Sunday, March 15

1:00 pm — 3:00 pm

Chicago Abortion Fund is kicking off our Fund-a-Thon campaign all across the city!! Join us for our final Kick-Off event, on Sunday, March 15th at Build Coffee in Woodlawn.

Come to build community, learn about CAF’s work, sign up for Fund-a-Thon and get some juicy fundraising tips! We will be putting together care packages and writing love notes for people getting abortions in Illinois. And thanks to our incredible partners at Build Coffee, proceeds from all food and drink purchases will go towards CAF’s work funding abortion in Illinois and throughout the Midwest.

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Friday, December 6

6:30 pm — 10:00 pm

Join us for a Night Market at Experimental Station featuring your fave South Side artists and vendors. Come revel: get your holiday shopping done early and support Chicago projects! The night features live music from Ifeyani Elswith and Wheatpaste, a Warming Station open mic hosted by J Bambii, AQ & Binky, adult beverages, and snacks and supper from Build Coffee. For an up-to-date vendor list and full details, see here.

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Sunday, November 24

4:00 pm — 6:00 pm

Join audio producer Erisa Apantaku for an afternoon of candid and vulnerable conversation around decolonizing desire. After realizing most of the crushes she’d ever had were on white people, Erisa set out to understand why this was happening within herself. Interviewing her queer, non-white friends about their experiences led to a 10-minute audio piece commissioned by the BBC Radio program Short Cuts. The piece—an intercut chorus of voices, feelings, and stories—explores the origins of desire and the issues that can arise when people of color partner with white people. After listening to the audio piece, Erisa will facilitate a discussion touching on key things she asked interviewees and give participants an opportunity to record their own reflections on desire. *THIS EVENT IS FOR PEOPLE OF COLOR ONLY*

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Friday, November 8

7:00 pm — 9:00 pm

Hosted by Sista Afya: Join us for a special film screening & fireside chat with filmmaker Tristien Marcellous Winfree about healing from trauma and grief in the Black community. Please RSVP at sistaafya.com/wellnessweekend

This event is part of Black Mental Wellness Weekend, a grassroots community event focused on improving mental health and wellness within Chicago’s Black community. Mental Wellness can be seen by some as cold, distant, and out of reach for our community. Black Mental Wellness Weekend seeks to bring mental wellness to our neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago through building community through healing. We have gathered some of the brightest minds in Black mental health and wellness in the Chicago to provide our community with a multitude of ways to connect and heal.

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Monday, October 28

7:00 pm — 8:30 pm

Come join us for a Town Hall AND a Reverse Town Hall with Congressional Candidates Robert Emmons Jr. (IL-01) and Morgan Harper (OH-03). They will be discussing the bold, progressive legislation that a new generation of leadership is bringing to Congress:

– Racial Justice
– Environmental Equality
– Gun Violence Prevention
– Public Safety
– Medicare For All
– Tuition-Free Public College

The discussion will be moderated by Dejah Powell, an analyst at a non-profit consulting firm and fundraising team lead for Sunrise Movement Chicago. Her top priority: passing Green New Deal policy that centers indigenous and frontline communities.

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Sunday, October 27

4:00 pm — 6:00 pm

Come tie-dye with us! This hands-on workshop will be led by current Build Coffee artist-in-residence Claire Zurkowski of Lattice Textile Studio. Together, we’ll learn the basic techniques of tying, dying, and fabric design. We’ll first create swatches to try different techniques, then everyone will have the chance to dye a t-shirt implementing what we’ve learned. Claire will provide dye and one t-shirt per person. Please feel free to bring old clothing to dye as well! Fabrics must be made of natural fibers (cotton, rayon, hemp, linen, silk, etc.)—no wool, polyester, nylon, acetate. $10 suggested to cover materials. Pay what you can; no one will be turned away due to lack of funds!

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Saturday, October 19

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Stop by the Build Coffee patio on October 19 during the 61st Street Farmers Market for the loveliest ceramics by Pottery By Pai! This will be Grace Pai’s second time gracing our patio and the last in our series of outdoor vendors for the season. Grace is the maker and ceramics enthusiast behind Pottery By Pai. She is part of the artist community at the Hyde Park Art Center and creates handmade, functional ceramics, including mugs, bowls, vases, plates, and colanders. As a racial justice organizer in Chicago, Grace finds the ceramics studio to be a place of refuge and rejuvenation. Pottery is her way of channeling her emotions about the state of the world into beautiful, practical pieces others can enjoy.

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Saturday, October 12

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-on-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever, helping them succeed and thrive in life. As Metro Chicago and Northwest Indiana’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network, BBBSMC makes meaningful, monitored matches between adult volunteers (“Bigs”) and children (“Littles”), to develop positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on Metro Chicago youth and the communities in which they live. On October 23, stop by the Build Coffee patio to talk with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago staff about their programs and how to get involved.

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Thursday, October 10

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What is our responsibility to society when it comes to the criminal justice system? For journalists, we ask: how do we cover it ethically? For judges, prosecutors, police officers and everyday citizens, how do we ethically participate in what is often called a flawed system? To spearhead this discussion, City Bureau will be screening ‘We Are Witnesses: Chicago,’ an immersive short video series exploring the nature of crime, punishment, and forgiveness through portraits of Chicagoans from all walks of life who have been touched by the criminal justice system.

A selection of films from the new series will be shown, followed by a panel discussion with the Witnesses moderated by Charles Preston. The panelists include:

Channyn Lynne Parker, advocate in Cook County jail
Bill Dorsh, retired CPD officer who testified against wrongful convictions
Risa Lanier, Chief of criminal prosecution for the office of Kim Foxx
Maggie Bowman, Director, We Are Witnesses

We Are Witnesses: Chicago is produced by The Marshall Project in partnership with Kartemquin Films and Illinois Humanities. Directed by Maggie Bowman and Stacy Robinson.

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Saturday, October 5

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Are you thinking about becoming a foster parent? Kaleidoscope‘s vision is that all children and youth have the opportunity to enjoy safe and healthy lives nurtured by responsive adults. They support caregivers to shape better lives and brighter futures for children. Their mission is to empower children, youth, and families impacted by abuse and neglect to build resourcefulness, resiliency, and supportive relationships through innovative, individualized case management and clinical services. On October 5, stop by the Build Coffee patio to talk with Kaleidoscope staff about their programs and how to get involved.

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Thursday, October 3

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What do we mean when we ask for and envision justice? Created and facilitated by Illinois Humanities, Envisioning Justice is an ongoing initiative that engages Chicagoans in a citywide conversation about the impact of incarceration in local communities and invites residents to use the arts and humanities to imagine alternatives.

This City Bureau Public Newsroom features a conversation with BBF Family Services, a North Lawndale-based organization that has served as one of seven “Community Hub” partners throughout Envisioning Justice and that focuses specifically on the re-entry process for people returning from incarceration. Dominique Steward of BBF Family Services and Gabe Lyon of Illinois Humanities will lead a facilitated conversation about the role of the public humanities within communities welcoming returning citizens.

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Saturday, September 28

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Join us in welcoming a new Build Coffee artist-in-residence: Claire Zurkowski of Lattice Textile Studio! Claire is a textile artist and mineral physicist based in Hyde Park. Her scientific research is focused on understanding the chemistry and structures of minerals that form deep inside of the Earth. Through her weaving, Claire explores how our eyes interpret optical and spatial information. 

Recently she has been interested in blurring boundaries: between inside and outside, light and dark, floor and chair. After researching and contemplating these ideas, she hopes to provide instinctual pathways for using a space through textile design. In her time as an artist-in-residence at Build Coffee—October 2019 through January 2020—Claire will be filling the space with her large format woven fabrics and custom-made tufted pieces.

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Saturday, September 28

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Daysprite Design is Sam Hultberg, an artist and arts educator raised in Brooklyn, NY and working out of Bridgeport. Her work consists of sculpture, design, and fabricated objects as well as writing and photography. She is a recent BFA graduate of The School of The Art Institute of Chicago (2018), teaches part-time at One River School of Art and Design, and makes and sells handmade jewelry at several shops around the city. Sam’s work explores the semiotics of props, how assumptions of function vs. dysfunction help us navigate reality, and capitalism’s love affair with all things plastic. She is passionate about public skill sharing, camping, crocheting, small reptiles, and learning a new thing everyday.

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Saturday, September 21

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Jamila Goods is potter Jess Miller, based in Chicago. Jess makes functional ceramics influenced by feelings, intuition, and playfulness. Her work as a clinical psychologist greatly informs her pottery practice—she strives to counterbalance the seriousness and intellectual focus her job demands with a more playful and impulsive method of creating. She has found wheel-throwing to be an ideal complement to being a therapist, encouraging her to get out of her mind and tune into her body to be able to center and form the clay. In trying to find synergy between the disciplines of therapy and pottery, she hopes that each practice informs and strengthens the other.

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Thursday, September 12

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, newsrooms across the country are more and more willing to support robust reporting on sexual assault. But an earnest interest in covering these topics doesn’t always produce the best reporting for survivors and their communities. How can journalists report on sexual assault ethically, with the most care for sources who are survivors of sexual violence? What would it look like to report on sexual violence in a way that is generative instead of extractive? What types of reporting on this topic are most useful to survivors and their networks of support?

The evening will feature a Q&A with Jim DeRogatis, an Associate Professor at Columbia College and co-host of Sound Opinions, who has been reporting on allegations of sexual abuse by R. Kelly since the early 2000s. Our host for the evening is Jenny Casas, a radio reporter based in Chicago working for WNYC.

Learn more →

Sunday, September 8

5:00 pm — 6:30 pm

Build Coffee artist-in-residence Naimah Thomas will lead a workshop in conjunction with her current show, Wounded Healer. This event is free and open to the public but space is limited. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

This workshop, the second in a series, invites people to think about how their experiences may or may not shape how we navigate the world around us. Engaging in the creative process provides a space to explore a person’s intersecting identities and how we all are capable of supporting ourselves as we work in collaboration with others. We will collectively engage in the creative process through expression, discussion, and vulnerability. Within this space, we potentially create together all will be encouraged to be brave, inclusive, and serve as a creative act of resistance.

Learn more →

Saturday, September 7

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Join us September 7 on the patio as GnarWare Workshop shows off wares from their many makers. There will be cups, bowls, vases, and many other curious objects for your pleasure. GnarWare Workshop is a ceramics studio located at 1838 West Cermak Rd in Pilsen. It was founded by artist and educator Liz McCarthy in 2017. GnarWare serves the greater Chicago area by providing a work space dedicated to ceramic material and open conversations about clay, craft and form. This space offers studios, series classes, workshops, and drop-in tutorials, enabling artists and hobbyists to work through ideas.

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Sunday, August 25

5:00 pm — 6:30 pm

Build Coffee artist-in-residence Naimah Thomas will lead a workshop in conjunction with her current show, Wounded Healer. This event is free and open to the public but space is limited. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

This workshop, the first in a series, invites people to think about how their experiences may or may not shape how we navigate the world around us. Engaging in the creative process provides a space to explore a person’s intersecting identities and how we all are capable of supporting ourselves as we work in collaboration with others. We will collectively engage in the creative process through expression, discussion, and vulnerability. Within this space, we potentially create together all will be encouraged to be brave, inclusive, and serve as a creative act of resistance.

Learn more →

Saturday, August 17

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Adornamorphosis Jewelry by Ruby Pinto was such a hit in May, she’ll be back August 17! If you missed Ruby before now is your chance to snag some of the coolest copper jewelry in the city. Ruby Pinto is an artist and organizer based in Chicago. She’s inspired to make art out of repurposed materials, and when she has the chance, she loves to create work that must be touched and even taken apart to be fully enjoyed. A founding member of For the People Artists Collective, Ruby believes that artistic expression and creative collaboration are at the core of liberation. Her jewelry is made mostly of scrap metal, primarily copper, sourced from construction and demolition projects in Chicago and Pittsburgh, PA. She’s also recently integrated ethically-sourced bones into her work, and loves to highlight the intricacies and simplicity of nature’s designs in the jewelry she creates.

