Building Civic Leadership

When Bridget Lee was leading the team that prepared student outcome data for Chicago Public Schools, she noticed something that wouldn’t leave her alone.

Every reporting cycle, the graphs looked the same. The same student groups at the top. The same student groups at the bottom. Year after year.

“If the graph never changes, it’s not an accident,” she said. “It’s a design.”

That realization sent her looking for the levers: where decisions get made, who gets to make them, and whether anything could move.

The answer kept pointing to school board governance. Not as a process, but as the place where a district’s priorities, resources, and accountability structures get set. Get governance right, and you create the conditions for students to succeed. Leave it underdeveloped, and the graph stays the same.

ALL Chicago was founded in January 2024, ahead of Chicago’s first-ever school board elections, on the conviction that this moment required something new. Not another advocacy organization. A serious, sustained investment in the civic infrastructure that makes elected governance work: prepared leaders who understand the role before they serve in it, and communities who have the tools to engage that leadership on behalf of their kids.

ALL works with parents, community members, and civic leaders who have deep stakes in this system and real knowledge of what their communities need. ALL’s job is to connect that commitment to the places where it can make a difference.

Chicago’s school board elections this fall will shape decisions that set the tone for years to come: budget priorities, superintendent accountability, district policy, and the basic question of whether this board governs in a way that earns public trust. ALL Chicago is building the infrastructure to make sure that question gets a good answer.

It’s time for change. Our students need decision-makers who prioritize their needs. The Academy for Local Leadership seeks to turn apathy into action, creating space for rising diverse leaders to fully understand the landscape and become involved in shaping their communities and city.