TikTok, Transit, and Transformation: How Elevated Chicago is Fighting for Transit Equity

I started the page because I was walking to the train station, and it felt like Mario—I couldn’t get around. There was construction everywhere. I said, maybe people need to know about this. So I started recording. - Janice Newton, coordinator for Elevated Chicago 

In this episode, Chicago-based audio production team B Posi+tive Productions, with Sara Faddah and Dario Durham, interview members of Elevated Chicago about their work to advance Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD) in the city and the creative ways they use social media to build support for their work.

Public transportation connects Chicago’s neighborhoods, but not all communities benefit equally. We hear how Elevated Chicago is working to ensure residents can have access to safe, vibrant, and walkable spaces near transit hubs.

Jannice Newton, a Chicago resident and Elevated Chicago coordinator, started using TikTok to document the stark inequities in transit access across the city. From sidewalks in disrepair to the lack of lighting and community investment, her videos bring attention to the ways systemic racism has shaped Chicago’s urban landscape. Elevated Chicago, alongside policymakers and community advocates, has been working to change zoning laws and incentivize development that serves marginalized communities. Their recent victory—the passage of the Connected Communities Zoning Ordinance—is a step toward reshaping Chicago’s transit future.

This podcast series serves as a final grant report for Convergence Partnership’s most recent grantee cohort. Through the voices of our grantees and their partners, we explore how civic narrative, mutual aid, and economic power shape the fight for racial justice and health equity.

To learn more about the Convergence Partnership, visit www.convergencepartnership.org