El trains to keep warm at night. Read the full story here.

Remembering Juancho

November 17, 2008 marked the fifth anniversary of the passing of
John "Juancho" Donahue, the beloved executive director of the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless. Read more here.

New Youth Manual Now Available

The CCH Law Project has released a new publication entitled "Legal Rights
and Resources for Youth Without Housing" which describes the legal
rights of homeless youth and the services available to them. Hard
copies are distributed free by the CCH youth attorney during outreach
to homeless youth, and are available to service providers and others
for $15. J.P. Morgan Chase Bank made a generous donation to cover the
cost of printing. To order, contact youth attorney Beth Cunningham.

Download a PDF version of the Legal Rights publication here.

More Than 700 People Registered in Homeless Voter Registration Effort

More than 30 organizations involved with CCH's effort to register homeless
voters have signed up more than 700 of their clients and leaders. This
includes 250 voters registered by CCH, more than 100 voters registered
by Mercy Housing Lakefront, 80 voters registered by The Inspiration
Corporation, 73 voters registered by Women of Power, 30 voters
registered by Interfaith House and 28 voters registered by West
Suburban PADS.

Working with Cook County Clerk David Orr, CCH
organized a 90-minute training held on Tuesday, Sept. 16 for people
interested in registering voters who are homeless. At the training, 57
staff and volunteers representing more than 30 organizations became
deputy registrars able to sign up new voters.

In Illinois, the deadline to register voters was October 7, but a new state law called
"Grace Period Registration and Voting" allowed people to register and
vote through Tuesday, October 21. Click here for more information.

Listen to coverage on Chicago Public Radio.

"Poll vaulting," from the Oct. 30-Nov. 5, 2008 issue of Time Out Chicago, by Sheila Burt

While Barack Obama and John McCain debate how their tax plans will affect Joe
the Plumber’s ambitions to buy his company, William Klee has other
things on his mind. The 51-year-old has been homeless for three and a
half years and spends his days selling StreetWise around DePaul
University’s campus. On Tuesday 4, Klee will cast his ballot (for the
first time) after a rep for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
(CCH) outside of DePaul registered him. Although he doesn’t have a
permanent address, Klee is able to vote thanks to a 1992 law that
allows homeless people in Illinois to use an address they often
frequent, such as a shelter, for registration. This September, the CCH
and Cook County Clerk David Orr pushed for recognition of the law by
holding a training session for shelter representatives to become deputy
registrars. Though numbers are still coming in, the CCH’s Mimi Chubb
says those who attended the training registered more than 550 homeless
people. An excited Klee says he’s voting Obama on election day. “Obama
will probably try to change things around a little bit for the middle-
or lower-class people,” he says. “Whether he’s successful or not, I
don’t know, but I think he’ll give it a try.”

2008 CCH Annual Meeting – celebrating 25 years of achievement of the Youth Committee.

On Wednesday, October 15, 150 CCH supporters, leaders and staff came
together at First Baptist Congregational Church to honor the work of
the CCH Youth Committee. Read more here.

CCH applauds eviction freeze

After announcing Oct. 8 that his deputies would not evict residents from foreclosed
properties until lenders prove that they gave sufficient notice to the
affected residents, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced that he
would resume evictions starting Monday, Oct. 20. A report in the
Chicago Tribune indicates that "the reversal comes after a week of
discussions with the court officials responsible for handling mortgage
foreclosures to create language that would ensure the rights of
good-standing tenants in foreclosed buildings." Read the full story here.

The Law Project, working with our No Youth Alone campaign, secured a significant victory this summer:
Illinois has allocated $3 million to help fund homeless education
programs in its public schools. This marks the first time that any
state has helped fund its homeless education programs. Read more here.

300 Homeless Leaders Attend Equal Voice for America’s Families Convention

On Saturday, Sept. 6, the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless brought 300 homeless men, women and children to Navy Pier for the Equal Voice for America’s Families
National Convention. The convention – which linked low-income families
gathered in Chicago, Los Angeles and Birmingham by simulcast – launched
a national family-issues platform created by families through a series
of townhall meetings.

The Sept. 6 convention involved 15,000 people in all three cities.

“The whole idea is to give our low-income families a voice, an opportunity
to be part of the decision-making process,” said CCH organizer Dollie
Brewer. “It’s exciting.”

Founded on the belief that “strong communities require strong families,” the Equal Voice
campaign targets issues that affect families – including affordable
housing, access to subsidized childcare, living wage jobs, health care
and education. This electoral season, the campaign aims to build a
national dialogue around these issues that will lead to national policy
changes.

CCH is proud to be active on the Equal Voice campaign.
We applaud the Marguerite Casey Foundation of Seattle for its efforts
to mobilize families coping with poverty, in Chicago and throughout the
country.

For more information on this national campaign, go to www.equalvoice2008.org.

Homeless Teens Awarded CCH College Scholarships

On July 31, 2008, author Alex Kotlowitz joined CCH when it awarded $2,000
college scholarships to six Chicago teenagers who succeeded in school
despite facing homelessness. The scholarship winners included Jermaine
McClung, who was featured in CCH's fall mail appeal.

Four of the winners had to live on their own, without family, while finishing high school.

Read more about the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless scholarship winners here.

You can also listen to interviews with 2007 scholarship winners Bryan Riddle, Kianca Fincher, and Kieara Keys on our Voices of Hope podcast.

Check out Chicago Public Radio's feature story on scholarship winner Jasmine Edwards here.

CCH Goes Green

CCH is committed to doing whatever we reasonably can to reduce our carbon
footprint. This includes reducing, re-using and and recycling whenever
possible to help create a sustainable environment. We do this out of
recognition of the terrible consequences of unsustainable practices,
especially on the lowest income and minority communities. CCH has a
Green Policy Committee that meets regularly, and our staff has approved
a new set of sustainable office policies.

Read CCH's Policies and Practices for a Sustainable Office.