Equity & Transformation Chicago (EAT)

Equity and Transformation (EAT) is a non-profit, community-led organization founded by and for post-incarcerated people. EAT was established in 2018 with the mission to uplift the voices and power of Black Chicagoans engaged in the informal economy: the diversified set of economic activities, enterprises, jobs, and workers that are not regulated or protected by the state. EAT applies a structured organizing model to affect social change and establish community-led alternatives to harmful state interventions. Our strategy seeks to empower individuals who know about the issues firsthand because they live them. Concretely, EAT makes space for Black informal workers to imagine new possibilities and empowers them with the tools to realize them. Rooted in the legacy of the Poor People’s Campaign, EAT centers lived experience, healing, and collective action as the foundation for economic and social transformation.