Mayor Lightfoot is working to bring equity and opportunity to every neighborhood and community in Chicago.

The Mayor has:

• Increased Chicago’s minimum wage to $15.40—providing a raise to over 400,000 workers—and eliminated exemptions that allowed young workers and workers with disabilities to be paid a subminimum wage. 
• Championed the most robust fair scheduling protections for workers in the nation, spearheading the passage of the Fair Workweek Ordinance. This legislation ensures that hundreds of thousands of hourly workers in Chicago have greater work scheduling and financial stability, allowing them to plan for education, childcare and eldercare, and other needs. 
• Directed $170 million to curb housing insecurity for renters and landlords affected by the pandemic.
• Ended water shutoffs for non-payment and launched the Utility Billing relief program to provide discounted water-sewer bills and utility debt forgiveness to Chicagoans in need.
• Distributed $12.5 million in transit relief to more than 45,000 households—75% of which were in high mobility hardship communities—to provide assistance in response to rising gas costs and inflation.
• Launched the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, one of the largest monthly cash assistance programs in the nation, to support 5,000 low-income households with $500 monthly payments.
• Opened a new career center for Chicagoans with disabilities to access job training services and employment opportunities.