93% of voters want Treatment Not Trauma
Our Cheryl Miller leads volunteers from the Chicago Teachers Union in reaching out to voters.
We spent much of 2022 organizing a referendum so voters could have their say on Treatment Not Trauma. In the November 8 election, over 93% voted for it!
The referendum called for the City of Chicago to re-open all of its closed mental-health centers, and to do so in support of a city-wide crisis response program. The referendum specified that mental-health professionals and an EMT – instead of police – must be dispatched for mental-health emergency calls.
We and allied groups got this referendum on ballots in wards that have some of the most mental-health emergency calls: the 20th Ward, the 33rd Ward, and much of the 6th Ward. Across all three wards, we got just over 20,000 – 20,000! – residents to sign petitions to get the referendum on ballots.
And after months knocking on doors and calling every registered voter possible, the community responded with overwhelming support on election day:
97% of voters in the 6th Ward’s 13th precinct voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
99% of voters in the 6th Ward’s 15th precinct voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
97% of voters in the 6th Ward’s 17th precinct voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
100% of voters in the 6th Ward’s 18th precinct voted for Treatment Not Trauma – yes, 100%!
98% of voters in the 6th Ward’s 25th precinct voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
96% of voters in the 20th Ward voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
93% of voters in the 33rd Ward voted for Treatment Not Trauma!
Looking forward, we must stay on top of our elected leaders and ensure that this measure is brought to a vote by the Chicago City Council.
We’re grateful for the leaders who have put in so much labor to lead us this far: Our own Cheryl Miller in the 6th Ward; Asha Ransby-Sporn and the Defund CPD campaign in the 20th Ward; and the 33rd Ward Independent Political Organization, led by Treatment Not Trauma’s lead sponsor, Ald. Rosanna Rodriguez. Thanks as well to Kennedy Bartley, who coordinated this referendum. Most importantly, THANKS TO SO, SO MANY VOLUNTEERS AND VOTERS!
So join us in celebrating our progress. Support it with a donation. And invite anyone you know in the 6th Ward to our forum there this Saturday!
PS: The Crossroads Fund has awarded Treatment Not Trauma the Ron Sable Award for Activism!
Past recipients of the award include the Lucy Parsons Labs, #NoCopAcademy, Mariame Kaba and Project NIA, Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty, and the Chicago Freedom School.