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Status of Girls in Illinois: Executive Summary

January 2, 2019

CURL formed a partnership with Women and Girls' Collective Action Network and Chicago Girls' Coalition to conduct a secondary data analysis to determine how young women and girls are faring in Illinois. This project aims to provide statistical evidence that will inform on the issues, needs, and solutions required to ensure the healthy development of all young women and girls in Illinois.

Women and Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers

July 14, 2015

Improving women's ability to build wealth is not only good for women, but is essential for the economic well-being of children, families, and our community. The women's wealth gap has been largely overlooked in discussions of women's economic security, yet wealth (the value of assets minus debts) is the most comprehensive indicator of financial health.  Our new brief finds the wealth gap to be significant  - during their working years, single women have only 32 cents for every dollar of wealth owned by single men.Women & Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers, the new grantmaker brief from the Asset Funders Network, authored by Mariko Chang, PhD, examines the causes and dimensions of the women's wealth gap and provides recommendations and best practices for grantmakers to reduce the women's wealth gap and improve women's access to the wealth escalator. 

Creating Opportunity for Immigrant Women and Girls in the Chicago Region: Recommendations for the Chicago Foundation for Women's Civic Plan

February 24, 2015

Division sought to understand what economic, health, and violence-related issues are most pressing for immigrant women in the Chicago region, their families, and their communities. These findings are the result of a research and information gathering process with Chicago-area immigrant women, social service providers who work with immigrant communities, a literature review on related topics, and a scan of change efforts in other states and localities related to issues impacting immigrant women and their families. This report documents the key issues facing immigrant women in the Chicago region and prioritizes those concerns into actionable micro- and systems-level recommended change efforts. The Chicago Foundation for Women is building the concerns of immigrant women into their Civic Plan, and other community organizations and advocates can learn from the voices of impacted women themselves to ensure their efforts are aligned with the true needs and desires of the community.

Workforce Development for Lower Income Working Women in the Chicago Region: The Research Background

September 1, 2013

The research describes: 1) Changing demography of target populations 2) Array and character of post-high school resources for workforce development 3) Local and national policy, practice, funding and advocacy issues 4) Recommendations for future priorities.

Choices in the Real World: The Use of Family, Friend and Neighbor Child Care by Single Chicago Mothers Working Nontraditional Schedules

January 14, 2013

Working Americans who are poor or near-poor have been rising in number at least since the 1980s. Most working Americans earn incomes that stagnated for decades, while costs have shot up for basic services such as housing and health care. More families than ever need two incomes to make ends meet. High unemployment and a record high number of single-parent households, however, have pushed families nearer to poverty or below.Households headed by women in the labor force are particularly affected. This is why the Chicago Foundation for Women and the Ms. Foundation for Women funded Choices in the Real World, a first-of-its-kind report produced by Illinois Action for Children's research team examine the nontraditional work schedules of low-income working mothers in Chicago and their use of family, friend or neighbor (FFN) child care.As part of the report, 50 single mothers from Chicago were interviewed about the challenges they face in securing child care while working hours outside of the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. time frame. The mothers we interviewed were not homogenous, though they are all challenged by low incomes, low or modest educational attainment, after-hour and variable work schedules, and balancing work and family life.These interviews confirmed that public policies need to meet the challenges that these mothers and others in similar situations face. Illinois Action for Children believes the best public policies will focus on improving FFN child care rather than making it ineligible for financial assistance or driving it underground.As part of this report, we make the following recommendations to legislators:Increase child care optionsSupport FFN child careSupport emergency child care, including for Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) familiesSupport children's homework needsEncourage parent-friendly employer practicesBuild social capital and supplement relative supportsAs the economy continues to add more jobs non-traditional in the nature of their schedules, these issues become even more important. What we learn from these parents and the challenges they face can be vital in moving discussions of child care and nontraditional work schedules forward.

Bridging the Gap II: Examining Trends and Patterns of Personal Bankruptcy in Cook County’s Communities of Color

May 3, 2011

This report examined geographical, gender-related, and chapter choice trends in data from federal bankruptcy courts in Cook County. It found that women make up a larger share of individual bankruptcy filers in all communities, and a dramatically larger share in African American communities, than men do.

Status of Girls in Illinois - Full Report

September 15, 2010

This is a report that was released by the Women and Girls Collective Action Network. It was developed as a response to the need for accurate and timely data about the lives of girls and young women in Illinois. This report covers issues like health, education, sports, crime and incarceration and sexuality.

Status of Girls in Illinois Report - Executive Summary

September 15, 2009

This was a report that was released by the Women & Girls Collective Action Network in Chicago. The report was developed in response to the need for accurate and timely information about the lives of girls and young women in Illinois. The sections covered include sexuality, education, health, crime and incarceration, to name a few.

Status of Girls in Illinois

July 9, 2009

CURL formed a partnership with Women and Girls' Collective Action Network and Chicago Girls' Coalition to conduct a secondary data analysis to determine how young women and girls are faring in Illinois. This project aims to provide statistical evidence that will inform on the issues, needs, and solutions required to ensure the healthy development of all young women and girls in Illinois.

Deconstructing The Demand for Prostitution: Preliminary Insights From Interviews With Chicago Men Who Purchase Sex

May 1, 2008

In December of 2006 and June of 2007 the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), Prostitution Research and Education (PRE), and the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH) launched a research initiative in Chicago to investigate the cognitive and behavioral patterns of men who purchase sex. A team of ten individuals, including three survivors of the sex trade, were trained by CAASE and PRE. In total, the team interviewed 113 men who buy sex. Men were recruited through the "Erotic Services" section of Craigslist, the Chicago Reader, and Chicago After Dark. Each interview lasted approximately an hour and a half to two hours and consisted of both quantitative and qualitative questions.

2008 Report on Illinois Poverty

March 24, 2008

This eighth Report on Illinois Poverty comes at a unique moment of barriers and opportunities. A moment when the state of Illinois holds the distinction of having the worst budget deficit in the nation for 4 years running. Yet, it is also a moment when people across the United States are talking about poverty as a threat to our well-being, when leaders are proposing solutions, and when communities are taking important steps to decrease hardship. **As you read this report, you will see how Illinois families struggle to achieve or maintain economic stability. Negative economic shifts including stagnating wages and rising costs have taken their toll on people across Illinois, hitting those with the least to start with the hardest. But there is hope. There is a movement stirring throughout the country to act now to address poverty. With this momentum building and new collective efforts in Illinois, we can eliminate the poverty that deprives people of their human rights.

Assessment to Action: Creating Change - A Report on a Gathering of Foundation CEOs, Trustees, and Senior Executives

August 1, 2007

In March 2007, more than 225 CEOs, trustees, and senior executives gathered in Chicago to discuss a wide range of important issues: the role of strategy and performance assessment, board functioning and the dynamics of race in the boardroom, and the challenge of inspiring -- and leading -- change. Among the report's 11 articles are highlights and lessons learned from presentations by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MacArthur Foundation President Jonathan Fanton, Rosabeth Moss Kanter, the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professor at Harvard Business School, Spelman College President Beverly Tatum, and former Atlantic Philanthropies President and CEO John R. Healy.