Tonika Lewis Johnson is a social justice artist, photographer and author from Englewood whose work highlights systemic racism and disinvestment in Chicago. The multihyphenate is one of 22 fellows granted this year’s prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

Tonika Lewis Johnson, an Englewood native, explores the impacts of segregation and disinvestment in Chicago neighborhoods through her “Folded Map Project,” “Inequity for Sale” and “UnBlocked Englewood” projects. MacArthur Fellows receive a “no-strings-attached” $800,000 award.

Artist and photographer Tonika Lewis Johnson and sociologist Maria Krysan compiled Chicagoans’ stories in their new book. The goal was to better understand what can happen when people explore often ignored parts of the city.

The City Council’s Finance Committee unanimously endorsed the plan from R2 Co. and the Campari Group to transform the 14-story office building at 79 W. Monroe St. into an apartment building with 117 units, including 41 units set aside for low- and moderate-income Chicagoans.

To this day, Chicagoans live in a fairly segregated city. And that segregation didn’t happen by coincidence but by design. WTTW News Explains how redlining worked in Chicago.

Chicago routinely ranks among the most segregated big cities in America when measured by the dissimilarity index, a tool used to gauge how evenly distributed demographic groups are throughout a distinct geographic area.

In all, the 34 appointments Johnson made between May 2023 and April 2024 that require confirmation by the Chicago City Council reflect the city’s racial diversity, as measured by the 2020 census, more closely than the appointments made by his two predecessors, former Mayors Lori Lightfoot and Rahm Emanuel.

The new docuseries uses firsthand accounts, archival footage and animation to better explain complex practices like redlining and blockbusting, and how Black families were systemically barred from homeownership.

“Like many cities, we are in the process of recovering from the impact of the pandemic, resulting in vacancies, particularly our storefronts and offices,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We have to respond to these changes. As a city, we have to do it in a creative and collaborative way.”

A probe by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found that aldermanic prerogative has created a hyper-segregated city rife with racism and gentrification.

The Folded Map action kit aims to help Chicagoans explore the effects of segregation in the city and how it continues to perpetuate racial inequities.

Mayor Brandon Johnson said a $3.6 billion plan to build 5.6 miles of new train tracks, as well as four stations, would “right a historic wrong” and provide a “critical connection that has been missing for half a century.”

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”

Chicago had the greatest number of mass shootings during that period with 141, which led to 97 deaths and 583 injuries. According to the study, Milwaukee had the highest segregation index.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas called the legislation “the most significant property tax reform legislation the General Assembly has approved in decades.”

Advocates for Latino Chicagoans told WTTW News that they believe Lightfoot failed to fulfill promises to ensure those she chose to lead city departments and to serve on city panels represented the city’s racial and ethnic diversity.