The Chicago City Council Latino Caucus Presents a Report Card on Mayor Lightfoot’s Job on Latino Hiring and Representation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 20, 2021
CHICAGO – The Chicago City Council Latino Caucus gives Mayor Lori Lightfoot, now over halfway through her four-year term, an overall grade of a ‘D’ for Latino hiring and representation during her tenure. There is a problem with equity and representation in city government and the Latino Caucus sees the biggest issue with this at the highest levels of the Mayor’s administration.
The Latino Caucus looked at representation in four areas in the Mayor’s administration -- overall city workforce, Boards and Commissions, city departments, and the Mayor’s cabinet.
The data was provided by the City of Chicago Human Resources department and was analyzed by the Latino Policy Forum. Latino representation should be at 30%, the grading scale is as follows:
100-90% = A
89-80% = B
79-70% = C
69-60% = D
Below 59% = F
According to the U.S. Census Chicago's population is 30% Latino, yet, the city’s entire workforce is only 22.5% Latino - which is generous because it includes City Council members and staff. Regardless, by no means does the city workforce represent the makeup of the city.
● The Mayor gets a C- for Latino representation in the City’s workforce.
Mayoral-appointed Board and Commission membership falls short in terms of Latino makeup and representation of where it should be but this is where we see the strongest showing of Latino representation. Latinos makeup 28% of Board and Commission membership.
● The Mayor gets an A for Latino representation among members of Boards and Commissions.
However, Mayoral-appointed leadership and decision-making roles on Boards and Commissions is where we see a disparity. Latinos makeup only 21% of leadership roles on Boards and Commissions.
● The Mayor gets a C- for Latino representation among leadership on Boards and Commissions.
Every department in the city has decision makers. The Latino Caucus defined decision making roles as superintendents, chiefs, deputies, etc. Only 17% of employees in leadership and decision-making roles across the city’s departments are Latino.
● The Mayor gets an F for Latino representation in decision-making roles across all departments in City government.
The Mayor has 32 cabinet members who are her closest advisors making decisions and overseeing all areas of city government. Of those 32 cabinet members, only four of them are Latino. That means only 12 ½ % of her cabinet membership is Latino.
● The Mayor gets an F for Latino representation in her cabinet.
All of this amounts to the Mayor earning a D in Latino hiring and representation under her leadership. There is not one category where Latino employment is representative of the population of the City of Chicago.
“There’s no question that the budget we heard today was developed with input from too few Latinos in decision-making roles,” said Chairman of the Latino Caucus Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), “Until that happens we’ll continue to see inadequate investment in our Latino community and in areas of our city that have suffered for too long.”
The Latino Caucus will be submitting a resolution for the next City Council meeting to introduce a Hispanic Inclusion Plan, complete with an advisory board. It is imperative there is Latino representation in the Mayor’s administration and in our city government reflects the makeup of our city. This plan will ensure the City is assessing the makeup of its workforce annually and putting plans in place to grow representation at all levels: supervisory, professional, technical and managerial.
“How can we be sure that we’re fairly investing in the right programs, that decisions about health and safety are being made with balanced input from Latinos? Right now there’s no balance,” said Vice Chairman of the Latino Caucus, Ald. Silvana Tabares (23), “The Latino population in Chicago continues to grow, yet we don’t see that growth happening in leadership roles in the Mayor’s administration.”
Last week, the Latino Caucus sent the Mayor a list of budget demands which includes bringing the total investment of the Immigrant Defense Fund to $5 million, funding the expansion of crisis response, rapid rehousing, cash assistance, child care assistance, small business support, community organization nonprofit funding, and much more.
The City Council Latino Caucus includes 13 members from across the city. They represent wards as diverse as Chicago itself. In addition to Chairman Gilbert Villegas (36), the Caucus membership includes: Ald. Daniel LaSpata (1), Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza (10), Ald. George Cardenas (12), Ald. Michael Rodriguez (22), Ald. Silvana Tabares (23), Ald. Bryon Sigcho-Lopez (25), Ald. Robert Maldonado (26), Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30), Ald. Felix Cardona (31), Ald. Rossana Rodriguez (33), Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), and Ald. Andres Vazquez (40). Chicago’s Clerk Anna Valencia is an ex-officio member of the Latino Caucus.
