Jewish Council on Urban Affairs - JCUA

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Jewish Council on Urban Affairs - JCUA

JCUA brings together the Jewish community to pursue justice with our neighbors in Chicago & Illinois Your Jewish Social Justice Voice in Chicago

08/20/2026

Our second renter roundtable is coming up next Thursday, 8/27!

Join our Housing & Economic Justice Committee for an evening of conversation about the realities of renting in Chicago — and the steps we can take to build power as renters and level the playing field with landlords.

08/19/2026

Or Tzedek is JCUA's organizing fellowship for Jewish teens in Chicago. A year of learning to pursue social justice, a trip to Springfield to meet state legislators, and teens taking action in support of their neighbors.

Applications are open now for the 2026-2027 cohort of Or Tzedek. Join us!

08/11/2026

JCUA recently bid farewell to Sally Hirschwerk, our 2025-2026 Avodah Organizer.

Sally began her fellowship by attending an organizing conference in Washington, D.C. focused on how to fight back against an authoritarian regime and win. She brought those learnings back to JCUA, trained our members, and led our participation in the PowerUp campaign.

It has been a joy to see Sally grow as an organizer in the past year and learn from her wisdom, clarity, and care for our community. We're so excited for her to bring all of this back to New York and eventually to the rabbinate.

Sally is good for the movement and good for the Jews!

08/07/2026

Did you hear the news? Anna Rubin is JCUA’s new Executive Director! Anna has spent more than 10 years with the organization — first as an Avodah fellow, then as a staff organizer, political director, and most recently interim executive director.

She's led our immigration committee, managed our programs team, and worked alongside members and partners to win transformative campaign victories throughout the region.

We're thrilled that Anna will be leading JCUA into its next chapter. Join our work for justice by becoming a member today at jcua.org/member

07/29/2026

Big news for our community: Anna Rubin is JCUA's next Executive Director! 🎉

If you've organized with JCUA over the past decade, you know Anna — as an Avodah fellow, a staff organizer, our political director, and most recently our Interim ED. She knows how to organize, and she understands that it's through sustained and relational organizing that we build a just future for everyone.

Read the full announcement and a message from Anna: jcua.org/anna

07/16/2026

JCUA is co-organizing two town hall events with the Treatment Not Trauma Coalition to celebrate the citywide expansion of Crisis Assistance Response & Engagement Program (CARE) Vans, discuss the state of mental health care in Chicago, and ask our alderpeople for their commitment to getting mental health resources in our communities:

Northeast Town Hall, Tuesday, July 28, 6pm-8pm, Broadway United Methodist Church

Northwest Town Hall, Thursday, July 30, 6pm-8pm, Roosevelt High School

We are working to make CARE available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and to reopen Chicago’s mental health clinics. Join us!

07/15/2026

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero both were murdered at the hands of ICE this past week.

Across America, in cities and small towns, unmarked cars are chasing down workers and parents who are connected to their communities, families, and workplaces. We all saw what ICE did in Illinois and other cities. We know how ICE operates. We know they are pushing their lies to justify these atrocious murders. We know that ICE acts as the lethal arm to advance authoritarianism in our communities.

JCUA is joining Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression for a vigil this evening for Lorenzo, Joan Sebastian and all people harmed by ICE and to call for the abolition of ICE.

We'll meet at 8pm this evening at the Nuestras Historias Mural on 26th and Pulaski in Chicago. See you there.

07/03/2026

We're excited to share that JCUA has been selected as a BREAKWEEK grantee, thanks to R&R: The Rest of our Lives, which provides funding and resources for our entire staff to take a full week of organization-wide closure.

Our entire staff will be off beginning tomorrow, Friday, July 3rd until Monday, July 13th.

We're grateful to R&R: The Rest of our Lives for this investment in the JCUA team's wellbeing, and we look forward to coming back renewed and ready to keep building power for justice across Chicagoland!

See you soon!

07/02/2026

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Kol Or's 9th Annual Juneteenth Havdalah at KAM Isaiah Israel on Saturday, June 27th.

From the farthest parts of Eastern Africa to the farthest parts of the Western Hemisphere the cries, songs, and hopes for liberation have echoed for generations. During the event, we celebrated rituals of freedom and African American liberation through music, dance, and learning.

06/25/2026

Sixty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Chicago Freedom Movement marched into Marquette Park to confront segregation, redlining, and organized racial violence, we are called again to meet the fierce urgency of now.

On Saturday, August 1st, 2026, thousands from across the country will gather in Chicago for The Fierce Urgency of Now: A National March into Marquette Park — a historic, multi-faith movement-building moment demanding freedom from mass criminalization, full protection of voting rights, economic justice, and a future rooted in dignity for all.

Pre-March Program at 63rd & Kedzie: 9AM
March Toward Marquette Park: 11AM
Main Program: 12PM
Post-March Activations: 2–5PM

Register now: fierceurgency.now

Address

4411 N Ravenswood Avenue, Suite 300
Chicago, IL
60640

Telephone

+13126630960

Website

http://jcua.org/

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