FUTURE NOW
PLAN

LET'S SHAPE
CHICAGO'S
FUTURE
TOGETHER.

www.susanamendoza.com
SUSANAMENDOZA.COM
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 Table of Contents
3

Introduction

4

Public Safety

14

Education

25

Inclusive Economic Development

33

Progressive Revenue

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 Chicago needs a mayor who is concerned about the next
generation, not just the next four years. This is no time for a
caretaker mayor or someone who represents the status quo. We
need to prepare Chicago for the jobs of the future, not just focus
on the past.
The big issues that Chicagoans face – violent crime, high
property taxes, under resourced schools — those are issues I have
dealt with my whole life. It’s time to have a mayor who is from
the neighborhood, who understands neighborhoods and puts
neighborhoods first. I’m excited to work with all Chicagoans.
To that end, my Future Now Plan starts with my vision to make
our streets safer, improve schools in every neighborhood, create
economic growth across the city, and lay out a fiscal path that
moves away from taxing seniors and families who can least
afford it. As the campaign unfolds, I will add to the Future Now
Plan my ideas on housing, transportation, and health.
I did not invent all of these ideas from scratch on my own. I’ve
listened to neighbors and experts from across the city to frame
a future that makes Chicago work for everyone. Many ideas build
on existing programs here in Chicago or borrow from plans that
are working in other cities.
The next mayor still will have to tackle serious fiscal challenges
without adding to the burden of already hard-pressed
homeowners. Having led the state through the worst fiscal crisis
in its history, I feel well qualified to lead that effort.
Read my plan and tell me what you think by visiting www.
susanamendoza.com/letmeknowwhatyouthink. I look forward
to adding the best feedback to my Future Now Plan, so we can
shape Chicago’s future together.

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PUBLIC SAFETY AND POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Susana Mendoza was born in Little Village on Chicago’s Southwest side to
Mexican immigrants. When she was 7 years old, a gang-related murder on
the block where she lived drove her parents to leave Chicago. It wasn’t her
choice to leave, but it was her choice to come back after she finished school.
Susana vowed to return after graduating college to tackle the related issues
of violence, education and economic opportunity, and she’s been working to
help those in the community she grew up in ever since. Susana’s public safety
plan aims to ensure that no family has to leave their neighborhood because
they don’t feel safe.
As a child from a neighborhood victimized by violence and as the sister
of a police detective, Susana sees this issue from a unique perspective
that no other candidate for mayor possesses. To address today’s levels of
violence and build trust between police and the communities they serve,
Susana has a comprehensive strategy that tackles the systemic issues of
economic disinvestment, institutional racism, criminal justice inequality, and
segregation. Too often, we address these problems when it is too late rather
than proactively solving the problem.
Susana’s plan takes a holistic view of the crime problem—not just hiring more
police, but attacking the root causes of violence by investing in at-risk youth
and returning citizens. Specifically, she will take the following steps:

Revamp training for police
officers.
For too long, police training has
been viewed as something we only
do to prepare new recruits. We need
to completely revamp the CPD’s
training programs – whether it is
pre-service at the academy, inservice with veteran personnel on a
regular basis, and in the field where
commanders should use everyday
examples on the street to reinforce
these trainings learned or relearned
in the classroom. We owe it to every
mother who watches her child walk
out the door, and we owe it to every
spouse of every officer who walks

out the door in the morning, to do
everything we can to make sure
they all come home safely – and that
starts with better police training.
●  Prioritize de-escalation in
training.
Susana is strongly committed
to training and equipping our
officers with the tools and the
lessons to de-escalate first, rather
than engage first. Our police
personnel need better training in
de-escalating domestic violence
situations, ones that can be as
potentially deadly to the officer
as they are to the victim.

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 ●  Implement crisis
intervention training.
Our officers need better
training to recognize mental
health issues when they
arrive on the scene, especially
recognizing when someone
is both a real danger to those
around them and a danger to
themselves. We should ensure
that all sworn officers receive
Crisis Intervention Training in
the academy so that they can
be certified on day one, not 18
months into their service.
●  Create a new training facility
as a community hub.
It is impossible to train, retrain and constantly update
the trainings of 12,000 police
personnel with the out-ofdate, out-of-scale training
infrastructure we have in
Chicago today. That’s why
Susana supports building a
new police and fire training
academy. As part of the
construction of the academy,
Susana believes that it
should be turned into a true
community hub with space
for local nonprofits and social
service organizations and
adjacent parks that are safe
places for children to play.

Invest in smart community
policing.
We should all admire any man or
woman who puts on a uniform
and is willing to lay down their life
to protect the lives of people they
have never even met. Whether they
are marines or soldiers or sailors or
closer to home serving as our police
officers, firefighters and EMTs, we
should honor those who put their
lives on the line every day. But while
those who wear a police uniform
are everyday heroes, they ought not
have the warrior mentality of those
heroes who serve in our armed
forces. When it comes to tackling
crime here in Chicago, there should
be no “us and them.” There should
only be “we.”
Despite the fact that they carry
a firearm and wear body armor
similar to what our soldiers wear, we
need to instill in our police officers
a completely different ethos – one
the Obama Justice Department
report calls a “guardian mindset.”
Restoring trust between people
in our neighborhoods and the
men and women who serve them
is absolutely fundamental to a
comprehensive effort to reduce
crime. Trust is at the core of effective
policing, and Susana will support
community policing strategies and
reforms that build confidence in law
enforcement.

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 ●  Expand community policing.
Over the past few decades,
investment in community
policing has declined sharply.
In 2016, Chicago’s community
policing program, CAPS, had
less than a third of the budget
it had in 1999. Susana will
make needed investments
to increase the number of
officers in the CAPS program,
build community awareness
and relations into officer
training, and expand the use
of community stakeholder
meetings to bring more
residents to the table.
●  Bring communities into
community policing training.
Susana will work with faith
and community leaders
to incorporate diverse
communities into the
training process, so officers
can better interact with the
neighborhoods they serve.
●  Build upon proven policing
strategies.
In recent years, CPD has
implemented new tactics
and strategies that are
showing positive results.
These new tools range from
establishing district-level
intelligence centers and
leveraging technology to
reduce response times, to
equipping officers with body
cameras and increasing the

number of tasers available
to officers. Susana will make
the investments necessary
to expand the use of these
critical tools throughout the
city.
●  Invest to expand street-level
intervention.
Susana will support the return
of street violence interrupters
who identify and resolve
conflicts before they escalate
in targeted neighborhoods
under stronger management
and oversight by the city.
Previous efforts to scale
up violence interruption
work have not succeeded
in part because of a lack of
oversight and accountability
for nonprofit partners. In Los
Angeles, a city with a similar
gang proliferation challenge
as Chicago, the city’s violence
interruption strategy is
coordinated from the mayor’s
office and better integrated
with the police department.
Susana will invest in violence
interruption nonprofits while
bringing Chicago’s oversight
and accountability standards
closer in line with other major
cities to ensure the success of
scaled up programs.