Learn more →

Saturday, August 10

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

South Rhodes Records is returning to the Build Coffee patio four times this summer to bring you the best vinyl your turntable’s ever played! SRR is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals. These pop-ups will take place on May 11, June 15, July 13, and August during the 61st Street Farmers Market. Pick up some music to spin with your local fruits and veggies!

Learn more →

Saturday, August 3

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Stop by the Build Coffee patio on August 3 during the 61st Street Farmers Market for the loveliest ceramics by Pottery By Pai! Grace Pai is the maker and ceramics enthusiast behind Pottery By Pai. She is part of the artist community at the Hyde Park Art Center and creates handmade, functional ceramics, including mugs, bowls, vases, plates, and colanders. As a racial justice organizer in Chicago, Grace finds the ceramics studio to be a place of refuge and rejuvenation. Pottery is her way of channeling her emotions about the state of the world into beautiful, practical pieces others can enjoy.

Learn more →

Thursday, August 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

It’s been 100 days since city council elections, and all August City Bureau is hosting workshops on alderperson accountability. The series will be tackling two questions in wards around the city: What has your alderperson been up to since taking office? How do can we hold city council accountable in between elections? City Bureau has designed activities with Chicago United for Equity to walk attendees through these questions. We’ll unpack what committees your alderperson is on as well as budget spending, service delivery and development in your ward. On August 1 they’ll be in the 20th Ward at Build Coffee, where Jeanette Taylor was elected during an April 2nd runoff and took office in May. Read more about her election here.

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Saturday, July 20

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Prisoners need books! Prisoners need zines! Stop by the Build Coffee patio on July 20 during the 61st Street Farmers Market to meet Vicki White from Chicago Books to Women in Prison and Casey Goonan from True Leap Press. Donations welcome: Please bring gently-used paperback dictionaries, true crime or urban fiction!

Chicago Books to Women in Prison sends free books—nearly 13,500 in 2018—to women and trans people locked up across the US. They provide a critical intervention into an oppressive system by offering the self-empowerment, education and entertainment that reading provides. True Leap Press publishes the journal Propter Nos, a platform for Black and radical antiracist theoretical and cultural work. They also distribute free political education zines to prisoners across the country, with a focus on enabling prisoners to (self-)organize political education groups.

Learn more →

Saturday, July 13

4:00 pm — 6:00 pm

Join us in welcoming a new Build Coffee artist-in-residence: Naimah Thomas! During the residency Naimah will be showing her work on Build’s walls and leading a series of events as part of the project Wounded Healer: Exploring community, connection, and healing through art therapy. The Build Coffee Meal-Based Residency Program is a gallery show and residency aiming to nourish and sustain local art and artists. For more information, see buildcoffee.org/residency

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Saturday, July 13

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

South Rhodes Records is returning to the Build Coffee patio four times this summer to bring you the best vinyl your turntable’s ever played! SRR is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals. These pop-ups will take place on May 11, June 15, July 13, and August during the 61st Street Farmers Market. Pick up some music to spin with your local fruits and veggies!

Learn more →

Saturday, July 6

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Las Topo Chicas are a femme & queer people of color artist collective based on the South Side of Chicago. Their mission is to cultivate and sustain creative space in and around the South Side that invites femmes & queer people of color. They commit to creating financially and physically accessible spaces that center non-normativity, pro-hoe, and radically compassionate community building. On July 6 Las Topo Chicas are coming to the Build Coffee patio to vend handmade prints, zines, patches, and jewelry!

Learn more →

Monday, July 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Experiment is a free workshop and open mic at Build Coffee every first Monday of the month. Bring your songs, poems, music, stories, dances—whatever you can do in five minutes. Sign-ups open up at 6pm!


Saturday, June 29

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

South Rhodes Records is returning to the Build Coffee patio four times this summer to bring you the best vinyl your turntable’s ever played! SRR is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals. These pop-ups will take place on May 11, June 15, July 13, and August during the 61st Street Farmers Market. Pick up some music to spin with your local fruits and veggies!


Saturday, June 22

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Found Objects is a lifestyle brand whose mission is to encourage women to embrace their power. Creator Angelica Callanta was born and raised in the city of Chicago. Rooted in her Filipino heritage, she discovered hip-hop music as a preteen. The history, politics, boldness, and beauty of both cultures would heavily influence not just her style but the way in which she viewed the world. The woman who wears Found Objects is at once classic & fierce, elegant & dramatic, powerful & graceful. She makes a statement without having to say a word, just like her Found Objects jewelry.

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Saturday, June 8

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

On June 8, Build Coffee welcomes ReformedSchool to our patio for a one-day-only pop-up during the 61st St Farmers Market. ReformedSchool’s mission is to utilize eco-fashion to educate and spark conversation about the environment as well as history and social justice in style. Their product line is made from repurposed vintage fabrics, leathers and recycled plastic bottles as much as possible. Their enamel pins are designed to shine a spotlight on both social justice and African Diasporan history.

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Thursday, June 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Racial bias in jury selection is harmful, wide-spread, and very difficult to catch. When challenged, lawyers can say almost anything to get rid of a prospective juror they don’t want. The result, studies have shown, are juries that are stacked with white jurors. Courts are often not subject to public records laws, and the parts that are can be stingy with records. So how can defendants, journalists, and the public get creative when it comes to investigating the system and its effects? Data reporter Will Craft leads City Bureau’s 111th Public Newsroom. He’ll talk about how In The Dark, an APM Reports podcast, investigated jury selection in Mississippi to reveal the stark disparities in how the district attorney treated jurors of different races over his 26-year tenure.

Learn more →

Monday, June 3

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Experiment is a free open mic at Build Coffee every first Monday of the month. Bring your songs, poems, music, stories, dances—whatever you can do in five minutes. Sign-ups open up at 6pm!


Saturday, May 25

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Build Coffee is thrilled to welcome Kenyatta Forbes of Urban Macrame Fibers for the third installment of our weekly patio pop-up series at the 61st Street Farmers Market! Kenyatta Forbes is a multi-disciplinary artist who uses her own experiences in exploration of fiber as a lease for understanding the world. Using a mixture of traditional hand techniques like weaving, knotting, sewing, and leather making, she combines elements to create narratives. Focusing more on process that completion, pieces are not planned but born and developed over time. Seeing her practice as a component to mindfulness, she uses the meditative nature of fiber play to form connections to the past, present, and future.

Learn more →

Saturday, May 18

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

Build Coffee welcomes Adornamorphosis Jewelry by Ruby Pinto for the second in our series of summer patio pop-ups during 61st Street Farmers Market! Ruby Pinto is an artist and organizer based in Chicago. She’s inspired to make art out of repurposed materials, and when she has the chance, she loves to create work that must be touched and even taken apart to be fully enjoyed. A founding member of For the People Artists Collective, Ruby believes that artistic expression and creative collaboration are at the core of liberation. Her jewelry is made mostly of scrap metal, primarily copper, sourced from construction and demolition projects in Chicago and Pittsburgh, PA. She’s also recently integrated ethically-sourced bones into her work, and loves to highlight the intricacies and simplicity of nature’s designs in the jewelry she creates.

Learn more →

Wednesday, May 15

6:00 pm — 7:30 pm

Chicago Artists Coalition is committed to addressing equity across the continuum of CAC’s facilities and programs that serve Chicago’s emerging artists and curators. In preparing to draft a new strategic plan that will prioritize this work, CAC is organizing three community listening sessions. During these sessions they hope to better understand the needs of the artist community and to learn how CAC can better help to provide an environment where artists may thrive regardless of race, economic standing, gender, sexual orientation, and/or disability. CAC invites you to join them for this conversation. Light refreshments will be served. Please RSVP!

Learn more →

Saturday, May 11

9:00 am — 1:00 pm

South Rhodes Records is returning to the Build Coffee patio four times this summer to bring you the best vinyl your turntable’s ever played! SRR is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals. These pop-ups will take place on May 11, June 15, July 13, and August during the 61st Street Farmers Market. Pick up some music to spin with your local fruits and veggies!

Learn more →

Monday, May 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Experiment is a free open mic at Build Coffee every first Monday of the month. Bring your songs, poems, music, stories, dances—whatever you can do in five minutes. Sign-ups open up at 6pm!


Thursday, April 25

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

How can personal storytelling and journalism come together to challenge dominant narratives, and how they can be used as a tool for building community?

To explore this questions, City Bureau and 2nd Story are bringing together a panel with WBEZ’s South Side Reporter Natalie Moore, Free Street Theater’s Artistic Director, Coya Paz, and 2nd Story company member Eric May. Moore is the author of The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation as well as monthly columns for the Sun-Times, where she draws from her personal and family history to ground current issues. In 2017, Paz collaborated with ProPublica Illinois to lead a series of workshops across the state that utilized theater practices to engage residents on ProPublica’s reporting. A former journalist with the Washington Post, May has taught fiction writing at Columbia College since 1993 and published his debut novel, Bedrock Faith, in 2014. After the conversation, attendees will have a chance to participate in an activity that will connect personal history with broader news.

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Thursday, April 18

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

In late 2018, local photojournalist Sebastián Hidalgo took on a Washington Post assignment to document the story of Isaac Flores, a 11 year-old from Honduras who was separated from his mother at the border in January 2018. Disturbed by other national media’s emphasis on the wall, Hidalgo chose to focus on Flores’ day to day life as a child to rehumanize the conversation on immigration. Hidalgo frames this approach as an antidote to the “if it bleeds it leads” philosophy in photojournalism.

What is “shock value” photojournalism and how can photographers pursue a different path? That’s what Hidalgo will be sharing at this week’s Public Newsroom. We’ll learn about other photographers taking a similar approach, how to work with editors and how Hidalgo co-created a support group for Chicago-based photographers, The Visual Desk. Together we’ll develop frameworks that photographers can follow.

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Sunday, April 14

10:00 am — 1:00 pm

“These slices of Chicago reflect humor and sweetness, but also insight and from time to time unvarnished grace.” — Chicago Reader

What was breakfast? It’s a simple but intimate question. Photographer Alan Epstein’s popular and prolific Instagram series is coming to the walls of Build Coffee for the second installment of our Meal-Based Residency Program. Join us on Sunday, April 14, to celebrate Alan’s opening and the start of his residency at Build! We’ll be serving bagels with all the fixins, including smoked fish and (vegan!) carrot lox.

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Sunday, April 7

12:00 pm — 3:00 pm

Bring your own shirt (or sweater, tote bag, or any cloth really!) and choose a powerful design from For the People Artists Collective to screenprint and share with the world. Hosted by Monica Trinidad, current Build Coffee artist-in-residence. This is the closing event of Monica’s residency, and the last chance to see her work on Build’s walls! Pastries and hot coffee and tea will be available from the shop by suggested donation.

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Monday, April 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Experiment is a free open mic at Build Coffee every first Monday of the month. Bring your songs, poems, music, stories, dances—whatever you can do in five minutes. Sign-ups open up at 6pm!


Saturday, March 30

7:30 pm — 9:30 pm

Black Tide Entertainment presents a release party for SEEDS, a new EP by Maushéa dropping 3/30. Hosted by Pretty Riot, with performances by Ifeanyi Elswith, Asha Omega, LaJé, Dai, and Maushéa. BTE will be collecting supplies for the Chicago Period Project. $5 donation suggested.

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Friday, March 29

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

There is power in our stories. So how do we use story-based strategy and artwork to win campaigns and efforts in our city? How do we challenge and shift dominant narratives without our messaging being co-opted by those in power? How do we utilize those in power to push our issues to the forefront?

