Pritzker Fellow Lori Lightfoot on "Operationalizing Equity"

(Current UChicago Students Only)

Wednesday, February 14

3:30-4:45 PM 

The word “equity” has become fashionable again, but what does that mean in the context of addressing big, systemic social challenges? Many generations-in-the-making issues never get solved and often only get addressed around the margins, despite, in some instances, hundreds of millions of dollars thrown at the problems each year across the country. Neglect of course is not cost-free, but taking on these challenges around poverty, life expectancy gaps, violence, poor health care access, affordability, food insecurity - the list is long - often seems insurmountable. But they are not, and importantly, if these issues are not systematically addressed, another generation of residents will never be able to fulfill their God-given purpose which keeps them out of the legitimate economy, increases the pipeline to the streets and costs even more on the back end. It is important that equity has real, concrete, tangible outcomes and cannot be just an aspiration spoken with passion and reverence that is never met. I will draw upon the ways in which we operationalized equity in Chicago and bring in other national examples of how equity can be something that residents can see, touch and feel.

Pritzker Fellows seminars are off the record and open to current UChicago students only. Seating in the IOP Living Room is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. 

If you have any questions about accessibility, please contact Sarah Palmisciano (spalmisciano@uchicago.edu).