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 Reform governance and policing
practices to rebuild trust.
Susana’s unique perspective
on policing is grounded in her
personal experience: she grew up
in a neighborhood with rampant
violence and experiences a similar
stress every day with family on the
police force. Susana will work to
implement policies that increase
trust and cooperation between law
enforcement and the communities
they serve. In Chicago, police solve
less than one in six homicides, well
below the national average of 60%.
This failure to solve homicides and
shootings is driven in part by a
lack of trust in the Chicago Police
Department. Susana will work to
rebuild trust in the police through a
series of balanced reforms.
●  Implement the consent
decree in good faith.
Through a consent decree
negotiated with the Illinois
Attorney General, an
independent monitor will
have oversight over police
reform. These reforms will
cover a range of subjects from
community policing, to use of
force, to conflict de-escalation.
Susana’s administration will
work hand-in-hand with the
independent monitor and
Illinois Attorney General to
ensure that the required
reforms are fully funded and
implemented.

Susana’s unique perspective
on policing is grounded in her
personal experience: she
grew up in a neighborhood
with rampant violence and
experiences a similar stress
every day with family on the
police force.

●  Support a balanced
approach to governance
reform.
Susana supports a balanced
set of reforms to increase
the role of civilians in CPD
oversight. Susana will listen
to the concerns of the
community, including groups
like the Grassroots Alliance
for Police Accountability
(GAPA), while ensuring that
the mayor ultimately has
strong accountability and
responsibility for the actions of
the city’s police department.
Susana will negotiate a
set of governance reforms
that balances the need for
a greater community role
in police decision making
with the need to ensure law
enforcement experts are
able to develop strategies to
reduce crime.

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 ●  Expand initiatives to
coordinate violence
reduction across
departments.
Over the course of the past
decade, the mayor has relied
upon a handful of staff to
coordinate the efforts of the
multiple departments that
affect public safety. Susana
will increase the amount of
staff resources dedicated
to help manage the many
contributors to public safety,
from law enforcement, to
community engagement,
to violence prevention. By
creating a new Office of
Violence Reduction, with a
robust team supported by
staff members from every
affected department, Susana
will ensure that the city’s
violence reduction efforts
are being executed in a
coordinated manner, rather
than stuck in bureaucratic
silos.

who mandated the creation
of such a warning system.
For many of these problem
officers, their conduct
worsened over time as early
incidents occurred without
discipline. Susana will make it
a priority to develop an early
intervention system to identify
at-risk officers before they
graduate from the academy,
and to intervene with training
or discipline for serious
offenders who are already in
uniform.

●  Develop an early warning
system for problem officers.
An external analysis of CPD
complaint data dating
back to 1988 found that
small networks of police
officers are responsible for a
disproportionate number of
complaints. This point was
confirmed in the consent
decree negotiated with the
Illinois Attorney General,

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 Improve the case closure rate.
In 2017, Chicago saw an abysmally
low 17.1% closure rate on homicides.
That fell even further in the first
half of 2018 to 15.4%. With every
case that goes unsolved, trust is
lost amongst Chicagoans and the
cycle of violence continues. Susana
will tackle this problem with the
following initiatives:

the latest resources to build
strong cases as well as the
skills to improve interaction
with residents. Additionally,
she supports implementing
regular refresher training
for detectives that covers
any legal updates, new
technologies, and new policies
and procedures.

●  Increase the number of
detectives and empower
them to solve more crimes.
Susana will prioritize hiring
detectives to help close
cases more quickly, prevent
retaliatory violence, and get
criminals off the street before
they are able to strike again.
Her first budget will call for
at least 100 new detectives to
bring the total to 1200 officers,
and additional investment in
the training and technology
they need to be successful.
These detectives will pay for
themselves by more quickly
closing cases and bringing
down the Department’s
staggering overtime costs.

Mendoza: More
neighborhood schools,
more social services,
more police detectives

●  Expand training for
detectives.
Susana recognizes that
hiring more detectives is not
enough to combat the low
clearance rates, so she will
direct the Superintendent to
improve and update training
that provides detectives with

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 Crack down on illegal guns.
One of the core drivers of Chicago’s
higher homicide rates is the sheer
volume of illegal guns that enter
the city. Susana has a strong track
record of fighting against the influx
of illegal guns. In addition to voting
in favor of a 30-day waiting period
for handguns, Susana sponsored
legislation allowing prosecution
of illegal gun sellers for crimes
committed with that gun for one
year after sale. She also supported
legislation allowing for revocation of
a firearm owner’s identity card for
a parent or guardian who is unable
to prevent their child from gaining
access to firearms. According to a
gun trace report prepared by CPD,
in 2016 Chicago police recovered
6 times as many guns per capita
compared to New York City, and 1.5
times as many guns per capita as
Los Angeles. In recent years, two
out of five guns recovered were
originally purchased from Chicagoarea federally-licensed gun dealers.
Susana will support efforts to pass
common sense gun control and get
illegal guns off the streets.

balanced approach that would
require gun dealers to obtain
a state license or certification
and put preventative
measures in place, including
installing security systems,
training employees on straw
purchasers and other risks,
and developing a safe storage
plan, among other changes.
Due to Governor Rauner’s
opposition, advocates were
unable to pass this legislation
in the General Assembly. With
change coming in Springfield,
we have an opportunity to
help push these reforms
forward.

According to a gun trace report
prepared by CPD, in 2016
Chicago police recovered 6
times as many guns per capita
compared to New York City,
and 1.5 times as many guns per
capita as Los Angeles.

