Politics
Chicago Mayoral Candidate Toni Brooks on Nonprofit Work, Affordable Housing and Reallocating City Funds
Chicago’s race for mayor is on as candidates gather signatures for a spot on February’s ballot.
Chicago-born Toni Brooks was one of the first to announce she’d be looking to lead the city. The U.S. Army National Guard veteran said she is the right person to rebuild Chicago, one block at a time.
Brooks joined “Chicago Tonight” to discuss affordable housing, public safety and her qualifications to lead the country’s third largest city.
On her qualifications for mayor:
Brooks previously founded the Toni Brooks Foundation, which “supports female veterans, domestic violence survivors, foster youth & young adults, and senior citizens transitioning to independence,” according to her campaign website. She currently serves on the board of Rescue 8, a nonprofit community preparedness and violence prevention organization. She is also a full-time caregiver for her mother.
“Nonprofit organizations kind of give you that more nurturing, real-life feel for the people that you’re actually gonna serve,” Brooks said. “And I do believe in this seat you actually serve the people.”
On the ‘Shared Power Fund’:
During her campaign announcement, Brooks committed to donating 95% of her first-year salary to a “Shared Power Fund” if elected.
“A lot of people don’t realize there is a fund that exists where the constituents in certain wards are able to determine how the money is spent,” Brooks said. “That’s kind of me setting the example that this is a real people campaign, but this will be a real people seat once I’m in there. And I want the people to always be involved.”
On the ‘Chicago Audit and Exchange’:
Brooks is advocating for a reevaluation of city funds to determine how money should be reinvested. She said she plans to investigate TIF allocation, vacancies on the city’s payroll and funding for police misconduct settlements to fund other projects, such as a tax credit for caregivers.
“I am an MBA in finance,” Brooks said, “and accounting is my thing. So auditing the books and exchanging those funds to where the citizens actually need it, it’s really a matter of reallocating funds and being able to make decisions and make things happen without actually raising taxes.”
On refusing to raise property taxes to fund affordable housing:
“There’s plenty of funds in the budget,” Brooks said. “I did come up with an affordable housing program, but it’s not affordable housing when it comes to being a renter. I have a solution where there’s affordable housing where people are becoming an ownership class. … I already have my eyes set on some locations on the West Side that have RFPs in play for them.”
On campaign funding:
“This is a people campaign,” Brooks said. “When I say grassroots, we are 100% grassroots. I have a couple of small fundraisers, but I’m also self-funding my campaign as well. But I rely heavily on the people, and raising the funds is not really my concern. The people is my concern.”