Join FTP Artists Collective members Ruby Pinto (Chicago Community Bond Fund), Danbee Kim (Grassroots Collaborative), and Melisa Stephen (No Cop Academy) for a conversation and workshop on utilizing art and storytelling to shift narratives and build power in our communities. Moderated by Monica Trinidad, current artist-in-residence at Build Coffee.

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Thursday, March 28

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Nearly 40,000 people went missing in Mexico between December 2006 to October 2018, according to official records. These disappearances are largely attributed to the country’s drug war. Late last year a team of independent Mexican journalists sought to reveal how a decade of this drug war has turned Mexico into a burial ground. Their investigation—known as #MexicoPaísdeFosas—showed, for the very first time, the increasing discovery of mass graves in Mexico, between 2006 and 2016. This week at the Public Newsroom we’re hosting a member of the investigative team, Mago Torres. Torres will share how the team obtained documents, the challenges they faced, and lessons learned during their year and a half reporting project. After the presentation, attendees will have a chance to learn how to build a layered map like that used in #MexicoPaísdeFosas and give feedback to the reporting.

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Wednesday, March 27

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Join Illinois Collaboration on Youth and local community leaders—Kyana Butler from Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) and Cherice L. Price from the Resident Association of Greater Englewood (RAGE) and the Greater Englewood Development Corporation—for a conversation about how they have effectively mobilized and built coalitions to advocate for the needs of their communities. Panelists will discuss both the barriers and accomplishments in mobilizing and holding elected officials and institutions accountable for the communities they serve. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP here.

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Tuesday, March 26

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

This is a monthly meeting by and for sex workers focusing on self care. All genders welcome! See a full calendar of related events in Chicago here.

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Thursday, March 14

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Restorative justice has become a buzzword in Chicago in recent years, but what does it mean to actually practice it in all facets of life, including the workplace? Local Legend Films is building a trauma-informed startup and providing holistic employment to young Chicagoans at-risk from gun violence. A major component of this company culture is restorative justice, a radical, non-punitive approach to communal accountability. Join founder Jayme Joyce, restorative justice practitioner Mashaun Ali Hendricks, and LLF employees for an interactive discussion about this model.

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Thursday, March 7

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What is fact-checking and how do you do it? Come learn how and why news organizations fact-check, how to identify the facts in a story, and what makes a good source. South Side Weekly Editor-in-Chief Adam Przybyl will guide you through the first part of the fact-checking process. Feel free to bring a story or excerpt from a book or podcast to see how it would be fact-checked. He’ll also talk about why learning to fact-check can improve your reporting process and help you write well-sourced stories. This workshop was developed for a South Side Weekly series of hands-on sessions on journalism basics, made possible by the PEN America Press Freedom Incentive Fund. To learn more, visit workshops.southsideweekly.com

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Monday, March 4

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Experiment is a free open mic at Build Coffee every first Monday of the month. Bring your songs, poems, music, stories, dances—whatever you can do in five minutes. Sign-ups open up at 6pm!


Thursday, February 28

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Consider the following: only about 1.4% of the over 12 million raised in the upcoming election is from small donors. Reform For Illinois, a nonpartisan research and advocacy organization, has been closely watching the campaign finance trends in the Chicago mayoral race. Join Executive and Policy Directors Mary Miro and Alisa Kaplan for a discussion on the role money plays in the municipal elections. We’ll talk about who funds the mayoral race and what that means for the city, and how our current system privileges a wealthy few and special interests over ordinary constituents. We’ll also ask ourselves: what changes we can make to give everyday citizens an equal voice in their government?

City Bureau’s #PublicNewsroom is a series of free, weekly workshops and discussions aimed at building trust between journalists and the communities they serve while shaping a more inclusive newsroom.

Learn more →

Tuesday, February 26

6:30 pm — 8:30 pm

This is a monthly meeting by and for sex workers focusing on self care. All genders welcome! See a full calendar of related events in Chicago here.

Learn more →

Saturday, February 23

10:00 am — 11:00 am

Join us for a special Black History Month story time at Build Coffee as we welcome Valerie Reynolds, the author of The Joys of Being a Little Black Boy, for a book reading a signing.

The Joys of Being a Little Black Boy is a vividly illustrated, history-based children’s book that brings to life Roy, a joyful Black boy. Roy will take your little ones on a biopic journey of joy with some of the world’s most notable Black men who—lest we forget—were at one time young Black boys.

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Thursday, February 21

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago has a deep history of racism. What should our next elected leaders do about it? Join City Bureau and Niketa Brar of Chicago United for Equity to vote on the racial justice issues that matter most to you and help set the agenda for the next political leaders of our city. The top voted issues will be sent to candidates. You’ll receive their responses in Chicago’s Voter Guide for Racial Equity before the February city elections. Mark your calendar! This will be the final Vote Equity party in the series. Learn more at www.chicagoforall.org. [Postponed from 1/31]

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Friday, February 8

6:30 pm — 8:30 pm

Build Your Vote is back to help you fill out your ballot for the Chicago municipal elections. There’s tons of candidates on February’s ballot, and if you’re confused about the logistics of voting, or where to find information on candidates, you’re not alone! We believe everything is better when you do it with and for community, so South Side Weekly is here to help you navigate these complicated elections. And Build Coffee is here to fill your belly while we’re at it. Please join us for a pay-what-you-can dinner, where writers and editors from the Weekly will present you with information on the aldermanic race in your ward and answer your questions about the election. Then we’ll break into small groups to help each other research candidates and fill out our ballots, using the Better Government Association’s Chi.Vote tool.

Bring a laptop, if you have one (but no worries if you don’t!). We’ll have hearty vegetarian soup, fresh bread, and beverages available by suggested donation. Come hungry and curious! We ask that you register in advance at bit.ly/BuildYourVoteChi

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Monday, February 4

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

A new free open mic hosted by Davon Clark and Nana Apiah. First Mondays!


Wednesday, January 16

6:30 pm — 7:30 pm

Join us for an information session regarding Chicago Artist Coalition’s new SPARK Microgrant, an annual, unrestricted award opportunity for Chicago-based visual artists who identify as ALAANA (Asian, Latinx, Arab, African diaspora, Native), an artist with a demonstrated need, an artist with a disability, or as a self-taught or informally trained artist who is striving to make their art practice a primary vocation. This program offers fifteen, unrestricted awards of $2,000 each to recognize exceptional artists working in Chicago and to support the advancement of their artistic careers. The SPARK Microgrant is generously funded by the Joyce Foundation.

RSVPs for this event are strongly recommended due to capacity. Email: adia@ChicagoArtistsCoalition.org

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Monday, January 7

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

A new free open mic hosted by Davon Clark and Nana Apiah.


Thursday, January 3

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What makes people care about local elections? And once they do, how do they find information to help them make their choices? City Bureau is exploring these questions as we approach the Chicago municipal election on February 26. Last year, City Bureau Documenters conducted about 50 interviews with friends and family to discuss their knowledge about the upcoming election and where they get their information. City Bureau Documenters Field Coordinator India Daniels & Editorial Director Bettina Chang, along with Documenters who participated in the project, will share the results.

The most striking finding? Though few people considered themselves well-informed about the upcoming elections, most people said they wanted to know more, and most of them wanted to hear it from friends and family members that they trust. So as part of this Public Newsroom, we’ll also share tips on having productive conversations about politics with the people in your life. This will be the first in a series of newsrooms aiming to learn what kind of information voters want + demystify elections information, leading up to February 26. Bring a friend!

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Thursday, December 13

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Ever wanted to write an opinion column for your local news outlet but don’t know how? City Bureau cofounder and editorial director Bettina Chang will explain how editors vet and choose op-eds and how you can pitch one. We’ll walk you through the steps of going from an idea to a written draft to a published piece. Come with lots of ideas, and be ready to read and critique peer work!

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Thursday, November 29

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Today’s news is tomorrow’s history. The hosts of this newsroom, “The City We Impart,” will be some of the people who will write it. Young activists from Mikva Challenge and Cause the Effect will discuss their perspectives on how their unique contributions build on the legacy of Chicago activism, and what they will pass down as ancestors to future generations. How can Chicagoans make sense of the social movements that came before them and imagine those that will come after? This will be the last of three Public Newsrooms co-curated by Rayshauna Gray and Daniel Kay Hertz.

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Tuesday, November 27

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

This is a monthly meeting by and for sex workers focusing on self care. All genders welcome! See a full calendar of related events in Chicago here.

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Wednesday, November 21

3:00 pm — 8:00 pm

A one-stop-shop for your sweetest Thanksgiving yet: On Wednesday, November 21, Build Coffee is hosting a pie and record pop-up shop with Maya-Camille Broussard from Justice of the Pies and Grant Crusor from South Rhodes Records.

Preorder your Thanksgiving pies by midnight on November 14th through justiceofthepies.com, including seasonal specials:

Cranberry Pumpkin Pie
Salted Caramel Peach Pie
Bleu Cheese Praline Pear Pie
Chili Roasted Sweet Potato + Goat Cheese Quiche

Grant will be DJing and on hand to talk through his flawlessly crafted collection.

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Thursday, November 8

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

On November 8, Public Newsroom guest curator and author Rayshauna Gray will be in conversation with actress, writer and Black Owned Chicago founder Tanikia Carpenter. Black Owned Chicago was created in 2016 to be a resource for citizens of Chicago and tourists who desired to support Black owned businesses. Since then BOC has evolved to being the number one resource for all of your black owned Chicago needs by creating original content that highlights Black establishments and movements, creating a digital space for consumers to rate businesses, and producing events that entertain, educate, and encourage people to consistently buy Black. This is part of a series of City Bureau Public Newsrooms curated by authors Rayshauna Gray and Daniel Kay Hertz.

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Saturday, November 3

11:00 am — 12:00 pm

Join us for our monthly story time at Build Coffee with the Chicago Birthworks Collective! Storytellers Bess Cohen and Tayo Mbande will be reading books about growing families, sharing, working together, and siblinghood! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, Chicago’s premier South Side farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

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Thursday, November 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Today, Lincoln Park is known more for high-end boutiques than political struggle. But in the 1960s, it was home to the Young Lords Organization, a radical Puerto Rican group that fought for social justice. On November 1 José Cha-Cha Jiménez, the founder of the Young Lords, will speak about the history of the organization and explore the ways he has documented their history and the histories of Puerto Ricans in Lincoln Park. This is part of a series of City Bureau Public Newsrooms curated by authors Rayshauna Gray and Daniel Kay Hertz.

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Tuesday, October 30

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

This is a monthly meeting by and for sex workers focusing on self care. All genders welcome! See a full calendar of related events in Chicago here.

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Friday, October 26

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Voting in local elections can be pretty daunting. The ballot is long. The candidates are unfamiliar. And local politics are complex. But we tend to think you can make anything better when you do it with and for a community. That’s why Build Coffee, South Side Weekly, and IlliNoise are inviting you and your friends to come hang out and prepare your ballot with us before the Illinois 2018 General Election on Tuesday, November 6. Writers and editors from the South Side Weekly will answer your questions about voting and explain some of the more confusing local races (what the heck is the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District?). Then we’ll break off into groups to help each other research candidates and fill out our ballots, either on paper or using BallotReady.

Please bring a friend and also a laptop, if you have one. We’ll have light refreshments (probably including pizza) and this party is BYOB, so you’re welcome to bring a fun adult beverage of your choice. This event is free but there is limited space, so we ask that participants pre-register here.