●  Pass gun dealer regulation.
Susana will work with
Governor Pritzker and
Springfield legislators to pass
common sense regulations
to crack down on the flood of
guns entering Chicago from
suburban gun dealers. Over
the past two years, legislators
have worked to develop a

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 Address root causes of violence
by supporting a public health
approach to violence prevention.
Data show that our neighborhoods
suffering from the highest crime
rates are also struggling with
other challenges such as high
unemployment rates, lower life
expectancies, and other public
health issues. Susana knows that
this strong link means the city
must take a public health approach
to addressing the violence in our
communities.
●  Pilot mental health coresponders.
To strengthen CPD’s crisis
intervention and conflict deescalation strategy, Susana
will direct the Superintendent,
Department of Public Health,
and Office of Emergency
Management to develop a
pilot to deploy mental health
specialists with police officers
to respond to incident calls.
Under this approach, which
has been adopted in a handful
of other cities, mental health
providers would respond to
911 calls with CPD officers
and work to link individuals in
need of treatment to services.

●  Support successful schoolbased prevention programs.
Susana’s 50NEW
(Neighborhood Education
Works) Initiative will work
to find and expand proven
solutions that cross the
boundaries of violence
prevention, educational
achievement, and economic
opportunity. Over the course
of the past decade, several
innovative nonprofits have
developed and expanded a
number of proven violence
prevention programs that
serve at-risk CPS students.
Programs like Becoming
a Man, Working on
Womanhood, and Choose
to Change currently serve
thousands of CPS students
and have successfully reduced
the likelihood of a student
becoming the victim or
perpetrator of a violent crime.
Today, the city and its sister
agencies invest more than
$11 million in these programs.
Susana will maintain funding
for these initiatives and look
for opportunities to expand
them, including by offering
them space in community
schools as part of the 50NEW
Initiative, which is detailed
later in this plan.

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 ●  Expand programs that target
at-risk residents with jobs
and services.
There are a number of
programs that provide
entry-level jobs in addition
to cognitive behavioral
therapy and social services
to individuals at heightened
risk of being victims or
perpetrators of violence.
From Heartland Alliance’s
Rapid Employment and
Development Initiative
(READI) to the Emerson
Collective’s Chicago Creating
Real Economic Destiny
(CRED) program, Susana
will build on these private
and philanthropic efforts to
identify sustainable funding
for programs that work.
●  Invest in strong re-entry
programs.
To take on violence in a
meaningful way, the city must
create a comprehensive plan
with its county partners to
address recidivism. Not only is
repeated incarceration costly,
failure to support rehabilitative
programs in prisons can result
in incarcerated individuals
becoming more violent
upon reentry into society.
Building on models like
the ACE program from the
Safer Foundation, Susana
will support programs that
include prison education and

workforce development to
give formerly incarcerated
individuals a pathway to
stability and self-sufficiency.
In addition to reducing
violence, strong re-entry
programs would have a
significant economic impact.
A recent report by the Illinois
Sentencing Policy Advisory
Council (SPAC) found that
with a 10% reduction in
recidivism, Illinois would
see $301 million in taxpayer
savings and $150 million in
economic activity.
●  Promote strong mentoring
programs.
Susana knows the powerful
impact mentors can have in
transforming lives because of
her own experience at places
like the Boys and Girls Club. In
order to support an approach
that doesn’t only treat the
symptoms of violence,
Susana knows there has to
be investment in programs
that give children in every
neighborhood an opportunity
to find their own pathways to
success. As mayor, she intends
to build upon the successes
of programs like BAM and
WOW, in addition to giving
mentorship programs space
in underutilized schools as
part of her 50NEW Initiative.

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A STRONG PUBLIC EDUCATION FOR ALL CHICAGOANS
As the parent of a 6-year-old attending a neighborhood public school, Susana
is deeply and personally invested in the future of Chicago public education.
Susana wants parents, grandparents, and teachers to have more of a voice
in our schools, and she wants the next mayor to share accountability for
improving schools. For too long, education policy has been something
done to our communities and done to our families, not worked out with our
parents and with our teachers. As mayor, Susana will change that.
Access to a quality education is the bedrock of a strong city. Our most
pressing problems—from high crime rates to lack of jobs and economic
development—can be addressed by ensuring strong neighborhood schools
that create opportunity hubs in every community. We should be proud of
the success achieved by CPS teachers and administrators, with record-high
graduation rates, higher test scores, the largest IB network in the nation, and
stabilized finances. But our real work has just begun. We must ensure every
child in every community receives the same high-quality education at their
neighborhood school.
Susana’s education plan is built around a simple goal: to close the
achievement gap. Susana believes that we can cut the achievement gap
by half in the next eight years and set Chicago Public Schools on a path
to eliminate it entirely. While some simply look to the next 50 schools
that can be closed, Susana’s 50NEW (Neighborhood Education Works)
Initiative is focused on doubling down on the neediest schools by
expanding wrap-around services, increasing the number of social
workers, and investing in school-based supports in high-poverty schools.
Where buildings are underutilized, she will work to put unused space to use
by offering subsidized rent to local nonprofits so that our schools become
true community hubs.

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 Create a more equitable district.
Too often when it comes to
education, your zip code determines
your destiny. Even though Chicago
students outperform their peers
with similar demographics outside
of the city, there is more work to
do. A University of Chicago study
found persistent achievement
gaps between Black and Latinx
students and their white and
Asian peers when it came to high
school graduation rates, college
enrollment, standardized test
scores and graduating GPAs. It also
found that male CPS students often
lagged behind their female peers.
That’s unacceptable to Susana.
Susana will make equity a priority to
ensure that we as a city are investing
more in educating children in
underserved neighborhoods.

neighborhood kids and their
families—everything from
nutrition to life skills training
to after-school academic help
and counseling. By providing
these wrap-around services,
we can ensure that teachers
can teach and principals can
lead.

●  Implement the 50NEW
Initiative.
Rather than close schools
with low enrollment, Susana
wants to reinvest in 50
under-enrolled, underutilized
schools and turn them into
true community hubs using
the community school
model. Using the additional
equity funding coming from
Springfield, these schools
would partner with day
care centers, family service
providers, job training
organizations, and other social
service providers to provide
wrap-around services to

1.  Additional social
workers and college
counselors in the
schools that need
them.
Earlier this summer,
CPS invested $26
million to hire 160
social workers and 94
special education case
managers to work
inside district schools.
The unique needs
of students in CPS’
neediest schools require
additional investment
to provide the supports
these students need
to thrive. These wraparound services are
critical to helping close
the achievement gap
and can be funded by
an equitable distribution
of CPS resources.
Susana will work with
stakeholders to set
a goal for expanding
these supports and
commit to providing the
necessary resources.

