Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago

Access Living is funded by several left-of-center organizations and philanthropists including the Service Employees International Union, the Chicago Community Trust, ² left-leaning billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Polk Brothers Foundation, and Planned Parenthood of Illinois. ³

Background

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago provides support services and advocacy for the disabled in Chicago and is Chicago’s Center for Independent Living (CIL). ⁴ CILs are authorized by the Administration for Community Living (ACL) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. They are managed by persons with disabilities and provide services and advocacy focused on enabling independent living for disabled people. ⁵ According to the Illinois Department of Human Services, CILs “are not social service agencies – they are agents for social change.” ⁶

Access Living was founded in 1980 as a department of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab). It became an independent nonprofit organization in 1987. ⁷

Services

Access Living provides housing support services for disabled people who want to live independently. It operates a fair housing testing program to “determine if discriminatory practices are taking place,” and provides legal services to contest possible disability-related housing discrimination. ⁸

Access Living established the Disability Inclusion Institute as a training and consulting service for organizations to educate them on disability rights, accessibility, and inclusion. ⁹

The legal team at Access Living takes on disability discrimination cases and provides policy and advocacy support for Access Living initiatives. ¹⁰

Advocacy

Focus areas for disability advocacy include accessible low-income housing and transportation, health care access, racial activism, decarceration, and support for disabled immigrants. ¹¹

Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago organized the Disability Rights Action Coalition for Housing which advocated for the creation of the Office on Disability Policy in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). ⁷

In July 2019, Access Living co-signed a letter to then-U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and then-U.S. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) supporting the Disability Integration Act of 2019 which supports community integration of the disabled. Co-signers included the AARP, the Black Lives Matter Global Network, the Democratic National Committee, Human Rights Watch, the National Black Justice Coalition, Progressive Democrats of America, and the Transformative Justice Coalition. ^{12 13}

In November 2024, Access Living co-signed a letter written by Detention Watch Network to then-President Joe Biden and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in support of illegal immigrants, demanding the closure of detention facilities and the release of illegal immigrants from detention. Other co-signers included 18MillionRising, Americans for Immigrant Justice, the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, Defending Rights and Dissent, the National Immigrant Justice Center, Showing Up for Racial Justice, and the UndocuBlack Network. ^{14 15}

Access Living files lawsuits as part of its disability advocacy. In Access Living v. City of Chicago, it claimed that Chicago lacks appropriate accessible low-income housing. As of October 2024, Chicago had spent $4 million fighting this lawsuit and may lose a $7 million federal grant from HUD. ¹⁶ It also filed a lawsuit against Chicago for not having accessible homeless shelters. ¹⁰

In September 2023, Access Living represented two disabled individuals in a class action lawsuit against the Chicago White Sox baseball team, Yaniz, et al. v. Chicago White Sox Ltd., that claimed most accessible game tickets were not available to purchase online. ¹⁷

Funding

Donors to Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago include left-of-center grantmakers such as The Impact Fund, the Service Employees International Union, the Public Interest Law Initiative, United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, the Jewish Federations of North America of Metropolitan Chicago, the Chicago Community Trust, the Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund, the Vanguard Charitable Endowment Program, and the Fidelity Investments Charitable Gift Fund. ²

In October 2021 the Ford Foundation launched a disability rights grantmaking program with an annual budget of $10 million. Access Living was one of five disability-related nonprofits that received initial grants from this program, along with the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund and the Century Foundation. The Ford Foundation has granted Access Living a total of $1.65 million. ^{18 19}

Access Living’s 2024 annual report lists additional supporters and sponsors such as left-leaning billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, the Polk Brothers Foundation, and Planned Parenthood of Illinois.³

Access Living has received grants from several government organizations including the City of Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, the City of Chicago Department of Housing, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. ³

Leadership

Karen Tamley became president and CEO of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago in 2020. She is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and was director of programs for Access Living from 1996 to 2005. For almost 15 years she worked at the Chicago Mayor’s Office as a commissioner for people with disabilities. In 2016 former President Barack Obama appointed Tamley to serve on the United States Access Board and in 2020 she joined the Obama Foundation Inclusion Council and was a member of the Biden-Harris Transition team. She is board director of Forefront, a left-of-center organization that advocates “to advance racial equity.” ^{20 21 22}

Kevin Bradley has been the board chair of Access Living since 2019. He is vice president of culture and belonging for insurance brokerage HUB International. Bradley earned a master’s degree from Villanova University and has worked in management for several organizations with a focus on diversity and inclusion. He is an advisory board member of the Insurance Industry Charitable Foundation. ²³