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Thursday, October 25

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

For the past year, ProPublica Illinois reporter Melissa Sanchez has been investigating the impact of vehicle tickets on Chicago residents. Here’s what she found: thousands of Black drivers are filing for bankruptcy in order to cope with the consequences of Chicago ticket debt. Another investigation, in partnership with WBEZ’s Elliott Ramos, found that the city’s 2011 decision to increase the price of what was already one of the most expensive vehicle tickets—not having a city sticker—has led to massive debt for drivers, but not much more revenue for the city. Come to this Public Newsroom to learn about these ongoing investigations and to talk with the reporters about your own experiences with Chicago’s ticketing apparatus.

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Saturday, October 20

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

“I Still Believe in Dumb Things, I Think” is a space for memory, storytelling, and tenderness. It’s that place between where you want to be and what you want to mean. It’s wondering how everyone else made 24 look so cool and what you are doing wrong. It’s the box of things your mom is threatening to throw away that you’re too embarrassed to hold in your eyes one more time. It’s the sun giving you 10 more minutes on the last night of summer. And the things you wish you’d known 3 years ago.

Dan will read from their book, Another Dumb Thing. You can preorder the book, and buy an exclusive 11×17 poster, pick up some mini comics, and ask Dan about their cat. We’ll wonder what it was like when we had just started. And maybe (Dan hopes) you’ll share with them the things you wanted to mean when you were 17. Come with stories and that song you belted with the car radio when you were 10 and your mom ran into the bank.

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Saturday, October 6

11:00 am — 12:00 pm

Join us for our monthly story time at Build Coffee with the Chicago Birthworks Collective! Storytellers Bess Cohen and Tayo Mbande will be reading books about growing families, sharing, working together, and siblinghood! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, Chicago’s premier South Side farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

Learn more →

Thursday, October 4

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Reporting on gun violence often focuses on youth or young adults, but rarely does it center on their voices and perspectives. What strategies could emerge if we surveyed the oft-misrepresented young adults themselves? How could hearing from young adults contribute to community-led strategies to reduce shootings and get more guns off the street? This Public Newsroom will feature a presentation of a new research report by the Urban Institute, followed by a panel discussion with the community partners who participated in the survey: the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago in Austin; St. Sabina Church in Auburn-Gresham; Teamwork Englewood in Englewood; and UCAN in North Lawndale. Afterward we’ll conduct small group discussions for attendees to dive deeper into the survey findings and their implications for violence reduction strategies in Chicago.

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Thursday, September 27

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Do you want to learn how to make a FOIA request, but are unsure where to begin? Or are you an expert FOIA requester, and want to share your skills with beginners? Stop by our 80th Public Newsroom for a hands-on workshop on this useful tool, important to journalists and citizens alike. Our presenters for the evening are Chicago Tribune reporter Jennifer Smith Richards, who recently reported on Chicago Public Schools’ inadequate response to sexual abuse in the Betrayed series, and Matt Chapman, who founded the nonprofit Free Our Info. The two will kick off the evening with some background on their own FOIA experience, then outline the basics of making these requests. Attendees will have a chance to participate in small group simulations to practice making use of the tool. As a heads-up, the newsroom will contain mentions of sexual abuse and misconduct.

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Thursday, September 20

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Illinois’ upcoming race for governor is slated to be one of the most expensive in U.S. history and has been used as a prime example for campaign finance reform by organizers.  But how do we track the mega millions? What does reform look like? How can everyday citizens participate? This Public Newsroom aims to breakdown this complicated issue with an Illinois Campaign for Political Reform Neighborhood Sunshine workshop hosted by Executive Director Mary Miro and Policy Director Alisa Kaplan.

ICPR’s Neighborhood Sunshine is a series of interactive programs focused on micro (local) and macro (Illinois) political reform issues. These workshops feature ICPR’s work on money in politics, government ethics, gender equity, and improving voter access and turnout. The discussions connect these topics to local issues such as neighborhood safety, economic development, and school quality.

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Saturday, September 15

10:00 am — 2:00 pm

A pop-up shop so nice, we’re bringing it back twice. Stop by the Build Coffee patio on Saturdays September 15 or October 13 during the 61st Street Farmers Market for a sale from South Rhodes Records! South Rhodes Records is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals.

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Thursday, September 13

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

For the past couple months, several City Bureau Summer 2018 fellows have been looking at Black generational wealth in Chicago and the discriminatory policies (past and present) that stifle its growth. They have sought to answer the question: What is Black wealth? Through their reporting they’ve explored the cultural wealth of Chicago’s rich Black arts scene, the financial models created by Chicago’s Black businesses and more. This week at the Public Newsroom reporters Erisa Apantaku, Arabella Breck, Olivia Cunningham and Tonia Hill will continue the conversation with panelists who can speak on the different interpretations of Black generational wealth from both a historic lens and into Chicago’s future.

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Saturday, September 8

11:00 am — 12:00 pm

Join us for our monthly story time at Build Coffee with the Chicago Birthworks Collective! Storytellers Bess Cohen and Tayo Mbande will be reading books about growing families, sharing, working together, and siblinghood! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, Chicago’s premier South Side farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

Learn more →

Thursday, September 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Have you ever tried to show someone the impact of injustice and left feeling frustrated or defeated? You’re not alone. Talking about race and equity is difficult for most of us—but it’s one of the most important conversations to have to bridge our differences and build a better Chicago. So how can we reframe conversations around structural racism to be productive for everyone?

Chicago United for Equity Co-founder and Executive Director Niketa Brar will lead our 77th Public Newsroom. She’ll kick things off by presenting on CUE and their work across the city, and then transition into an interactive activity where guests will get a chance to simulate reframing a tricky conversation about racism. We encourage participants to think of challenges they face in advancing racial equity and bring those to the table—this is an open dialogue, attendees can bring their full selves.

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Sunday, August 26

9:00 am — 11:00 am

Come celebrate Breastfeeding Awareness Month and kick off Black Breastfeeding Week with a mini photo session with Mama Fresh! We’re setting up the perfect inspirational background and have the talented photographers from Bennorth Images to capture you in the beautiful moment of breastfeeding your little one. On Monday you will receive your images via email, and Mama Fresh is asking you to share your images on social media to help normalize breastfeeding and end the stigma of breastfeeding in public. Feel free to come as simple, natural, glammed up as you would like. Bring all your flavor Mama!

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Saturday, August 18

10:00 am — 2:00 pm

On Saturday, August 18, join us for Build Coffee’s first pop-up shop! South Rhodes Records is an online vinyl record store founded in early 2018 by Grant Crusor. Their goal? Intentionally curate your record collection by shining a light on the best Hip-Hop, Jazz, and R&B on wax. Operating from Woodlawn, they provide the best in new and reissued music as well as rare, mint-condition originals. This will take place during the 61st Street Farmers Market. Stop by to pick up some music to spin with your local fruits and veggies!

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Thursday, August 16

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

In Fall 2017, Free Street Theater’s Artistic Director Coya Paz was awarded the inaugural Engagement Challenge Award by ProPublica Illinois and Illinois Humanities. Paz and other Free Street staff have led workshops across the state as a way to help residents engage with ProPublica Illinois’s investigative work. So what does it look like to use theater to create a dialogue around a reported story or community issue? We’re hosting Paz and ProPublica Illinois Engagement Reporter Logan Jaffe this week at the Public Newsroom to find out!

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Thursday, August 9

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Are Chicago aldermen using their aldermanic prerogative to keep neighborhoods segregated? That’s what a recent report co-authored by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance and the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law suggests. Patricia Fron, CAFHA Executive Director, and Kate Walz, Director of Housing Justice at the Shriver Center, will join us to break down the report: “A City Fragmented: How Race, Power, and Aldermanic Prerogative Shape Chicago’s Neighborhoods.” They will go over how affordable housing decisions are made in the city of Chicago and how these decisions often result in geographic imbalances in affordable housing development. Then they will dive into aldermanic prerogative, the central vehicle driving this imbalance: the mechanics, the history, the roots in racism, and the effects. Stop by to learn more, and to be part of a conversation on how to create more equitable decision-making in Chicago.

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Sunday, August 5

9:30 am — 11:00 am

Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week by joining Mama Fresh for The Global Big Latch On, an international event to protect, promote & support families all around the world by helping communities positively support breastfeeding as a normal part of day to day life. We’ll be gathering at Build Coffee at 9:30 and latching on at 10:30 sharp!

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Saturday, August 4

11:00 am — 12:00 pm

Join us Saturdays August 4, September 8, October 6, and November 3 for our monthly story time at Build Coffee with the Chicago Birthworks Collective! Storytellers Bess Cohen and Tayo Mbande will be reading books about growing families, sharing, working together, and siblinghood! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, Chicago’s premier South Side farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

Learn more →

Thursday, August 2

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

In April, South Side Weekly Radio took over the Public Newsroom to tell you about the program’s origins, why they do community radio, and how they put out a weekly podcast. Then they asked you: what do you want to see from community radio? This summer, they’re leading a series of workshops designed to teach the tools of radio to anyone who wants to create their own. At our 72nd Public Newsroom, Executive Producer Erisa Apantaku will lead a training on interviewing. She’ll go over the different formats of audio interviews, discuss best practices when doing an interview, and cover editing basics. This workshop is open to all, regardless of skill level. If you have a particular interview you’re interested in pursuing, bring it to the newsroom!

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Thursday, July 19

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Besides traditional philanthropy, how do you raise money for grassroots organizations? How do we do the work across race and class to fundraise movements for justice? This week at the Public Newsroom, guests from local grantmaking organization Crossroads Fund will lead participants through a series of activities to begin to answer those questions. We’ll kick off the evening by breaking down strategies for grassroots funding. Attendees will then use those skills to practice making in-person asks. Feel free to bring your own funding initiatives for feedback! In addition to Crossroads Fund staff, alumni of their Giving Project will also present on this collective fundraising program. The Giving Project has helped raise more than $260,000 for grants in the past three years.

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Friday, July 13

5:30 pm — 8:00 pm

Hey! It’s been a while but we’re back and we’d love to play some games with y’all. This time we’re gonna be cooking up something good. We’ll have a variety of tasty cooking-themed games: Cooking Mama, Potion Explosion, Sushi Go!, and Slamwich. Game nights at Build Coffee are brought to you by Game Changer Chicago Design Lab, which makes socially conscious games and new media art for and by youth, primarily around reproductive justice and public health. GCC is a division of Ci3 at the University of Chicago.

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Thursday, July 12

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Of the 900 participants surveyed for Center for Media Engagement and City Bureau’s Chicago Media Survey, the majority—roughly 57 percent—identified “crime and law enforcement” as the top issue facing Chicago neighborhoods. The second most frequently selected answer, “housing, zoning and land,” garnered just 12.7 percent. Yet the majority of West and South Side residents (67.8 percent and 54.2 percent respectively) said that stories about their neighborhood are too negative. So how and when should we report on crime in Chicago?

City Bureau has teamed up with Block Club Chicago and the Journalism + Design program at The New School in New York to host a variety of community organizations and local journalists to begin to answer that question. We’ll kick off the workshop with a brief panel discussion about the current state of crime reporting and how we can start to reframe coverage of this issue. Panelists will address some of the following questions: What is the role and opportunity for journalism when it comes to systemic problems like violent crime? What does comprehensive coverage of the different forces that feed into crime look like? How can we produce news and information that can create positive change in the communities most affected by crime?

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Saturday, July 7

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join us Saturday, July 7, at 11:30am for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! This month our resident storyteller Bess Cohen will be joined by Tayo Mbande from the Chicago Birthworks Collective. This is a special story time for kids who are on track to becoming a big sibling. Bess and Tayo will be reading books about new babies, sharing, partnering, and growing families! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

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Friday, July 6

5:30 pm — 7:30 pm

Our friends at 57th St. Wines are treating us to a Friday evening wine tasting. Free; BYO cheese and crackers!