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 2.  Nutrition that students
need.
We all know that
children can’t learn
when they’re hungry
or worried about being
hungry again soon.
That’s why Susana
helped create the
Illinois School Breakfast
program when she was
a state representative
and it’s why she wants
to help children get
the nutrition they need
as part of her 50NEW
Initiative. While parents
and local community
members are taking
advantage of job
training and other
services offered by the
community schools,
students will have the
opportunity to eat
supper after school.
This will give students
the energy and focus
they need to get their
homework done and
prepare themselves for
their next day at school.
3.  After-school
educational support.
Every student should
understand that if they
need additional help,
they can ask for it.
That’s why the 50NEW
Initiative provides

for after-school staff
who can help with
homework or provide
additional support to
those students with
difficulty in reading or
math. These programs
will also give parents
peace of mind that
their children are in a
positive educational
environment after
school, and if they
should fall behind in
their schoolwork, they
have every opportunity
to catch back up.

Mendoza vows to transform 50
under-utilized CPS schools into
community anchors
While some simply look to
the next 50 schools that can
be closed, Susana’s 50NEW
(Neighborhood Education
Works) Initiative is focused on
doubling down on the neediest
schools by expanding wraparound services, increasing
the number of social workers,
and investing in school-based
supports in high-poverty
schools.

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 4.  Job training and
services.
For parents who are in
search of employment,
juggling the job search
with the responsibility
of finding child care
and ensuring your
children are getting
the academic help
they need can be
an insurmountable
challenge. The 50NEW
Initiative means you can
find all of that under
one roof. By offering
space for skills training
and employment
service organizations in
underutilized schools,
parents will be able
to unlock their own
economic potential at
the same time their
children are catching
up on homework and
eating supper.
●  Develop a fairer funding
formula.
Within the CPS school district,
there exist real disparities
between schools in wealthier
neighborhoods and those in
neighborhoods suffering from
high rates of unemployment
and crime. CPS should
develop a new equity formula
to distribute its share of the
new funding that CPS will be
receiving in the coming years

under the new education
funding formula. Susana was
a strong supporter of the
reform, traveling the state
with State Sen. Andy Manar
to advocate for changes
that gave Chicago schools
more equitable funding.
The new Springfield formula
established a funding target
for each school district based
on student population and
the cost of nearly three dozen
practices proven by research
to benefit students. Under
this bill, the State of Illinois
is called upon to invest an
additional $350 million in
school funding every year over
the next decade, with CPS
receiving nearly 20%.
CPS should develop a new
equity formula to distribute its
share of the new funding that
CPS will be receiving in the
coming years.

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 ●  Assign high quality teachers
to under resourced schools.
Every student deserves a
teacher who is invested in
their growth and believes
in their abilities. As a state
representative, Susana
helped lead the passage of
a bill that helped save over
3,000 teaching jobs. Susana
wants to invest in high
quality teachers because she
knows that there’s no way to
close the achievement gap
without them. Through the
Opportunity Schools initiative,
CPS has recruited strong
teachers for 50 schools in lowincome neighborhoods and
paired them with intensive
teacher retention and
leadership supports. Susana
will expand and improve
this initiative to ensure that
the district has a pipeline of
quality teachers ready to join
schools that need them.
●  Strong investment in special
education.
When Susana got to the
comptroller’s office, quarterly
categorical payments that
schools relied on to fund
special education programs
and transportation for
students with special needs
were running nearly a year
behind. Susana tackled
that problem head-on by
re-prioritizing payments to

ensure that the state’s most
vulnerable populations were
being served first. As a result,
Chicago Public Schools
received $119 million in special
education funding it had been
expecting to receive months
earlier. As mayor, Susana
will continue to ensure that
schools have the resources
they need to give every
student a quality education,
no matter their abilities.
Expand Early Childhood Education.
Studies show that the educational
benefits of pre-K education are
significant. A recent analysis by
CPS found that students who
attended pre-K achieved higher
GPAs, better attendance, and
higher standardized test scores
by the time they reached the 3rd
grade than their peers who never
enrolled in pre-K. From the impact
early education has on early brain
development to the support it offers
to the schedules of working parents,
there is a growing consensus
that universal early education is a
fundamental building block of a fair
economy. By leveraging TIF funds
that can be used for child care and
dedicating a portion of the equity
funding coming from Springfield
to this initiative, Susana will help
ensure that every Chicago Public
Schools student starts kindergarten
off on the right foot.

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 ●  Ensuring universal full-day
pre-K.
As the parent of a Chicago
Public Schools kindergarten
student, Susana knows
how important it is to have
quality pre-K programs
that get children ready for
kindergarten. With full-day
pre-K, parents can have
the peace of mind that
their children are in healthy
learning environments and
spend less time arranging
child care and transportation
for their kids. Susana will
continue the expansion of
universal pre-K programming
and advocate for a dedicated
source of funds from
Springfield to support
the initiative. Once fully
implemented, this program
will provide free, quality fullday pre-K to more than 24,000
four-year-olds.
●  Protect and improve the
quality of pre-K programs.
Susana will ensure that
principals are evaluated fairly
and transparently on the quality
of their pre-K programs and the
impact these programs have on
kindergarten readiness. Susana
will also ensure that pre-K
programs are using proven
evidence-based programs to
tackle racial and socioeconomic
achievement gaps.

Enhance Accountability and
Credibility.
The credibility of the Chicago Public
Schools has taken a hit in recent
years following a succession of CEOs
brought down by ethics scandals.
Susana will take decisive steps to
restore faith in our school district.
●  An accountable school
board.
Susana supports an elected
school board. This type of
local representation gives
community members an
additional and highly valuable
avenue for engaging in the
decision-making process.
Susana also believes that,
as the city’s chief executive,
abdicating responsibility for our
city’s most valuable asset —its
young people — would be a
failure of leadership. That’s why
she supports an elected school
board that also has mayorappointed members. This
ensures mayors are invested in
the success of neighborhood
schools, while guaranteeing
community members avenues
for engagement in public
education. Similar models
are followed in Washington,
D.C. and Baltimore County,
Maryland, and adopting
the approach in Chicago
would make the Board more
accountable to residents while
ensuring that mayors continue
to have skin in the game.

