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City Bureau
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Explore reporting from City Bureau’s journalists, Civic Reporting Fellows, and Chicago Documenters, with stories that address local issues and solutions while uplifting community perspectives. Whether our team is tracking policy decisions around housing or creating guides about labor rights, our reporting helps people make informed decisions and take action in their communities. You can count on coverage that’s trustworthy, transparent, and grounded in collaboration with the communities we serve.
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A guide to the powers and responsibilities of a Chicago City Council member, also known as an alderman.
A guide about your fundamental rights and how to navigate worksites better.
Albany Park volunteers share how their church became host to five migrant families — and how their work became a collaborative effort across their ward.
How to test your water, get free filters, and find other help.
What issues matter the most to Austin residents, and where do local candidates stand on them?
Organizers who work in education, homelessness and housing justice shared several tips on how Chicagoans can get more involved in key local issues affecting our communities in 2025.
The People’s Guide to Community Benefits Agreements and Alternatives
How open is your government? City Bureau analyzed data from over 100 government agencies serving the Chicago area about how they conduct public meetings.
Stories of Impact
See how our reporting makes an impact, from revealing racial disparities in home lending to uncovering systemic failures in police handling of missing persons cases.
Where Banks Don’t Lend
Missing in Chicago
In Chicago, lenders have invested more in a single white neighborhood than all the black neighborhoods combined. Call it modern-day redlining.
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A two-year investigation into how Chicago police handle missing person cases reveals the disproportionate impact on Black women and girls, how police have mistreated family members or delayed cases, and how poor police data is making the problem harder to solve.
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