Thursday, June 28

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This Public Newsroom is a chance to join City Bureau’s Documenters program! They’ll be running a “Meetings and Tweeting 2.0” workshop where attendees will practice note taking as well as live-tweeting exercises. Participants are encouraged to bring their preferred method of taking notes: laptop, phone or good old-fashioned paper and pen. We’ll be going through drills of listening to public meetings, writing summaries, testing tweets and snapping some mobile photos. It’s recommended that folks have a Twitter account for this training—come early if you need assistance setting one up! The training will be lead by City Bureau’s Community Engagement Director and Co-Founder Andrea Hart. If you have questions please feel free to contact Andrea at andrea@citybureau.org.

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Sunday, June 24

6:00 pm — 9:00 pm

Project Alternatives To Calling Police During Mental Health Crises is a community-based movement to train folx in de-escalation techniques and protect community members with mental illness from police violence and the criminal justice system. The workshop intends to ask and discuss questions such as: How do marginalized identities intersect during mental health crises and how does this affect treatment by police? What are the ways to support people in mental health crises? How can we take care of ourselves and others? How can we create a community of support?

Ultimately, this is to imagine what a world without police can look like, and a world where widespread over-policing and mass incarceration are replaced with crisis intervention, community response teams, and restorative justice. This event is free, but space is limited. Register here.

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Saturday, June 23

3:30 pm — 7:00 pm

Build Coffee is turning 1! Come by 6/23 after the 61st St Farmers Market—we’ll have roughly 100 Chicago Dogs, plenty of cold brew and lemonade, and several well-iced coolers for anything else you’d like to BYOB. There may be water balloons, a piñata, or some selection of carnival concession machines from Bea Malsky’s basement. We’re gonna bump a playlist we’ve been collectively working on all week. There will be cake.


Thursday, June 21

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Lots of voters have strong opinions about the top of the ballot (president, governor), but there are a lot of challenges to voting in “downballot” races: lack of media coverage, limited understanding of smaller government offices, lower visibility of candidates, etc. At this Public Newsroom, we’re working with BallotReady, a startup that began in Chicago and now works nationally to create nonpartisan voter guides, to understand how people make these decisions and what would help them be more informed on downballot races.

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Thursday, June 7

6:00 pm — 6:00 pm

For the past two decades police misconduct attorney Andrea Ritchie has examined, written and organized around police violence and the criminalization of women and LGBTQ people of color. At this Public Newsroom, Ritchie will be sharing frameworks from her 2017 book Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color. The evening will begin with a presentation from Ritchie and the Invisible Institute’s Trina Reynolds-Tyler on how reporters and organizers have often overlook women and LGBTQ people of color. Attendees will then participate in a series of activities around #InvisibleNoMore to reimagine more inclusive news coverage and organizing strategies around policing.

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Thursday, May 31

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What public tools are available for understanding gun crime in Chicago? What can those tools show you? That’s what we’re tackling at this Public Newsroom with our friends at The Trace, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to shining a light on America’s gun violence crisis. Staff from The Trace will teach you how to use online data tools to look at gun trafficking and gun crime in Illinois, including the Missing Pieces Stolen/Recovered Gun Data. We’ll also facilitate a discussion about gun myths in Chicago, the stories that aren’t told about gun violence, and how gun-related issues have impacted Chicago residents.

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Thursday, May 24

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

A few months ago we asked the City Bureau community to pitch us Public Newsroom workshops. An overwhelming number of folks wanted to hear from mothers who juggle having families with their media careers. We heard you and compiled an incredible panel of women to share their stories including: Univision Chicago’s Vice President and Director of Content Teri Arvesu; WBEZ Reporter Sarah Karp; and freelance journalist Bia Medious. The panel will be moderated by Mikva Challenge’s Chicago Executive Director Michelle Morales.

We’ll be talking about burnout, discrimination in the workplace, and resources women need at various points in their career when considering motherhood. After the panel we’ll break into groups to talk through what organizations and healthcare providers can do to better support moms in the newsroom. Childcare for will be provided for 18-month-olds and up. Youth are also welcome to participate in the evening’s workshop. 

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Thursday, May 17

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Earlier this month Tronc agreed to recognize the Chicago Tribune union which includes employees of the Chicago Tribune, community publications RedEye and Hoy, and suburban newspapers. At this newsroom, Jacqueline Serrato of Hoy, Sade Carpenter of RedEye, and a guest from the Tribune will share what it took to unionize, lessons learned, and also talk through their strategies to handle messaging. They’ll also be sharing what’s next for employees.

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Saturday, May 12

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storyteller Bess Cohen and special Cohen family surprise guests for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

Learn more →

Thursday, May 10

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

While a 2015 Chicago Tribune article pointed to low funds and waning interest leading to the demise of many high school newspapers, one group of Chicago Public School students are interested in reviving these outlets on their own terms. May 10 at the Public Newsroom, CPS’s Student Voice and Activism Fellows (SVAF) will explore adultism in schools and also lead activities on re-imagining high school newspapers. This event is ALL AGES, not just for youth. As always, the Public Newsroom prides itself on being an intergenerational learning space.

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Thursday, May 10

3:00 pm — 4:30 pm

Propeller Fund awards $50,000 per year to artists and groups for collaborative, public-oriented, artist-led projects that are independent and self-organized. Monetary awards—in amounts ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 are disbursed in direct funds to projects. On May 10, drop in to Build Coffee to meet with Propeller Fund staff and address individualized questions for the July 1 application deadline. Walk-in sessions are free and open to all.

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Friday, May 4

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Centering stories of young people in Illinois who have terminated pregnancies, This Boat Called My Body seats audiences in a metaphor for the islands that youth must navigate to access abortion. Through spectacle, dance, opera, and interaction with water, This Boat Called My Body asks us to better understand what reproductive access looks like for all. The play is being performed May 31st through June 17th in partnership with the Chicago Park District. Join us May 4 at Build Coffee for a special preview discussion of the process behind creating The Boat and ICAH’s work with young people who have ended pregnancies and Illinois’ Parental Notification for Abortion Law. The play’s co-directors, Quenna Lené Barrett and Nik Zaleski, will join ICAH Executive Director Tiffany Pryor in a panel and Q&A moderated by Jenn Stanley, senior producer at Rewire.News.

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Thursday, May 3

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Our 61st Public Newsroom is a special interactive workshop with Aymar Jean Christian, Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, Founder and Head of Development for OTV | Open Television, and author of the recent book, Open TV: Innovation Beyond Hollywood and the Rise of Web Television. Pulling from his experience, Aymar will discuss the value of developing stories outside of Hollywood, the power of diversity, and how tech and streaming companies compare in their TV development to the traditional networks.

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Thursday, April 26

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

At the April 26 Public Newsroom, take a special look inside a community radio program! South Side Weekly Radio, which revamped in June 2017, is the nonprofit alt weekly’s on-air counterpart. Every week they bring us interviews with South and West Siders about arts, culture, and politics across Chicago. In the past, they’ve had guests ranging from local organizers, like Kristiana Rae Colón, to national celebrities, like Lena Waithe. The all-volunteer team will tell us a little about SSW Radio’s origins, why they do community radio, and how they put out a weekly broadcast. Presenters Erisa Apantaku and Olivia Obineme will lead activities on writing for radio and preparing for an interview. Then they’ll turn it to you: what do you want to see from a community radio program?

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Saturday, April 14

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storyteller Bess Cohen for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

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Friday, April 13

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Ireashia Monét is a Chicago-based photographer, multimedia artist, and emerging filmmaker. In their work, Monét uses the camera as a weapon against erasure, silence, and the invisibility of marginalized communities and stories. Join us on April 13 for the opening night of “The Pearls My Mother Gave Me,” Monét’s ongoing exploration of intergenerational trauma, the residual effects of abuse in the lives of the women in their family, and their personal fight toward radical healing and self-love. At 6:30 we’ll screen Grandma’s Wisdom (2016) and The Pearls You Gave Me (2018). Afterward, Monét will hold a public conversation with their grandmother on the series. For the first time, Gwendolyn Bennett (Monét’s grandmother) will speak on her experience working on Grandma’s Wisdom and how it has changed how she sees herself as an older black woman, as well as the impact of feeling heard and understood.

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Thursday, April 12

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What would it look like to address culturally tone-deaf reviews in the art world? How can the next generation of art critics unlearn racist frameworks? These are questions answered in a series of trainings offered by the Art Leaders of Color Network – ALCN (ACLN). And this week at the Public Newsroom, ACLN’s Felicia Holman will be answering just that with the “Remix The Critique 2” workshop. This session is based on the yearlong work of the Critical Review Task Force out of Links Hall. The evening will feature discussion and activities to: introduce the ALCN and the Critical Review Task Force; share and codify guiding principles for differentiating between constructive vs problematic art reviews; and recruit participants for ALCN membership. As always the Public Newsroom is open to everyone, but the ACLN is especially looking for writers of color and intergenerational writers who want to learn how to review work by artists of color. This event has been rescheduled from February 9.

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Saturday, April 7

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

Join Sequoya D. Hayes, LSW and the National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network for a community dialogue about healing justice for queer and trans people of color. This event is free, and food will be provided. This space is for queer and trans people of color only. Please RSVP on Facebook so we know how many folks to expect!

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Thursday, April 5

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

In Fall 2017 the Coalition to End Money Bond trained and coordinated more than 70 volunteers to observe Cook County’s Central Bond Court almost daily. Volunteers were monitoring the implementation of General Order 18.8A, which was issued by Cook County’s Chief Judge and went into effect September of last year. The Order instructs judges to stop issuing money bonds in amounts that people cannot afford. Since the fall, the Coalition has spent several months analyzing court watching findings and produced the recently released report: “Monitoring Cook County’s Central Bond Court: A community Courtwatching Initiative“. On April 5 they’ll be sharing their findings, leading activities to explore the data, and sharing ways to get involved in the fight to end the use of money bond and pretrial incarceration.

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Friday, March 30

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Congratulations on making it through flu season! It’s time for another game night at Build Coffee with Game Changer Chicago. This month we invite you to join us as we play a selection of disease-themed board games, one of which was developed by our hosts! We’ll be playing Pandemic and Infection City, two epidemiological strategy games, and Zombie Fluxx, a zombie uprising card game. We’ll split into groups to play them simultaneously, and rotate as the night allows!

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Thursday, March 29

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The 2017 Women’s March saw an estimated 5 million people take to the streets to advocate that “women’s rights are human rights.” Media coverage ranged from calling the march a moment of unity to a moment of critique for feminism that has often centered white cis-women. In the documentary Why We March, filmmakers Theresa Campagna, Isaura Flores and Laurie Little used the latter framework to cover the historic moment. One of the central questions of their film: How can media prepare this generation (and the next one) of feminists be more inclusive to end sexism? During this week’s Public Newsroom, the filmmakers will show clips of  Why We March for discussion and also talk through what mainstream media gets wrong when covering feminist issues.

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Thursday, March 22

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Public meetings are essential to journalists and a bedrock of civil society. Through the Documenters program, City Bureau is doubling down to ensure these meetings don’t go uncovered, but we need your help. This week’s Public Newsroom features our Director of Community Engagement and Co-Founder Andrea Hart, who will be leading a training on how to cover public meetings. She’ll be going over elements of City Bureau’s Documenters program—how to join, how to get an assignment, how to submit an assignment—as well as asking for your feedback on how we can improve our fastest-growing program. After the event, attendees will be invited to join City Bureau’s Documenters program, where members of the community are paid and trained to inform and engage the public.

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Thursday, March 15

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

For the past year, a team of radio makers from across the country have been working on a new way of documenting shared phenomena from multiple perspectives. Tentatively called the Trump Diaries, their project documents the presidency from the point of view of ordinary people whose lives are potentially being changed by the current administration. Angel + Derek, their in-progress pilot episode, addresses a topic many can relate to right now: friendships with people we disagree with. Come by the newsroom for a special preview screening of Angel + Derek and a discussion led by WBEZ Curious City producer and team member Jesse Dukes.