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 ●  Reexamine previous
privatization decisions.
Recent privatization decisions
involving school janitors,
building engineers, and food
service have been met with
mixed results. Susana will
undertake a thorough and
independent review of all
CPS privatization decisions
to determine whether
management improvements
or outright reversals are
needed to ensure quality of
services for our children.
●  Hold charter schools
accountable.
Susana believes that we
need to first prioritize our
neighborhood schools and
will make sure that the
charter schools that exist
are held to the same high
standards as neighborhood
schools. She will also stand by
teachers’ right to organize and
collectively bargain in charter
schools, just as she stood in
solidarity with teachers at
Acero charter schools.
Focus on Quality.
Students must know that no matter
what part of Chicago they’re from,
they have an equal shot at a quality
education. Preparing a student
population as diverse as Chicago’s
for a lifetime of success requires a
broad range of approaches. While
methodologies may vary based on

student need and interest, there
must be one constant across the
district: quality. Susana will ensure
that there is a focus on quality
programming across the district.
●  Expand access to proven
models.
Susana will expand the
district’s International
Baccalaureate, STEM, and
Military high school programs
because, with graduation
rates above 80% and
freshmen on-track rates above
90%, we know these programs
work. Susana will work to
ensure that every child in
every neighborhood has
access to these opportunities.
●  Protect the full school day.
After transitioning to the
longer school day in 2012, a
student entering kindergarten
now receives nearly 2.5
additional years of instruction
by the time they graduate
high school. This extra time
in a classroom with our world
class teachers is a key driver
of student growth. Susana
will maintain a full school day
to ensure that the district
maintains the momentum of
academic improvement of the
past few years.

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 ●  Provide autonomy for school
principals.
Principal autonomy is
one of the distinguishing
characteristics of CPS,
where principals have more
discretion over their budgets
and their schools than their
suburban peers. According to
the Chicago Public Education
Fund, the leadership of a
principal accounts for 25% of
the total school influence on a
child’s academic performance.
Over the past decade, CPS has
increased principal autonomy
over budget, curriculum and
schedules, while investing in
the retention and pipeline for
quality principals through a
range of initiatives. Susana
knows that to create true
community schools, principals
need to be given the tools
they need to gain the
confidence of parents and
students.

●  Expand access to sports and
arts.
Access to a quality education
doesn’t just mean academic
excellence; it also means
access to robust sports
and arts programs. These
programs enrich students’
academic lives, but too often,
they’re the first ones on the
chopping block. Children in
every neighborhood should
be able to unlock their own
potential through sports and
arts programs, and Susana
will work to protect those
programs in neighborhood
schools. In addition to
working within the school
system, Susana will work with
the Chicago Park District,
local professional sports
teams, local artists and local
musicians to raise additional
private funds and ensure that
access to these programs is
available in all parts of the city.

According to the Chicago
Public Education Fund, the
leadership of a principal
accounts for 25% of the total
school influence on a child’s
academic performance.

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 Create a College and Career
Culture.
A high school diploma is no longer
sufficient in today’s economy.
Preparing Chicago’s students for the
21st century economy will require
a cultural shift towards a universal
expectation that education must
continue beyond the 12th grade.
As a first-generation college
student, Susana knows the impact
that access to postsecondary
education can have on the
trajectory of a student’s life. That’s
why Susana will pursue initiatives
to increase readiness and access
to postsecondary education. These
priorities include:
●  Increasing access to early
college and career credit.
Research clearly shows that
high school students who
earn postsecondary credit
are significantly more likely
to graduate and move on to
college. CPS has experienced
tremendous growth in this
area: nearly 47% of 2018 CPS
graduates earned college or
career credit, up from 31%
in 2014. Susana will set an
ambitious goal to ensure that
65% of CPS graduates earn
college or career credit by
2025 and make the necessary
investments to grow the
number of International
Baccalaureate schools,
expand dual credit and dual
enrollment partnerships with

the City Colleges of Chicago
(CCC), increase the number
of vocational programs, and
expand access to Advanced
Placement courses and
exams.
●  Expand vocational programs
in partnership with labor.
While a college degree
is increasingly critical to
securing a job with a middleclass salary, there are still
well-paying jobs that require
vocational training short of
a four-year diploma. Susana
will partner with trade unions
to expand vocational training
opportunities in CPS high
schools and expand the
number of students exposed
to careers in the trades.
Susana will also build on the
success of the Reinvention
program at City Colleges of
Chicago. The program, which
has been recognized by
the World Bank as a model
workforce development
strategy, has established
partnerships with dozens
of corporations, nonprofits,
and other large employers
to co-design curricula, offer
internships to students,
and offer jobs to graduates.
As mayor, Susana will seek
opportunities for students by
focusing on partnerships with
employers in fast-growing
industries.

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 ●  Support Dreamers and
expand the Star Scholarship.
Now entering its fourth year,
the Chicago Star Scholarship
offers free associate degrees
to students who graduate
from CPS with a B average
or better. Significantly, the
program is open to Dreamers,
who have limited options for
obtaining financial aid for
postsecondary education.
To date, more than 4,500
CPS graduates, representing
more than 75 zip codes and
more than 200 high schools
citywide, have participated
in the program. Nearly two
dozen four-year universities
have partnered with City
Colleges of Chicago to
provide full and partial tuition
scholarships for Star Scholars
seeking four-year degrees.
Star Scholars have earned
more than $3 million in
scholarship offers from City
Colleges’ four-year college
and university transfer
partners. This program has
been a remarkable success,
helping drive an increase in
enrollment and graduation
rates at CCC. Susana will work
to strengthen and expand the
program through additional
partnerships and innovative
enhancements such as
establishing an endowment to
support future Star Scholars.

Nearly two dozen four-year
universities have partnered
with City Colleges of Chicago to
provide full and partial tuition
scholarships for Star Scholars
seeking four-year degrees.

