On May 17, 2025, Health & Medicine Policy Research Group partnered with seventeen organizations across Chicago to host the Solidarity Summit for a People’s Agenda. This cross-community gathering brought together attendees with diverse experiences and perspectives for a day of critical discussions, shared learning, and relationship-building at a time when building unity and collective action is more urgent than ever.
Health & Medicine board member, Dr. Linda Rae Murray, kicked off the event with important historical context to ground participants in the long legacy of oppressive and divisive forces that have contributed to contemporary struggles for solidarity, particularly related to immigration. Throughout the day, participants engaged in collective and small group discussions led by trained facilitators. Each participant received a toolkit that provided thought-provoking, real-life case studies to guide and inspire conversation.
The group was energized as participants engaged in deep reflection and reimagined pathways toward building bridges between communities that have been purposely divided against one another. Participants shared powerful testimonies naming the challenges and opportunities at stake. Many called for more intentional representation of historically excluded groups that are too often left out of critical conversations. Others reflected on the ways solidarity must go beyond local efforts, naming the connection between our communities’ struggles and U.S. complicity in global systems of oppression and violence.
“The Summit shed light on the interconnectedness of our struggles and offered a hopeful reminder that solidarity is not only possible, but already happening locally and across the country. In the face of escalating attacks on our immigrant neighbors, we have a responsibility to show up for each other. Solidarity is our most important tool for resistance,” Senior Policy Analyst Mayra Diaz said.
We are grateful to everyone who joined us and held space for these challenging yet important conversations. Together, we can work toward a shared vision for a more just and equitable society rooted in solidarity.
This event was co-hosted by:
A Just Harvest
Center for Community Health Equity (Rush and Depaul Universities)
Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression
Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health
Collaborative for Health Equity Cook County
Community Renewal Society
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
Metropolitan Tenants Organization
MiMedico
Mobile Migrant Health Team
Nehemiah Trinity Rising
New Life Centers
Radical Public Health
Rudy Lozano Library Committee
San Lucas United Church of Christ
Student National Medical Association
Trinity United Church of Christ
UIC School of Public Health