NCBG "Rebuild Our Schools" Task Force Announces Meeting Schedule for 2006
Join us on the following 'First Tuesdays" in 2006, as NCBG continues to campaign for fair and equitable investment in our school facilities as centers of community:

Tuesday, Feb. 7th, 2006.
Guest Speaker: Harvey Grossman, American Civil Liberties Union on "The Future of Chicago's Modified Desegregation Decree"

Tuesday, April 4th, 2006
Tuesday, October 3, 2006
Tuesday, December 5, 2006

Additional Meetings will be scheduled as needed. For more, call us at 312-939-7198, X 3868

The $75 Million Question
The Chicago Public Schools plans to borrow an additional $75 million for school construction & repairs. But without a Facility Master Plan in place, where will that money go?? That's the $75 million question! Learn more about NCBG's Call for a Facility Master Plan.

Innovation at City Hall?
Is Chicago finally moving closer to asking developers to contribute to school construction costs? Find out when the City Council's Committees on Education and Zoning discuss Zoning bonuses for developers who contribute to CPS:
Thursday, December 15, 2005
9:45 a.m.
121 North LaSalle, 2nd Floor, City Hall - Council Chambers

Organizing For Accountable Development
Join NCBG's Accountable Development Task Force December 20th to learn how communities are demanding greater local control over public & private investment, Tax Increment Financing and the City's public works program: 6 p.m., 332 S. Michigan Avenue.

City's 2005-09 Capital Improvement Program now available from the City Office of Budget & Management - Where did your ward's Aldermanic Menu dollars go? Call NCBG to learn more!

NCBG's Campaign For Better Transit
is continuing the fight against CTA's 2006 proposed fare increases.

Call Mayor Daley TODAY! Insist that the City increase its annual contribution to CTA's budget to avert fare increases in '06: Office of the Mayor: 312-744-3300.

Meanwhile, Chicago aldermen are stepping up to insist on greater oversight over the transit agency. Learn more at www.bettertransit.com.

The Neighborhood Capital Budget Group has moved!
Our new address is:
332 S. Michigan Avenue, Suite 500
Chicago, IL 60604
New Fax #: 312-588-0750
Our phone number remains the same: 312-939-7198.

Alert: Ren2010 Forums Going On In Your Neighborhood Now!
Rebuilding Our Schools
On October 13th, the Chicago Public Schools launched a series of community meetings on its controversial Renaissance 2010 Program.  Click here to see the Schedule of Community Forums ( 500K).  CPS says  that parents, area residents, community members, and leaders are being invited to attend these "Transition Advisory Council" forums so the public can learn more about the schools "being considered" to be opened in the Fall of 2006. At these meetings, the  applicants proposing new schools - "Design Teams" - will be on hand to answer qustions from the community about their proposed schools.

Congratulations to Little Village, But More Work Needed Citywide
Rebuilding Our Schools
NCBG congratulates the residents of the LIttle Village community, as they celebrate the opening of the new $63 million Little Village/North Lawndale High School Sept. 6th!

But too many other neighborhood schools remain in limbo, awaiting facility repairs and overcrowding relief.

Schools like Langston Hughes are still waiting for their new building, long after CPS acquired and demolished homes in Roseland. Contact your State Legislator and Alderman. Call on your elected officials to endorse NCBG’s call for a Facilities Master Plan, "Building A Vision for Chicago’s Schools & Neighborhoods." (2MB - ) and call for CPS to release its Capital Budget for 2006! (Don’t know who your legislators are? Look them up at http://www.vote-smart.org/.)

BEST Releases Public School Facilities Policy Report
Rebuilding Our Schools
The BEST collaborative has developed a set of model policies based on a four-part policy agenda to: 1) increase public participation in facilities planning, 2) create and support schools as centers of community that offer school-based supports to children to eliminate barriers to success and serve the broader community, 3) improve facilities management, including maintenance and capital improvement programs and 4) secure adequate and equitable facilities funding.

• Section 1: Public School Facilities Planning Policies (PDF: 118KB)
• Section 2: Schools as Centers of Community Policies (PDF: 119KB)
• Section 3: Public School Facilities Management Policies (PDF: 138)
• Section 4: Public School Facilities Funding Policies (PDF: 131KB)

Who We Are
The Neighborhood Capital Budget Group is a unique citywide coalition of grassroots community groups, neighborhood economic development organizations, and concerned residents dedicated to equitable and smart public investment in Chicago’s neighborhoods. Through NCBG, Chicago’s community groups are organizing to hold local government accountable for how it spends the public’s money on infrastructure, economic development, mass transit, and public facilities. Together, we’re working to rebuild all of Chicago’s neighborhoods from the ground up, and put the public back into “public works.” To read more see the About Us page. To join NCBG, click here.