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INCLUSIVE ECONOMIC GROWTH
Decades of discriminatory policies on the federal, state, and local level have
created communities suffering from disenfranchisement and disinvestment
with little opportunity to build long-term wealth and prosperity. According
to a study from the University of Illinois at Chicago, inequality in Chicago has
been growing over the past 40 years, and the number of concentrated areas
where wealthy individuals live, especially on the North Side of the city, has
quadrupled. Meanwhile, we continue to see the expansion of areas that are
low-income with high poverty rates on the South and West sides of the city.
For the first time, Chicago is on firmer financial footing to tackle these issues.
To ensure every neighborhood in the city thrives, especially those with high
rates of poverty, Susana will prioritize strategies that ensure investments and
job creation focus on these communities by leveraging the rapid downtown
growth to bring more resources and investment to neighborhoods suffering
from low opportunity.
Bring more investment to
neighborhoods.
Chicago’s greater downtown is one
of the fastest growing urban cores in
the United States. However, Susana
recognizes that this prosperity
has not been distributed equally
throughout the city and will work to
leverage our current growth to bring
more investment to neighborhoods
while connecting residents to jobs
created downtown.
●  Invest fees collected
downtown in our
neighborhoods.
The Neighborhood
Opportunity Fund (NOF)
invests funds, paid by
developers to obtain the
rights to building denser
projects in the downtown
area, to support job creation
in neighborhoods on the
South and West sides of
Chicago. Since its launch in

2017, the NOF has invested
$11 million to support 90
businesses and drive $55
million in new neighborhood
investment. This program can
be expanded by tapping some
of the nearly $250 million in
downtown TIF districts that
are subject to the freeze
put in place by Mayor Rahm
Emanuel in 2014. These funds
cannot be used elsewhere
in the city due to an Illinois
law that restricts TIF use
to projects located within
or adjacent to the districts
where funds were generated.
Susana will put her Springfield
legislative expertise to work
and fight to change this law
so these funds can be used in
the neighborhoods most in
need of investment.

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 ●  Tie hiring requirements
to large zoning changes.
In 2017, the city issued a
policy that encourages
planned developments to
hire minority- and womenowned contractors. Susana
will expand upon this policy
by making it the law and
widening its scope to include
requirements to hire returning
citizens or participants in
violence reduction initiatives
like READI.
●  Increase access to capital for
small businesses.
Over the course of this
decade, the city of Chicago
made good progress
on expanding capital
sources for neighborhood
businesses via initiatives
like microlending and the
SimpleGrowth platform for
connecting businesses to
lending programs. Susana will
double down on this priority
by fully implementing the
City Treasurer’s $100 million
Catalyst Fund and identifying
other pools of capital for
neighborhood businesses.
●  Create economic
development teams in
targeted neighborhoods.
To provide focused and
sustained economic
development planning for
neighborhoods in need of

more support, Susana will
work with World Business
Chicago and private partners
to establish and support
existing neighborhood
organizations that will
coordinate development
strategies. This work will
include helping guide the use
of citywide programs like the
Neighborhood Opportunity
Fund, Retail Thrive Zones, and
other initiatives.
●  Fully implement
manufacturing growth
zones.
In 2017, the city of Chicago
launched the manufacturing
growth zone to streamline
the process for new
manufacturing businesses to
acquire land, access workforce
development programs, and
take advantage of incentive
programs. There is still work
to be done to fully implement
the program, most notably in
providing additional capacity
building, equipment grants,
management training, and
coaches to help struggling
manufacturers compete in
the new economy. Susana will
see this plan through fruition
to ensure Chicago maintains
a competitive manufacturing
base.

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 ●  Expand planned
manufacturing district
reforms.
Over the course of the last
few years, the city’s planning
department has worked
with affected aldermen,
businesses, and residents on
rezoning the North Branch
planned manufacturing
district to allow residential
and commercial uses.
Due to changes in the
surrounding neighborhoods,
manufacturing is no longer
the highest and best use of
the land in this district, but
the current zoning places
strict limits on other types
of economic activity. As part
of this effort, which would
unlock hundreds of millions
in value for the landowners,
the city would include a
fee structure to support
infrastructure investments
in the district and to invest
in manufacturing districts
elsewhere in Chicago. Susana
will expand this to other
manufacturing districts that
are in need of a new vision
with an eye towards capturing
some of the unlocked value
for investment in job creation
and infrastructure.

●  Leverage new federal
opportunity zone tax credits.
The 2017 federal tax bill
created a new tax credit that
allows investors to partially
shield capital gains from
taxation, if they are reinvested
into projects located in
targeted low-income
communities. Chicago’s
planning department
identified 133 census tracts
for inclusion in the program.
Susana will develop a program
- linked to the city’s other
initiatives from its retail thrive
zones to the Neighborhood
Opportunity Fund and beyond
- to take advantage of this tax
credit.

The NOF has invested
$11 million to support 90
businesses and drive $55
million in new neighborhood
investment.

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 Invest in Chicago’s young people
and set them up for economic
success.
According to a report by the Great
Cities Institute at the University of
Illinois at Chicago, Chicago has a
chronic and concentrated problem
of youth joblessness. Stunningly,
for Chicagoans aged 20 to 24,
employment conditions were worse
in 2015 than in 1960. They’ve also
found that “recovery after the Great
Recession has been slow or nonexistent for many groups.”
●  Promote summer job
programs.
Susana’s 50NEW Initiative will
not only support students
during the school year but will
also take advantage of school
spaces during the summers.
For high school students,
these community hubs can
serve as job training centers to
both give them the skills they
need to find jobs and connect
them to available work
opportunities.

●  Train for the jobs of
tomorrow.
By some estimates, 65% of
children entering elementary
school now will be employed
in a job that doesn’t exist yet.
Susana will help to prepare our
young people for a changing
world by focusing on training
them in expanding industries
like green manufacturing and
data security.
Create a fair student lending fund
accountable to residents.
Over the past decade, we have
learned how banks can design
products like mortgages and student
loans to favor profits over people and
set working families back for decades,
if not their entire lives. Today, more
than 15% of the homes in the Chicago
metro area remain on underwater
mortgages while the average Illinois
college graduate enters the workforce
with nearly $30,000 in student loan
debt. Susana will take an important
step in expanding access to fair
lending practices by creating a fair
lending fund capitalized by the city’s
own deposits. In exchange for relief
from exorbitant interest rates on their
student loans, Chicago residents
will be able to access subsidized
student loan refinancing and get
relief from exorbitant interest rates.
By putting taxpayer money to work
for the betterment of the city, Chicago
will also gain a major competitive
advantage in attracting and retaining
young talent that is critical to
maintaining a vibrant city.