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Saturday, March 10

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

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Thursday, March 8

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Chicago Data Collaborative launched in January with a mission to collect criminal justice data “from public agencies, organize and document that data, and link the data together.” This week at the Public Newsroom the Collaborative is seeking feedback from reporters, community organizers and others who would like access to their data or join the initiative. Attendees will have a chance to talk through opportunities and challenges to using this data within newsrooms as well as on the ground.

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Thursday, March 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Public Newsroom #53 will feature Chicagoan and author Daniel Kay Hertz in a conversation around his upcoming book The Battle of Lincoln Park: Urban Renewal and Gentrification in Chicago. The book will examine gentrification that happened in Lincoln Park during the mid-20th century and also discuss how Chicago’s segregated wealthy neighborhoods were created. Attendees will have a chance to give feedback to Hertz’s book before he submits the final manuscript as well as learn how to use archival resources to better understand the history of community conflict and how they can be applied to today’s gentrifying areas.


Thursday, February 22

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Whether you own a home, a business, or you rent, everyone who lives in Cook County is affected by the county’s property tax system. That system is deeply unfair and riddled with errors, extensive reporting by ProPublica Illinois’ Jason Grotto shows. And who’s paying the price? Residents and business owners on Chicago’s South and West sides. Let’s talk about that. Grotto and data reporter Sandhya Kambhampati will first walk you through their reporting on this topic, and then we’ll shift to a community conversation about Cook County’s property tax assessment system, what it means for it to be broken, and how it’s supposed to really work.

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Friday, February 16

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Join us this Valentine’s Day weekend to digitally explore love and dating with your trusty hosts Addie Baron and Mason Arrington, featuring special guest and dating sim enthusiast Ashlyn Sparrow, lab director of Game Changer Chicago! Dating can be/is tough. Luckily we can get in plenty of practice with a series of pugs in Hot Date by George Batchelor, rated “the best pug dating sim the world has ever seen” by Polygon. Next, we’ll take what we’ve learned from pugs to Dream Daddy, where the player takes the role of a customizable single dad in a town occupied by seven other (mostly hot) dads. Can we discover the secrets and mysteries of love? Do dating sims have the answers? Or are they just super fun? We hope you’ll help us explore these burning questions together!

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Thursday, February 15

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago In Arabic began as a Facebook page that translated local news articles into Arabic. Now, its website and social media platforms reach thousands of Arabic-speaking Chicagoans, many of whom are immigrants who rely on the website to learn about their newly adopted city. Anwar Jebran and Malek Abdulsamad founded Chicago in Arabic in August of 2016 after realizing the lack of quality media that addresses Chicago news in Arabic; currently, the Chicago in Arabic team includes nine volunteers that help create content, translate articles and create graphics. Anwar and Malek will host Public Newsroom #51 to discuss how they started Chicago in Arabic, where the platform will go next, and how best to reach non-English-speaking populations.

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Saturday, February 10

11:30 am — 12:30 am

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

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Thursday, February 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

2018 is a big year for local elections in Illinois. Races this year include: governor, states attorney and state representative. Media coverage of these events is often predictable: Which candidate raised more money? How are they doing in the polls? Who got the labor endorsement? But answering these questions does little to help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box. What would it look like if we abandon this old model for political news and instead let our coverage be driven entirely by the questions and needs of our audience? That’s the question Chicago-based journalist and media innovator Ellen Mayer is trying to answer with her new podcast Illinoise, and this Public Newsroom will give attendees a chance to give input on the form and content of the podcast from the very beginning. Mayer will lead us in a hands-on workshop to identify information needs around local government and then imagine together how the Illinoise podcast might serve those needs in a genuinely useful and engaging way.

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Thursday, January 18

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Come play Getting Over It and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, game designers Mason Arrington and Addie Barron! Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy is a horrible hike up a terrible mountain. It’s a punishing climbing game by the creator of QWOP, a homage to Jazzuo’s 2002 B-Game classic Sexy Hiking. You move the hammer with the mouse, and that’s all there is. With practice, you’ll be able to jump, swing, climb and fly. Great mysteries and a wonderful reward await the master hikers who reach the top of the mountain. We’ll be projecting for an audience and talking about frustration, failure, and fun! Watch the trailer for Getting Over It here.

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Saturday, January 13

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

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Thursday, December 21

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The mental health care system can be hard to navigate. Recent changes to Medicaid and state health care policy—not to mention the opioid epidemic and the 2-year state budget impasse—have exacerbated the problems and gaps in coverage in Chicago. City Bureau’s Fall Reporting Fellows have been digging into these issues, and we invite you to join us for a community-centered dialogue about how Illinois arrived at this point and how people can access the resources that are readily available. This event is free and open to all. Our expert panel includes people who have dedicated their lives to destigmatizing mental health and substance abuse and serving people in need of help.

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Thursday, December 14

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The idea that people are innocent until proven guilty is a bedrock principle of America’s judicial system, but the widespread practice of requiring people to pay money bond for their freedom while they await trial incarcerates tens of thousands of people each year before they have a trial. More than 4,400 people in Cook County Jail at any given time are there because they cannot afford to pay bond. The People’s Lobby is a Chicago-based organization devoted to organizing support for public policies and candidates that put the needs of the people and the planet before the interests of big corporations and the very rich. At our December 14th Public Newsroom, they will be leading a discussion on the racial and economic injustice of pre-trial money bail in the Circuit Court of Cook County. As part of their popular education series, they will explain how the system works, present an analysis of the problem and its causes, and share ways we can fight back with a solution of our own. Join us to begin taking down one of the major pillars of our broken criminal justice system.

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Friday, December 8

6:00 pm — 7:30 pm

Come play Never Alone and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, game designers Mason Arrington and Addie Barron! Never Alone (also know as Kisima Ingitchuna) is a 2014 indie puzzle platformer made by Upper One Games in collaboration with an Alaskan native community. It tells the story of Nuna, an Iñupiaq girl, and her Arctic fox as they investigate the source of a terrible blizzard that’s swept through their village. We’ll be projecting for an audience and talking about games and culture, intergenerational storytelling, and how cute that fox is!

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Thursday, December 7

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The editor is probably the most powerful person in a newsroom whose name you don’t know. An editor does much more than just edit words: They make story assignments, choose a story angle, write headlines, shape the final presentation, and more. But they rarely get any bylines, and aren’t as visible as reporters, so opportunities to speak directly to the person in charge of a newsroom are few and far between. How does that all work? City Bureau co-founder Bettina Chang, who is also Executive Digital Editor at Chicago magazine, will host a frank conversation with an emphasis on news transparency. Come down to the Public Newsroom and ask any questions you want!

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Saturday, December 2

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Desmond Owusu (author of Too Fly Not To Fly) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Owusu will be reading Too Fly Not To Fly, a socio-emotional alphabet photo book exploring representation, colorism, mental health, gender binaries, and more. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market!

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Thursday, November 30

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Are you a subscriber of Chicago’s TBTnews? Never heard of it? Some 65,000 subscribers receive Carl West’s daily newsletter for a regular dose of life within Chicago’s Black professional class from a South Side perspective. West is the media entrepreneur that started TBT (Truth Be Told) News with less than 2,000 subscribers 7 years ago and his base of loyal readers has grown to include Chicagoans from across the city and advertisers that value TBT’s reach enough to make his homegrown news organization financially sustainable. We’ll have West in the Public Newsroom November 30 for a conversation with City Bureau co-founder and editorial director Darryl Holliday on TBT’s model, impact, and history as an independent news distribution source that operates as a member of Chicago’s Black Press with a particularly large, grassroots footprint.

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Thursday, November 16

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Public Newsroom is back this week with another Documenters training. City Bureau Co-Founder and Director of Community Engagement Andrea Hart will be leading a bootcamp that features a mashup of skill trainings for our Documenters program. The bootcamp will feature condensed lessons on interviewing, mobile photography, and designing a newsletter. Attendees will also discuss how they identify news they trust as well as how they share information. This will be a very interactive evening—please bring paper, a writing utensil, and all of your opinions on news. After the event, attendees will be invited to join City Bureau’s Documenters program—a freelance network featuring paid opportunities to inform and engage communities as well as other free trainings.

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Saturday, November 11

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

S/KIN FOLK: An evening of poetry, recipes, essays, & raps. Come celebrate the release of Saleem’s poetry chapbook The Attic, The Basement, The Barn, published by Tammy! “The Attic, The Basement, The Barn” is an intimate audio/visual collection consisting of original poetry and prose in Saleem’s characteristic “rural-hip hop-blues” style. The chapbook includes a 10-song audio companion “Blanket Weather” comprised of songs and spoken word tracks culled from Saleem’s limited-run EPs (2001-2004), as well as several previously unreleased recordings. “The Attic, The Basement, The Barn” places thematic emphasis on space/shelter, solitude/community, and redefining one’s relationship to the natural world.

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Saturday, November 11

11:30 am — 12:30 pm

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (children’s manager at 57th Street Books) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. This month we’ll be featuring special guest author Valerie Reynolds reading her new book, The Joys of Being a Little Black Boy! Come early or stay after to enjoy the indoor incarnation of the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market!

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Friday, October 27

6:00 pm — 7:30 pm

Come play Anatomy and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, game designers Mason Arrington and Addie Barron! This will be a special spooky Halloween game night. (Content warnings: distorted and flashing images, body horror, strong horror themes.) Anatomy takes us into indie developer Kitty Horrorshow’s creepy suburban haunted house—we’ll be collecting cassette tapes, learning about how exactly a house is like a human body, and TRYING TO NAVIGATE THE DARK. This is the fourth in our monthly series with Game Changer Chicago.

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Thursday, October 26

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

How does the Chicago Police Department track their information and why does it matter? How can we make that information public, and how should we present it? The team behind the Citizens Police Data Project invite you to play with working prototypes of CPDP v2 beta and explore a new world of data about police interactions with the public in Chicago. Chaclyn Hunt, legal director of the Invisible Institute, and Rajiv Sinclair, architect of CPDP, will walk through the litigation and FOIA work to obtain police misconduct records going back to 1967. Andrew Fan, data director at the Invisible Institute, will walk us through the Tactical Response Report forms and an example of how we analyze a police unit, like the infamous Special Operations Section (SOS). Alex Laskaris, lead designer of CPDP, will critique the present day’s website and preview the upcoming design of CPDP.

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Monday, October 23

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Andrew Fisher discusses “Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups,” presented in partnership with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. About the book: Food banks and food pantries have proliferated in response to an economic emergency. The loss of manufacturing jobs combined with the recession of the early 1980s and Reagan administration cutbacks in federal programs led to an explosion in the growth of food charity. This was meant to be a stopgap measure, but the jobs never came back, and the “emergency food system” became an industry. In “Big Hunger,” Andrew Fisher takes a critical look at the business of hunger and offers a new vision for the anti-hunger movement.

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Thursday, October 19

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

How do we think, feel, and talk about abortion? Abortion in particular and reproductive health care in general are under attack by the Trump administration—including a national 20-week abortion ban and moves to reduce or eliminate health insurance coverage for contraception. The topic is highly stigmatized and politicized, leading to a dearth of information and stories at this intersection of public health, human rights, and political reporting. For Public Newsroom #38 Jenn Stanley will be walking us through the basics of reporting on reproductive rights with a focus on abortion. Stanley is the senior staff reporter at Rewire, a nonprofit publication dedicated to covering issues of sexual and reproductive health, rights, and justice. She is also the host and producer of Rewire’s CHOICE/LESS podcast, which tells personal stories of reproductive injustice.

