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What we do
Rooted Forward is a youth-led nonprofit in Chicago. We trace what redlining, urban renewal, and highway construction did to the neighborhoods people live in now, and we organize the response. The work runs on three pillars.
The story of how American cities got segregated does not fit in one form, so we tell it in three. Walking tours you take on foot, a podcast with the people who lived it, and a free curriculum built for the classroom.
Once you can see how the patterns formed, the question is what to do about the parts still running. We organize that response in Chicago. Sign onto active campaigns, add your name to public comment drives, read the briefs, or send us a proposal of your own.
All of it stands on the research. Our team works through the archives, namely HOLC redlining maps, city planning records, and oral history collections, and sits with residents to get what the records leave out. We pair that with housing, school, and zoning data, then publish the papers and release the data so anyone can check the work.
We need young researchers, tour guides, podcast producers, and people who want to push on policy. If this is your city and this matters to you, there is a place for you here.
Get involved