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 Strengthen our working families.
After decades of assaults on
fundamental workers’ rights,
workers have been losing their
leverage in fighting for fairer wages
and good benefits. Moreover,
even as national and state
unemployment rates continue to
drop, worker wages have stagnated.
Coupled with the rising cost of
housing, student loans, and other
basic costs of living, this means
that middle- and low-income
households are increasingly
squeezed and are struggling to keep
up. Our state and local governments
have a role to play in leveling the
playing field for workers by passing
important protections into law and
developing initiatives that boost
worker incomes.
●  Fully implement a city Office
of Labor Standards.
In 2011, the city of Chicago
passed new penalties for
wage theft, raised the
minimum wage, required
paid sick leave for all workers,
and made it easier for airport
ground workers to unionize.
These protections have
been enforced by a handful
of attorneys in the city’s
Department of Business
Affairs and Consumer
Protection. In fall 2018, the City
Council passed an ordinance
establishing a dedicated
Office of Labor Standards
focused on enforcing these

protections. Susana will
ensure that this office is
fully up and running by the
beginning of 2020.
●  Support a $15 minimum
wage.
The city of Chicago boosted
the incomes of more than
400,000 workers when
it passed an ordinance
establishing a $13 minimum
wage by 2019. Susana believes
this was an important first
step, but we must do more.
She will advocate for a
statewide minimum wage
increase to ensure that
Chicago does not remain an
island while also advocating to
increase the city’s minimum
wage to $15 in the years to
come.
●  Expand free tax prep
services for EITC earners.
The city of Chicago’s free tax
preparation service serves
more than 20,000 taxpayers
each year, helping them
earn millions in EITC refunds.
Susana will continue to
expand the program and
support linking services to
more places to reach working
families, including places of
employment, public libraries,
and other targeted locations.

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 ●  Expand the earned income
tax credit.
Federal and state earned
income tax credit programs
have been some of the most
successful anti-poverty
programs in the United
States. In 2016, the EITC lifted
about 5.8 million people out
of poverty, including about
3 million children. However,
big cities like Chicago have
higher costs of living than
smaller municipalities, which
reduces the impact of EITC
compared to other parts of
the state. Other cities like
New York City already offer
residents a fully refundable
earned income tax credit,
matching 5% of the federal
EITC. Susana will explore
strategies to implement a new
Chicago EITC to supplement
paychecks for working
families. Susana will also work
with leaders in Springfield to
expand the EITC at the state
level.
Reform fees and fines that hit
low-income residents the hardest.
The daily fees and fines imposed by
the city disproportionately hit lowincome residents and communities
of color. According to a recent
ProPublica investigation, the
number of Chapter 13 bankruptcies
that include city ticket debt grew
from 1,000 in 2007 to more than
10,000 in 2017. This debt hits

African American neighborhoods
the hardest. As mayor, Susana will
launch a top to bottom review
of city fines and penalties and
make reforms to reduce penalties,
reduce the rate at which penalties
escalate, allow for amnesties where
appropriate, and limit instances
where license suspension is used in
these cases. Susana will also explore
ways to use technology to build in
leniency where it makes sense, so
that Chicagoans can be warned
about potential violations and won’t
see continuous repeat tickets for
the same violation, forcing some
residents into bankruptcy.

In 2016, the EITC lifted about
5.8 million people out of
poverty, including about 3
million children. However, big
cities like Chicago have higher
costs of living than smaller
municipalities, which reduces
the impact of EITC compared to
other parts of the state.

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 Move towards universal child care.
As a hard-working mom with a sixyear-old son, Susana knows how
hard it is for parents in Chicago
to find a way to pick up their
children at 3:15 pm. She also knows
working families across the income
spectrum face this same struggle
to find affordable, quality child
care. Susana will focus on meeting
this need and develop tools to
support the expansion of child care
options throughout Chicago. These
initiatives will include:
●  Use TIF to support child care
expansion.
Illinois state law allows for TIF
funds to be used to support
child care for families in need,
but the city has no structured
program to take advantage
of this authority. Susana will
task the City’s Department of
Family and Support Services
to come up with a plan to
build out child care programs
for families that most need it.

inspections, reduced cost sale
or leasing of public land and
buildings, and reduced city
fees.

As a hard-working mom with a
six-year-old son, Susana knows
how hard it is for parents in
Chicago to find a way to pick
up their children at 3:15 pm. She
also knows working families
across the income spectrum
face this same struggle to find
affordable, quality child care.

●  Create development
incentives to bring new
options to child care deserts.
In addition to utilizing TIF to
expand child care options,
Susana will direct the city’s
planning department to
develop a set of incentives to
reduce start up costs for new
child care centers in areas of
need. These incentives can
include expedited permits and

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FIXING CITY FINANCES WHILE PROTECTING
WORKING FAMILIES
As State Comptroller, Susana led the state through the worst fiscal crisis
in its history, helped to calm the markets and prioritized funding for the
people that needed it the most. As the next mayor, she will draw on those
experiences to lead Chicago forward. Unfunded pension obligations,
structural deficits and inadequate education funding will require the next
mayor to exercise discipline while raising hundreds of millions of dollars in
new sources of revenue from a tax-strapped population. Susana will work to
put our city’s pension funds on a sounder footing—ensuring that the city lives
up to its promise to hundreds of thousands of first responders, teachers, and
city employees—without balancing the budget on the backs of working class
families.
There is no magic solution. A comprehensive and fair fiscal strategy will
require the next mayor to use multiple tools—from cutting expenses, to
finding efficiencies, to fighting for Chicago’s fair share in Springfield. Susana’s
plan is built on her experience at the city and state level, her understanding
of the stresses faced by families in Chicago’s neighborhoods, and her
record of lowering costs before asking taxpayers to pay more. This unique
combination of discipline, relationships, and neighborhood values will guide
all fiscal decisions while ensuring Chicago remains a competitive business
environment.
Progressive revenue for stabilizing
pensions and expanding
educational opportunities.
Illinois’s combination of a flat
income tax, high sales taxes, and
heavy local government reliance on
property taxes gives it one of the
most regressive tax systems in the
country. According to the Institute
on Taxation and Economic Policy,
Illinois has the fifth most regressive
taxation in the United States.
This unfortunate fact is a driver of
population loss and acts as a barrier
to opportunity. While pension
liabilities have been cut by nearly
20% over the last eight years, annual
contributions are expected to grow
by $864 million over three years

starting in 2020, including a $300
million increase in 2020.
At the same time, Illinois ranks
49th in the country in state funding
of education and 50th in funding
the neediest school districts. After
Susana’s tireless advocacy, a new
education funding reform bill
passed in Springfield in late 2017,
calling for more than $3 billion in
additional funding for public schools
over the next decade with the new
formula distributing those dollars
to low-income school districts,
including nearly one-fifth benefiting
Chicago Public Schools.

