Why we're going all in on the information we need for an affordable city

By Harry Backlund

City Bureau’s Community Accountability Reporter and a Report For America corps member Sophia Kalakailo facilitates conversation at Public Newsroom 160 on Sept. 25, 2025 in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. (Davon Clark/for City Bureau)

As City Bureau enters a new chapter with a new strategic plan, we're shifting the focus of our Chicago journalism and doubling down on one of our earliest lessons: good storytelling isn't enough. Information is power, and people who practice journalism—whether they're a professional reporter in a big newsroom or a block club captain running a trusted local newsletter—have a real impact on the material conditions of their neighbors and communities.

Service over stories

For the next two years, our team will be focusing on one issue—affordability—working to find and share information that can make a measurable difference in people’s ability to afford a full and dignified life in Chicago. We considered a lot of issues to focus on, from housing, to maternal health, to policing and public safety, to data centers—all issues we’ve covered before. Affordability kept winning out on multiple levels. It’s urgent right now amid inflation and deep cuts to public benefits, and it also connects to every other issue: what we can afford shapes how we find housing, take care of our kids, organize in our communities, and keep safe.

Some of our work on affordability will be reporting. If we discover issues that would benefit from public visibility and debate, we'll either cover them ourselves or hand the idea off to one of Chicago’s many excellent newsrooms. But a lot of what we'll be doing is a different kind of service journalism, focused on getting people the information they need to navigate the affordability crisis in real time. Because if you're in financial distress—in the grocery store, at the impound lot, or when rent and taxes come due—a compelling narrative about the issues you're facing doesn't do you much good. You need information that gives you tools. That can come in almost any form: a simple explanation of how public benefits work in a YouTube or TikTok video, an audio message breaking down changes to the work permit application process in a Whatsapp group, or a flyer about navigating debt from fees and fines on your car next to that parking ticket. We’ll be doing a lot of listening on the ground to understand what information resources are actually needed and useful.

We also won’t be working alone. Most of the time you probably don’t go to a journalist or the news for this kind of information—usually you’d go to someone you know personally and who you trust have our interests at heart. Maybe it’s a relative, or a pastor, or a school principal, or that busybody block club captain. We’ll be thinking at every step about how to work directly with those folks, so that a network of community leaders is informed and equipped to help their people navigate the affordability crisis and organize together for solutions. What better role for journalism could there be?

A new team and a new north star

As part of this shift we’re changing a lot about how we work, including the name of our team from Editorial to Civic Information. Even internally we’re still getting our heads around what it means. We’re used to thinking in terms of stories and sources, and what picture should go with a story. Now we’re thinking about information needs, neighborhood connectors, and how to design an informational flyer that doesn’t look like a scam.

This approach itself isn’t new. City Bureau we’ve been producing actionable guides and resources for a decade, Outlier Media (home of Detroit Documenters) has been a constant source of inspiration, and Documented in New York City built a whole operation around sharing useful information with immigrant communities. All of us are taking cues from even deeper traditions of community organizing and mutual aid. What's new for us is to measure journalistic impact at the level of the issue itself. Beyond reporting about the causes of an issue, beyond even creating resources that help people navigate the issue, we’re going to be asking, “Can we actually make it better?”Can we fill information gaps to make a measurable impact in people’s ability to afford a full and dignified life?

Pull up a chair!

This kind of journalism is stronger when many people are involved in making it.

If there’s an affordability issue impacting you or your community where you think information would make a difference let us know at civicinfo@citybureau.org. Our first project will focus on the City’s plan to sell off $1 billion dollars of debt owed by its residents, and how the city’s approach to managing this debt impacts affordability for everyday Chicagoans (spoiler: not positively). If you’re personally navigating debt from parking tickets, or red light cameras, or water bills, or any kind of debt to the city, or if you’re supporting people who are, we’d especially love to hear what information you need and how we can help.

You can sign up for our newsletters and social channels here to follow our progress, including when we might be in your neighborhood.

And if you’d like to contribute to our work, consider attending a free Documenters training. We’ll be launching special assignments soon that are open to anyone who wants to play a role in making local journalism that supports a city we can all afford to call home.

Join us if you can, and we'll see you out there.

Join us for an upcoming event: https://www.citybureau.org/events!