This will be a close election. Take action and vote early today for the mid-term election. Talk with people in your church about the importance of voting. Our votes can make a difference.

On Saturday October 4, the Reclaim Campaign held a public meeting where Cook County Commissioners commitment to actively seek a $1 million increase for the violence prevention, intervention, and reduction grants in the 2015 Cook County Budget.

This is good news, but we still have much more work to do. The current budget increases spending on the Cook County Jail by $27 million but makes no increase for preventing violence in our communities.

An important part of Community Renewal Society’s (CRS) work is to bring together congregations to fight for social justice. Every fall CRS holds an Annual Membership Assembly to set priorities for our organizing and policy work. On Saturday, October 4, CRS membership voted to initiate two new campaigns and renew three campaigns launched in 2013.

We’re committed to strengthening our community by getting voters registered. As part of our 2014 voter registration drive, Community 

Renewal Society has joined thousands of other organizations across the country to celebrate National Voter Registration Day on September 23, 2014.  

There is plenty of evidence that our current public safety strategy is not working. It's time for Cook County to invest in preventing violence instead of reacting to it. We cannot arrest ourselves out of this problem.

There were shouts of joy and celebration on Thursday, July 24, as 500 Reclaim Campaign leaders began a partnership with Cook County Chief Judge Evans to prevent violence by creating a new Restorative Justice diversion and reforming the court system.

Overall this was a very difficult legislative session in the Illinois General Assembly. But, we are not giving up or slowing down.

Failure to vote on HB 2897 by the Illinois House of Representatives before the end of the spring session will delay the Cook County Drug Field Test Pilot Program. This initiative would have run for one year starting September 1, 2014 and could have saved the county millions by significantly reducing the amount of time pretrial defendants wait in Cook County Jail.

Urge your Illinois legislators to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to make the Illinois tax code fairer for working families who live in poverty.

Our children, families and communities are in grave danger. Losing around $2 billion in revenue would force unprecedented, disastrous cuts to education and human services.

We are more than halfway through the Illinois General Assembly's Spring Session, which is scheduled to adjourn on May 31, 2014. Thanks to your advocacy, momentum is building for CRS' 2014 Legislative Platform.

Fiscal cliff, flat tax, fair tax -- everyone in Illinois is talking about these issues. As the May 1 deadline approaches, we frame our fair tax commitment with the principles of fairness and justice. Now more than ever, we need you to take action.

The budget process is likely to dominate this session. A portion of the temporary income tax increase will expire in 2015 resulting in an estimated $1.6 billion drop in state revenue. It’s also an election year..

Illinois' current flat tax system is unfair and not really flat. Taxpayers in the lowest 20 percent pay almost 14 cents on the dollar in state and local taxes while those in the top 1 percent pay only 5 cents. Justice calls us to the fair tax campaign.

Identified by our member congregations, the issues for Community Renewal Society's 2013-2014 Platform for Renewal direct our policy and organizing work. Join us as--together--we put our faith in action for the common good by advocating for education reform through a fair tax, affordable housing, violence reduction, and job opportunities for ex-offenders and long-term unemployed workers.

The money that we spend on keeping people in the Cook County Jail wastes taxpayer dollars, damages lives, and does nothing to stop the violence in our communities. That's why we have launched the Reclaim Campaign.

We need to be "smart" rather than "tough" on crime to reduce violence. SB 1342 takes a counterproductive, piecemeal approach to gun violence.

Are you wondering how the Affordable Care Act will affect you, your faith institution and your community? The Campaign for Better Health Care's In-Person Counselors can help.