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 Susana supports innovative and
responsible changes to our revenue
sources that will help hold the
line for middle-class and working
families as we address pension
and education funding needs. To
accomplish this goal, she will fight
for the following solutions:
●  Support a progressive
income tax.
Susana will work with
Governor J.B. Pritzker to
amend the state constitution
to allow the state to establish
a progressive income tax
that raises tax rates for highincome residents without
further burdening middleand low-income families.
Such a change can help the
state more fairly increase
revenue to address its pension
challenges. She will also fight
to ensure that any change
in the income tax formula
ensures local governments
get their fair share and are not
held hostage to cuts when the
state tries to shore up its own
finances.
●  Legalize marijuana.
A responsible law, passed
in consultation with law
enforcement, to legalize
cannabis use for recreational
purposes can be a critical
revenue stream to help
address funding for social
services and pensions.

Moreover, legalization would
help diminish the black
market for marijuana and
the crime and violence that
goes along with it, cut down
on unjust incarceration, and
allow police to focus their
efforts on more important
types of crime. A 2018 study by
Washington State University
scholars found that states
that had legalized recreational
marijuana experienced
improvements in clearance
rates for violence and property
crimes. Susana will work
with the Governor and State
Legislature to pass responsible
legislation based on best
practices in other states
and countries, and fight to
guarantee participation for
minority- and women-owned
operators.
●  Support a Chicago casino.
A responsible, transparent and
well-regulated casino can be
a critical source of revenue,
with a portion earmarked to
address pension payments.
Susana would make this a
priority of her Springfield
agenda and fight to have it
built in a location that lures
tourists rather than becoming
a debt trap in Chicago’s under
resourced neighborhoods.

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 ●  Explore refinancing pension
debt to save taxpayer dollars.
As Comptroller, Susana
successfully battled Gov.
Rauner to refinance state
debt, saving taxpayers
between $4 and $6 billion
over the lifetime of the bond
deal. As mayor, Susana will
work with the City Council in a
collaborative and transparent
way to explore available
financing tools, including the
possible issuance of a pension
obligation bond to refinance
pension debt to secure the
retirement savings of city
workers while reducing the
burden on taxpayers.
●  Actively oppose regressive
tax increases.
Susana is committed to
protecting working families
and will oppose any attempts
to raise the sales tax rate
or other taxes on essential
household items. Growing
up in a middle-class family,
Susana knows how much
harder across-the-board
tax increases hit working
families. The disastrous
implementation of the
regressive soda tax last year
was proof that instead of
making government more
efficient, the first instinct of
some politicians is to simply
propose more taxes that hit
lower- and middle-income

families the hardest. As mayor,
Susana will always recognize
the disproportionate impact
that regressive taxes have, and
she will oppose increases in
those taxes.
●  Seek a statewide solution
in partnership with other
municipalities.
Chicago is not alone in
facing big challenges with
stabilizing its pension funds.
For example, roughly onethird of the state’s more than
650 public safety pension
funds are less than 50%
funded. Susana understands
the statewide implications
of this crisis from her time
as Comptroller, when
mayors from across the state
struggled to pay bills during
the draconian 736-day budget
crisis. Drawing on the strong
relationships Susana has
built as Comptroller, she will
work with public officials
throughout Illinois to work
with Governor Pritzker for
equitable and sustainable
pension revenue sources.

MAGAZINE

Susana Mendoza —The most
forceful combatant in the warfare
over the state’s dire finances.

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 Make fiscal discipline a priority.
Susana has led by example when
it comes to fiscal responsibility.
When Susana took over the Chicago
City Clerk’s Office, she found
skyrocketing overtime bills and
worked to rein them in, cutting
overtime spending by more than
70%. She also reduced payroll by
10%. As Illinois Comptroller, she
saved taxpayers millions of dollars.
She cut her office budget by $2.2
million and returned $1 million to
the state after coming in under
budget. She will bring that same
fiscal discipline to City Hall.
●  Reform workers’
compensation
administration for greater
transparency.
Chicago is the only major
city that places workers’
compensation decisions in
its legislative body. Susana
supports a top-to-bottom
review of the city’s $100
million workers’ compensation
program with the overdue
goal of creating a transparent
and efficient process in
which decisions are subject
to the Illinois Freedom of
Information Act and the
city’s Inspector General can
investigate misconduct within
the program.

Rebuild trust in our property tax
system.
In 2017, the Chicago Tribune
published an investigative series on
the Cook County Assessor’s Office
that found that the assessment
system was unfairly hitting low- and
middle-income homeowners to the
benefit of owners of more expensive
homes. New leadership in the office
provides an opportunity to restore
the public’s trust in the property tax
assessment system.
●  Reform the property tax
assessment process.
Susana will work with Cook
County Assessor Fritz Kaegi
to shine a light on the
office’s approach to valuing
properties and allow for
comment and review by
ordinary Chicagoans as well
as independent experts. The
current system favors the
wealthy and connected, and
must be opened to full public
scrutiny to ensure reforms are
comprehensive and include
public input.
The disastrous implementation
of the regressive soda tax last
year was proof that instead
of making government more
efficient, the first instinct of
some politicians is to simply
propose more taxes that hit
lower- and middle-income
families the hardest.

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 ●  Pass tiered property tax
assessments to push the
burden on those who can
most afford it.
Susana will work with Assessor
Fritz Kaegi to make our
property tax system more
progressive by advocating
in Springfield for a tiered
approach to property tax
assessments, similar to
what is in place in a number
of other states. Under this
approach, properties with
lower assessments are taxed
at a lower rate than more
expensive properties. As
mayor, Susana will support
making the necessary
changes in state law to allow
Assessor Kaegi to make these
changes in Cook County.

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 Coming soon: My Future Now Plan
for Transportation, Health, Affordable
Housing, and more.
Let me know what you think and what you’d want to
learn more about by going to:
susanamendoza.com/letmeknowwhatyouthink

PAID FOR BY
SUSANA MENDOZA FOR MAYOR
SUSANAMENDOZA.COM
SUSANAMENDOZA.COM  

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