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Saturday, October 14

11:30 am — 12:00 pm

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

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Thursday, October 12

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

How do we ensure local media that is committed to the public is also supported by the public? This week’s Public Newsroom is a chance for City Bureau’s community to help give feedback on their newly launched membership program: the Press Club. They’re partnering with The Membership Puzzle Project through May 2018 to help design their membership, and this event is the first step. If we are reimagining local newsrooms and content, we have to also make changes to funding media. So come City Bureau supporters and skeptics alike! You’ll get to see your input have impact. 

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Friday, October 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Carlos Matallana is a Bogotá-born, Chicago-based artist and teacher. His Manual of Violence project, an investigation into the history and narrativization of violence, has stretched several years and a dozen workshops, one game, countless classrooms, and a full-length comic book teaching manual (in progress) based on his ongoing conversations about violence with his young children. Brea is the first fictional installment in this series: an abstract illustrated story of two canny kids grappling with a magical and terrible heaviness around them in the wake of their school’s closure. Carlos’ original large-format illustrations for the book will be on Build Coffee’s walls for October and November. Opening night will also serve as the release party for the book—come celebrate Carlos’ work, talk to him about the project, and buy a copy of Brea to take home.

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Thursday, October 5

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Child welfare in Illinois can be one of the most complicated topics to report on, and this week’s Public Newsroom is dedicated to unpacking it from various sides of the issue—including understanding families’ rights and trauma. The evening will feature a small panel discussion from a leading direct service agent, a journalist, a young woman who’s gone through the system, and a representative from the Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY). Participants and panelists will be generating a list of best practices for reporters who want to thoughtfully report on child welfare as well as a series of tip sheets on how to navigate various parts of the system.

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Friday, September 29

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Loving father. Caring husband. Secret octopus! Come play Octodad: Dadliest Catch and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, Mason Arrington and Addie Barron. This month with special guests from Octodad game development studio Young Horses! We’ll be talking slapstick comedy, weird bodies, and failed normativity as we project the game and play in both solo and cooperative mode. Watch some sample gameplay for Octodad here.

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Friday, September 22

6:30 pm — 8:00 pm

We are thrilled to host the ninth installment of the monthly reading series CHIMERA! In this series, the mission is to celebrate work that challenges the conventions of (mode) and (genre) by writers whose voices and angles continue to be underrepresented. This month, Chimera’s writers are focused on the theme of [sanctuary], and we will be collecting donations for Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center, an organization working to ensure human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers.

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Thursday, September 21

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

On August 31st a new “Restorative Justice Community Court” opened in North Lawndale serving non-violent offenders, part of a community-led effort to keep 18-26 year olds from the neighborhood with non-violent criminal histories out of jail and “restored” back to community. Join City Bureau’s summer fellows, who’ve been reporting on the topic for 10 weeks, for a discussion of what role community can play in alternatives to the traditional criminal justice system. We’ll be talking restorative justice, peace circles, definitions of “community,” and the opening of the Restorative Justice Community Court. Check out some of the reporting they’ve done so far this summer in the Austin Weekly News here.

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Thursday, September 14

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Last month we hosted The CivicLab at the Public Newsroom for a primer on Chicago’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) fund. On September 14 we’ll follow up with a deep dive into the latest city-issued TIF report—join City Bureau and their Documenters at Build Coffee as they present findings from the August 26 release and make the data available as a searchable spreadsheet detailing TIFs used, exchanged, and renewed in 2016. Members of the community are invited to weigh in, remix, and discuss the data on a local level.

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Saturday, September 9

11:00 am — 11:30 am

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for our monthly story time at Build Coffee! Fun for storybook enthusiasts of all ages, but especially those 0-6. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester!

Learn more →

Thursday, August 31

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago media is in a moment of transition. The Chicago Sun-Times is under new ownership, local nonproft and community news outlets are working for change on the ground as national outlets move to the city, and foundations are seeking to stabilize a fractured media ecosystem. City Bureau believes a thriving media ecosystem is key to an informed citizenry, but solutions to our collective challenges will require diverse voices, ideas and input. Join us as we bring local journalists—Sheila Solomon, Scott Smith, and Blanca Rios—and the public together to discuss which media models are already playing a role in the Chicago media ecosytem and which national models could serve as examples for a stronger local media landscape.

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Thursday, August 24

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago’s Southeast Side residents are facing major changes with the impending development of the Obama Presidential Library and a potential PGA-level golf course. As a result, community members are navigating the benefits and drawbacks of these enterprises. But how do people organize around accurate information? This week’s Public Newsroom features South Shore resident Val Free, executive director of The Planning Coalition, who is organizing block clubs to do just that.

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Friday, August 18

6:00 pm — 7:30 pm

Come play We Love Katamari and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, game designers Mason Arrington and Addie Barron! We Love Katamari is an oddball video game by Japanese artist and designer Keita Takahashi. The game centers around The Prince and his katamari, a highly adhesive ball that can roll over and absorb anything smaller than itself. We’ll be projecting the game for an audience and playing in two-player cooperative mode. Watch some sample gameplay for the game here.

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Thursday, August 17

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This week’s Public Newsroom is another chance to join City Bureau’s Documenters team! Want to get paid to inform the public? Interested in learning some of the basics of journalism? Then this workshop is for you. This training will feature a brief introduction to the Documenters program and then focus on the art of interviewing—how to ask good questions, how to read your interviewee, and how to adjust your approach in different interviewing environments. This will be a very interactive evening—be sure to bring paper and a writing utensil. The workshop will be hosted by City Bureau Director of Community Engagement and Co-Founder Andrea Hart. After the event, attendees will be invited to join the Documenters listserv and have access to paid freelance work as well as other trainings.

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Friday, August 11

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Real Chi Youth puts community journalism into the hands of one of Chicago’s most misrepresented populations: youth! Join Real Chi Youth reporters in discussing their reporting on lead in schools, streetlights and surveillance, black-owned businesses, and the latest youth trends, from religion to fashion. Real Chi Youth is a project of Free Spirit Media, which provides young people on Chicago’s South and West sides with foundations in media literacy and hands-on media production.

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Thursday, August 10

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

What makes a neighborhood good? How would you design your ideal neighborhood? Your ideal city? During this Public Newsroom we’re exploring these questions with Chicago Architecture Foundation’s Vice President of Education and Experience Gabrielle Lyon as she presents the graphic novel No Small Plans. The book follows Chicago youth as they steward what they want changed about their city. Public Newsroom guests will learn about the book and also explore this theme themselves by designing their ideal neighborhood.

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Saturday, August 5

2:00 pm — 4:30 pm

As a part of the PERFORM/TRANSFORM festival, join us for a screening of The Salesman, Academy Award-winner of Best Foreign Language Film. The Salesman is a 2016 Iranian drama directed and written by Asghar Farhadi and starring Taraneh Alidoosti and Shahab Hosseini. The film is in Persian with English subtitles.

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Saturday, August 5

11:00 am — 11:30 am

Join storytellers Bess Cohen and Franny Billingsley (57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager) for a VEGETABLE-themed story time at Build Coffee! Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

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Saturday, July 29

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Christopher ThoughtPoet Brown presents “#HeartMelanin: The Prelude,” part one of a two-part photography series showcasing the work of ThoughtPoetsOpinion. Opening night will feature performances by E’mon Lauren, Brittany Nacole, Jorge Mikell, and Solo the Dweeb, plus sounds by Lisa Decibel. Music starts 6:30! $10 suggested donation.

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Friday, July 28 — Saturday, September 30


ThoughtPoet is a photographer from Chatham. His #HeartMelanin portrait series, on the walls of Build Coffee for August and September 2017, is a collection of emotions—snapshots of the black Chicago renaissance. ThoughtPoet came up in Young Chicago Authors (YCA) and YouMedia with artists like Chance the Rapper, Noname, Saba, and Jorge Mikell, all under the mentorship of Brother Mike. His photos show Chicago slang, the fatigue of code-switching and melancholy, and above all his love for the black and brown people of this city. ThoughtPoet is the communications co-chair of Black Youth Project 100 (BYP100) and currently lives in West Englewood. Part two of #HeartMelanin will open at the #LetUsBreathe Collective space in Back of the Yards on August 26.


Thursday, July 27

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This Public Newsroom is a special collaboration with City Bureau’s friends from CIR’s Reveal podcast, public radio’s first one-hour radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting.  On Thursday, July 27, the Reveal team will walk us through the basics of audio recording while sharing audio samples, techniques and tools. Join us to explore new sounds and learn how to record audio like a pro.

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Thursday, July 20

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This week’s Public Newsroom is a special Midwest media collaboration! We’ll have Detroit-based journalist and Outlier Media founder Sarah Alvarez in to talk about how direct service journalism can fill information gaps and increase accountability. Sarah will walk through Outlier Media’s unique model, from topic selection to distribution, with a focus on how public data can be used to meaningfully fill information gaps. This hands-on workshop will lead the Public Newsroom audience through a deep dive into public complaint data to uncover under-reported topics. Audience members will also be asked to take some of these complaints to the next level by working through what kind of information would be actionable versus interesting.

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Friday, July 14

6:00 pm — 7:30 pm

Come play Gone Home and learn some video game history and theory with your trusty hosts, game designers Mason Arrington and Addie Barron! Gone Home is an adventure video game and queer coming of age story. As Katie, you return to your childhood home to find it empty, your parents and little sister missing. It’s raining hard outside and the house is full of clues—what happened here? We’ll be talking narrative architecture, experimental games, and horror tropes. Watch the trailer for Gone Home here.

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Thursday, July 13

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police union contract with the city expired June 30 of this year. In addition to exploring City Bureau’s latest Tracker Project—the #FOPtracker—we’ll have Chicago-based journalist Adeshina Emmanuel in the Public Newsroom for a presentation on his reporting around the city’s collective bargaining agreement with police. This hands-on workshop with break down and demystify the police union contract as the city negotiates a new agreement with police in the coming weeks. We’ll also have experts weigh in to give Chicagoans a better understanding of how the Fraternal Order of Police impacts, affects and influences police accountability locally and nationwide.

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Wednesday, July 12

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The F12 Network provides educational resources & workshops to the Chicago DIY music/arts scene to prevent sexual violence, working through a lens of transformative justice. F12 is having a public meeting for folks interested in getting involved!

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Thursday, July 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago’s annual Tax Increment Financing (TIF) report is expected to be released this week, so we’ll have TIF expert Tom Tresser in the Public Newsroom to discuss how TIFs work and who wins and loses from their use in the city. This workshop will be a collaborative, crowd-sourced process where City Bureau and the Civic Lab will show how the public can dissect and analyze TIF data. If the 2016 TIF report is not online by Thursday night, we’ll examine the TIFs of the 20th Ward, especially the Woodlawn TIF, which includes Build Coffee and City Bureau’s newsroom.

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Saturday, July 1

11:00 am — 11:30 am

Join 57th Street Books’ Children’s Manager and Storyteller Franny Billingsley for a farm and food themed story time at Build Coffee! We’ll be reading stories about farmers, plants, and growth. Come early or stay after to enjoy the 61st Street Farmers Market, South Side Chicago’s premier farmers market, open Saturdays from 9am-2pm at 61st and Dorchester.

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Thursday, June 29

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The 2016 presidential election left some people questioning polls. How are these polls made? Who’s left out of them? How do you identify quality information? In this week’s Public Newsroom former New York Times News Survey Editor Marjorie Connelly will break down the art of polling. Connelly, who is now a Senior Fellow with the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, will go through polling basics and workshop reporting on quality polls with attendees. Participants will go through a series of activities to discern quality information. All welcome!

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Saturday, June 24

8:00 am — 6:00 pm

Build Coffee will officially open its doors for business on Saturday, June 24! Come by any time 8am-6pm for good coffee, good tunes, good books, and lots of good vibes. We’ll have art on the walls from Blackstone Bicycle Works (up until August) and the 61st Street Farmers Market will be in full force just outside our door 9am-2pm.

