Newly Elected 19th Police District Council
Hello!! We are your newly elected and first-ever Police District Council members in the 19th Police District. A little bit about us:
Maurilio Garcia is a Northwestern grad and data analyst living in Uptown. He’s founded a pro bono grant initiative that helps Chicagoland nonprofit organizations to better understand our community. As a Mexican-American who’s had varied experiences with police, he cares that all residents’ experiences with policing are positive and productive.
Jenny Schaffer is a former special education teacher, community activist, and mom of three kids who attend CPS schools in North Center. She leads efforts in her kids’ school and her synagogue to promote racial equity and justice. Jenny has built relationships with many social service agencies and community groups in the 19th District. She will uplift innovative strategies to create safer neighborhoods for everyone.
Sam Schoenburg is a lawyer who lives with his husband in Lakeview. Sam organized on President Obama’s campaign and worked for nonprofits dedicated to reducing the influence of corporate money in politics and expanding access to health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. Here in Chicago, he volunteers with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, co-chairs the Cabrini Green Legal Aid Associate Board, and has completed the CPD Citizens’ Police Academy.
As a reminder, the District Council is an elected body focused on issues of policing and public safety. It was created by the Chicago City Council after years of activism to make policing more responsive to community needs. In the February election, each of Chicago’s 22 police districts elected 3 individuals to serve as their neighborhood ambassadors. We will be representing the 19th Police District, which runs from Fullerton to Lawrence and Lake Michigan to the Chicago River, for the next four years.
As your District Council Members, we will give the community a voice in what public safety and policing in our neighborhoods. We are committed to modernizing our approach to public safety by expanding access to emergency services that more effectively address community needs, like having trained mental health professionals respond to mental health emergencies. We are also committed to ensuring 19th District police officers have the support and training to perform to the best of their ability, while also making policing more transparent to the community and encouraging effective implementation of the CPD Consent Decree.
Essential to all of these goals is building a strong community of people dedicated to creating meaningful and lasting public safety in the 19th District. The 19th District is large. We know there will be a diversity of ideas around public safety and policing, and we hope to hear as many as we can. We created this brief survey as a way to get a temperature check on where priorities in the district lie. We encourage anyone who lives, works, attends school or has other regular business in the 19th District to fill out this survey and welcome you to share this link with others: bit.ly/19thDCFeedback
Additionally, in the survey we are asking for people’s contact information. This is extremely important, as we will use this to build our official email list that we will use to communicate about our monthly meetings and other events and notifications we want to share. On that note, please mark your calendars for our first meeting, which will be held Tuesday, May 30th at 6:30 (location TBD).
There is a lot of important work ahead. It is essential to us that you are a part of this effort. We look forward to reading your survey responses and working with you over the next four years to build a safer community together.
19th District Council Members,
Maurilio Garcia, Jenny Schaffer, Sam Schoenburg – 19thDistrictCouncil@gmail.com
