This Monday, July 27th, the Cook County Board of Commissioners’ Criminal Justice Committee will be voting on the Justice for Black Lives resolution introduced last month. This resolution calls for the county to divert money from policing, criminalization, and incarceration and into public services not administered by law enforcement such as health care, mental health, housing, jobs, restorative justice, and more. The resolution aligns with the Defund Cook County Jail campaign being led by CCBF and our partners at SOUL, The People’s Lobby, and National Nurses United.

This Monday’s committee meeting will be conducted virtually via videoconference. People who support defunding the Cook County Jail and Sheriff’s Office have the opportunity to submit testimony that will be entered into the record, and at least some of that testimony will be read out loud. We want to make sure the County Board hears from people who support this effort to change the County’s funding priorities so that Commissioners understand how broad support for this is! 

Instructions for Submitting Basic Testimony:

Go to this link to provide testimony for Thursday’s board meeting.

If possible, please submit your testimony before Friday, July 24th. Testimony is technically required to be submitted 24 hours before the meeting, which would be 10am on Friday, July 24th. (In the past, the Board secretary has also accepted testimonies after that deadline, so people who cannot submit today should still submit through Sunday, July 26th.)

To complete the form:

1) Answer the basic information questions: name, organization (or N/A), city/town, state, zip

2) Check the box for “Cook County Board of Commissioners Special Meeting”

3) Write “Item #20-2867 – Justice for Black Lives resolution”

4) Check the box for “DO NOT ATTEND THE MEETING but REGISTER IN FAVOR of a specific item”

5) Write your testimony in the box provided. 

You can read the full text of the resolution online here! After the resolution is passed, we will be working to implement it through the budgeting process this summer and fall. You can read news coverage of the resolution and our joint action outside the jail in the Chicago Sun-Times (action) (resolution), Chicago Tribune, Block Club Chicago, and Injustice Watch. Read the testimony CCBF submitted to the County Board back in June here.