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Thursday, June 22

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

City Bureau is hiring! This week’s Public Newsroom is an orientation and Twitter training for City Bureau’s Documenters network. The Documenters program is a critical component to City Bureau’s mission to bridge the ideals of civic journalism with the economic and political realities in which it exists. This specific workshop, facilitated by our community engagement director Andrea Hart, will onboard folks into the Documenters program and talk about gaps in local journalism and how to live-tweet as well as engage online during public meetings. After the event, attendees will be invited to join the Documenters listserv and have access to paid freelance work as well as other trainings.

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Thursday, June 15

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

On May 18, we’re thrilled to have historian, civil rights leader, and local legend Dr. Timuel Black in the Public Newsroom for a guided conversation on the art of oral history, informed by his decades of experience living and working on the South Side of Chicago. Dr. Black will be interviewed live by author, educator, and City Bureau board member Audrey Petty, whose book “High Rise Stories” chronicles Chicago’s iconic public housing projects through first-person narratives. Together, Black and Petty will explore the craft of oral history and the importance of storytelling to Chicago’s cultural memory.

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Thursday, June 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Come celebrate what the City Bureau crew has been up to this spring! Their reporting fellows have been working with Curious City journalists to explore segregation in Chicago, getting to know African immigrant communities on the South Side, and reimagining the industrial West Side. They’ve also partnered with Free Spirit Media throughout the fellowship cycle to mentor some of the city’s upcoming mediamakers and civic leaders. Stop by our #PublicNewsroom for a chance to give feedback on the work before it’s published, discover ways to collaborate with City Bureau, and enjoy some refreshments.

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Wednesday, May 24

5:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The opening reception for the Bike Shop Art Show will feature: comics, hand-painted signs, and photo projects by the youth of Blackstone Bicycle Works, made with with Tita Thomas; the drawings and iconic bicycle of Tommie Lee Hollins; collaborative intergenerational art activities for all people; tours of the exhibition led by bike shop youth; soda from Build Coffee; food from Rajun Cajun; and live music. Join us for the opening, and find artwork from the show on the walls of Build later this month!

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Sunday, May 21

2:00 pm — 4:00 pm

Are you interested in getting involved with the South Side Weekly? They want to hear your ideas for our coverage of arts, politics, culture, and life on the South Side. The Weekly is produced by an all-volunteer editorial staff and seeks contributions of all kinds from across the city. If you’re into writing, reporting, editing, designing, illustrating, photography, social media, or more, the Weekly is the place for you. Email editor@southsideweekly.com with any questions, or if you would like to become involved but cannot attend this event.

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Sunday, May 14

5:00 pm — 6:00 pm

Join For the People Artists Collective at Build Coffee for a book talk with renowned Palestinian political cartoonist Mohammad Sabaaneh. Sabaaneh will be joined by FTP member and Palestinian graphic novelist Leila Abdelrazaq. The two of them will discuss their work and how they have used comics and illustration to raise awareness around Palestine and take action against Israel’s occupation and ethnic cleansing.

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Thursday, May 11

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

On May 11, we’ll have Englewood-based photographer Tonika Johnson in the Public Newsroom for a workshop and discussion on photography, overcoming neighborhood stigmas, and defining what we mean when we talk about “narrative shifting” in Chicago. Johnson’s current and ongoing photography project, “From the INside,” seeks to challenge negative perceptions of Englewood by creating images of vibrancy, normalcy and everyday life from her “insider” perspective. She will lead a conversation on how media can empower communities to tell their own story while guiding Public Newsroom guests through selections from her body of work.

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Thursday, May 4

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The Public Newsroom is excited to have The Triibe host a screening of their original docuseries “Another Life.” Following the screening, Triibe Co-Founder Tiffany Walden and “Another Life” Director Morgan Elise will facilitate a discussion on the long-lasting trauma within Chicago’s black millennial community in the aftermath of gun violence and the role media plays in this trauma.

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Thursday, April 27

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Three months ago, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that barred citizens of seven countries from coming to the United States for 90 days and all refugee admissions for 120 days. Syrians, who make up 1 out of every 6 refugees in the world today, were indefinitely banned. In response to the ban, three Chicago journalists (Sarah Conway, Alex Hernendez and Nissa Rhee) founded 90 Days, 90 Voices—a storytelling project about those seeking a home in the United States during an age of unrest. Thursday, April 27 marks 90 days since the executive order was signed. Come join the founders of 90 Days, 90 Voices at this special Public Newsroom event to hear some of their favorite stories, learn tips for covering immigration issues, and celebrate the storytelling project’s work.

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Friday, April 21

7:30 pm — 9:30 pm

A first listen for the much-anticipated debut album from Jorge Mikell: SOULILOQUY

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Thursday, April 13

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

During this Public Newsroom Dr. David Omotoso Stovall will pose the following question: does the city engineer conflict? Dr. Stovall is a professor of Educational Policy Studies and African-American Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. His research interests include critical race theory, school-community relationships, youth culture and the relationship between housing and K-12 school systems.

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Thursday, April 6

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Angilee Shah is the digital editor for Global Nation, which covers immigration for PRI Public Radio International and on the daily broadcast “PRI’s The World.” Over the past several months, Shah has been developing a project focused on fostering dialogue and collaboration between journalists and the people they cover, including encouraging editorial decisions led by immigrants’ lived experiences. She shared her work at the People-Powered Publishing Conference last November, and is returning to Chicago this spring to share her findings at the Public Newsroom.

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Thursday, March 30

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Join us for a special session of City Bureau’s Public Newsroom series with Illinois Humanities Engagement Fellow Jordan Wirfs-Brock, creator of Reciprocal Podcasting. Wirfs-Brock is a data journalist who covers energy issues for the public media collaboration Inside Energy. She enjoys using animation, graphics and podcasting to tell complex stories in approachable ways. In this hands-on workshop, we’ll practice ways to make audio storytelling more immersive and interactive, leading to deeper community engagement and two-way communication.

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Thursday, March 23

2:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This hands-on workshop will be useful for journalists, community members, organizers, educators and artists alike. Learn how you can use Google’s suite of online tools to tell new stories, dig deeper into issues you care about and engage your community. In addition to web tools, our Google facilitator, Mike Reilley, will cover Android and iPhone apps that you can use to create 180-degree interactive photos, up your social media game, and translate content into multiple languages.

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Thursday, March 16

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

The serious games movement is changing the way people think about interactive gaming and its potential to tell stories in a new, compelling way. Empathy games, a subset of that movement, aim to put the audience into the shoes of the protagonist, allowing them to explore a world that may be unfamiliar to them. Led by Michael Block, programmer for We Are Chicago, and Ashlyn Sparrow, lab director at Game Changer Chicago Design Lab, we’ll talk about how the gaming community in Chicago works with youth and social justice.

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Thursday, February 16

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

On June 30, 2017, the Fraternal Order of Police’s contract with the city of Chicago is set to expire pending negotiations for a new agreement. Using a team of City Bureau Documenters, an Excel spreadsheet, and Rap Genius, we’ve annotated the police union contract with analysis, media reports, legal cases/studies, academic research, and more to present a complete view of how the FOP shapes city policy on behalf of its membership. Public Newsroom #8 will include a guided discussion with local experts, a public Q&A and break-out groups framed around the launch of the Invisible Institute #FOPtracker.

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Thursday, February 9

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

This week’s Public Newsroom workshop will be led by Jean Cochrane and Hannah Cushman of Datamade, a civic technology company that uses open data to empower journalists. The workshop will focus on data-driven narratives—what they are, what makes them necessary, and how to turn raw data into stories that are both powerful and accessible. This is the seventh in a series of workshops about journalism and media in Chicago hosted by City Bureau and South Side Weekly as part of the #PublicNewsroom.

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Thursday, February 2

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chicago Reader reporter Maya Dukmasova will use her recent feature “The Goldberg Variations,” about the Hillard Homes, as a jumping-off point for a discussion about covering public housing and the Chicago Housing Authority, and more generally about media coverage of housing communities in Chicago. This workshop coincides with the release of South Side Weekly’s annual Housing Issue (copies will be available!). Join the Weekly and City Bureau for the sixth in a series of workshops about journalism and media in Chicago.

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Saturday, January 21

1:00 pm — 3:00 pm

This teach-in will situate abortion access in a history of exploitation of marginalized groups by the American medical establishment, as well as offer concrete actions to promote reproductive justice in light of the impending Trump administration. Led by Amber Sollenberger, a medical assistant at Planned Parenthood of Illinois, in cooperation with Shout Your Abortion’s #TogetherForAbortion campaign.

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Thursday, January 19

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

As a WBEZ education reporter, Linda covers schools, education and issues affecting youth in Chicago. You may know her work from the Peabody Award winning episode of This American Life on Chicago’s Harper High School. Public Newsroom #5 will feature a workshop on ‘showing’ v. ‘telling’ in the media using Linda’s incredible body of work, including her latest piece, “The View From Room 205,” a one-hour documentary that takes an unflinching look at the intersection of poverty and education in this country.

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Thursday, January 5

6:30 pm — 8:30 pm

City Bureau is hosting a special event for our first 2017 Public Newsroom. Come view the work of our Fall 2016 reporters who explored issues on lead contamination, food deserts and West Side development. We will also be sharing work we did with IMPACT Family Center. You’ll have a chance to give feedback, find ways to collaborate and enjoy some refreshments.

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Thursday, December 15

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Over the coming months, Invisible Institute will be releasing an update to the Citizens Police Data Project featuring new data on use of force investigations and a refreshed design—and you’re invited to the beta launch. Our December 15th Public Newsroom workshop will host a presentation on the next phase of the Invisible Institute’s work—focusing specifically on the institute’s new Use of Force data tool. Stop by the Public Newsroom from 6-8pm for a discussion on these updates, design principles, and a chance to explore the new data in small groups, or one-on-one. We encourage you to bring your laptops—this will be an opportunity to talk with the analysts and designers who work closely with the data.

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Saturday, December 10

5:00 pm — 9:00 pm

For the People Artists Collective will be 1 year old this December! Come celebrate with our artists, cultural workers, organizers, and activists who will be vending their brilliant work. We will also be showcasing some of the work we’ve created throughout our first year, including art from #ByeAnita, #ShutDownChi, #RememeberRekia, #StopITOA, and more. Featuring performances from Sara Gonzales, Tweak, and Ric Wilson.

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Thursday, December 1

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Leor Galil will be leading a hands-on workshop on how to listen to music as a journalist and cover it responsibly. Leor will be talking attendees through his writing process for pieces covering Chicago artists including Saba, Los Crudos, Joey Purp, and more. Come ready to listen to some great local music, participate in the discussion, and learn! Leor is a staff writer for the Chicago Reader, where he focuses on local musicians and artistic communities; he also hosts a Chicago-centric music show on RBMA radio called the Deepest Dish.

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Thursday, November 17

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Chaclyn Hunt of the Invisible Institute will join us for a deep dive into how you can use the Freedom of Information Act to request (i.e. politely demand) documents from your local government. Public Newsroom Workshop #2 will be a hands-on gathering focused on FOIA essentials, government documents, and public accountability tools. Come prepared to learn from your neighbors and local journalists at the event, share your own FOIA ideas, and engage with the newsmaking process from the ground up. Chaclyn is an attorney with the Invisible Institute and creator of the Youth/Police Project, an ongoing inquiry into everyday youth-police interactions on the South Side of Chicago.

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Thursday, November 3

6:00 pm — 8:00 pm

Essayist, poet, and academic Eve Ewing will be leading a hands-on gathering focused on media, reporting and narrative. Eve is a sociologist of education whose research is focused on racism, social inequality, and urban policy, and the impact of these forces on American public schools and the lives of young people. Come prepared to learn from your neighbors and local journalists at the event, share your own story ideas and engage with the newsmaking process from the ground up.

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