Applications for Vanguard Chicago close tomorrow at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
Vanguard isn’t a typical conference. It’s four days in Chicago with 40 people working across policy, organizing, journalism, arts, entrepreneurship, planning, development, and more, all thinking seriously about how cities can become more just, equitable, and sustainable.
You won’t spend the week sitting in a conference room. You’ll move through the city, hear directly from people doing the work on the ground, and leave with ideas and relationships you can bring back to your own community.
You don’t need to have everything figured out. Your work can still be evolving. What matters is how you think about cities and your role in shaping them.
Apply by tomorrow night: 🔗 bio
"Schools are not only spaces for students—they become hubs of activity. Once you take that away, it’s an incredible gap." What happens to a neighborhood when its heart stops beating? 🏫💔 We’re diving into the strategic role schools play in our communities and what we lose when those connections are broken.
🎧 Listen to Next City with Lucas wherever you get your podcasts.
Tag someone who needs to hear this conversation. 👇
@nextcityorg@lucasgrindley
#NextCity #UrbanPlanning #CommunityFirst #EducationMatters #SocialImpact
“We need to become storytellers of that vision of the future that we want to create.” 🏙️✨
Host Lucas sits down with Eli Moore and Richard Aviles to break through the "intellectual anxiety" of urban policy. Real solutions aren't just theories—they are happening right now, and your community deserves them too.
It’s time to stop saying "it's too complicated" and start demanding the world we actually deserve.
Listen to Next City wherever you get your podcasts.
Tag someone who is ready to build a better city! 👇
@nextcityorg@lucasgrindley
#NextCity #UrbanDesign #PolicyChange #CityLiving #FutureOfCities #RealSolutions #Podcast
At her debut solo exhibition, “CÓDICE •• SOBREVIVIENDO A LA PERSECUCIÓN,” DACA recipient and artist Arleene Correa Valencia transforms bark paper and embroidery into a tender reckoning with the reality of being undocumented in the United States.
The exhibition “is an unflinching response to the violence against immigrants perpetrated by the Trump administration,” said Next City’s Eliana Perozo (@franceseliana ).
Switching from her usual oil paint to textiles and embroidery, Valencia realized “The ethos of her work…was not in the medium of oil on canvas, but within the ancestral history of all the ways her people had been creating art long before she was told that painting was the way.”
Read more at hyperallergic.com.
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This feature was written in partnership with @hyperallergic and @nextcityorg .
Image 1: Arleene Correa Valencia with her works included in CÓDICE •• SOBREVIVIENDO A LA PERSECUCIÓN (photo courtesy the artist)
Image 2: Arleene Correa Valencia, “It’s Easier To Leave Before The Sun Rise: It Hurts Less If We Don’t Say Goodbye / Es Más Facil Salir De Madrugada: Sin Despedida Duele Menos” (2025) (image courtesy Fridman Gallery)
Image 3: Arleene Correa Valencia, “I Lost My Childhood Learning How To Protect You, And I’d Do It All Again In Every Life / Perdí Mi Infancia Aprendiendo A Protegerte Y Lo Haría Todo De Nuevo En Cada Vida (2025) (image courtesy Fridman Gallery)
Image 4: Arleene Correa Valencia, “My Dad Is Not A Criminal He Is A Dreamer / Mi Papá No Es Un Criminal Es Un Soñador” (2026) (image courtesy Fridman Gallery)
"Information isn't just power—it’s protection."
When your community is under constant threat, a newsroom isn't just a business; it’s a lifeline. We’re diving deep into the nonprofit newsrooms that refuse to stay "neutral" while immigrant families face the daily reality of ICE raids and shifting policies. They aren't just reporting the news; they’re building a shield of trust.
Save this if you believe local journalism should be a tool for justice.
Tag a storyteller who is making an impact in their community.
Listen to Next City wherever you get your podcasts.
@nextcityorg@lucasgrindley
#NextCity #JournalismForGood #ImmigrantRights #CommunityPower #NonprofitNews
Instead of treating new data centers only as land-use battles, communities can use them to expand fiber networks and build stronger local connectivity.
When a secretive $1.6 billion data center proposal landed in Menomonie with almost no warning, residents had weeks to fight back. They won — and built a toolkit so other communities can, too.
Join Next City and @the_74 for a conversation about adaptive reuse of schools.
School closings have become a norm. During the 2021-2022 academic year, there were 755 public school closures, according to data from the Institute of Education Sciences. What happens to those buildings and the community after schools shut down? Sometimes the buildings sit vacant for years, and the community bears the brunt of the disinvestment.
In this webinar, speakers will explore what happens when schools are repurposed and brought back for community use. They’ll also share how they and their teams transformed schools for a different purpose, the challenges that come with that work and the importance of adaptive reuse.
Gentrification is a strategy. Resistance is a choice. ✊🏽
Corporate giants are targeting rent-stabilized buildings, but tenants are building power to stay in their homes. Khunsa Amin joins us to discuss the fight for housing as a human right.
Listen to the full episode on any podcast app. 🎙️
👥 Tag someone who needs to see this.
@nextcityorg@lucasgrindley
#TenantPower #HousingEquity #Gentrification #NYC #NextCityPodcast #Advocacy
Immigration enforcement is shaping how entire communities feel, move and show up.
Caregivers and providers are seeing it firsthand, from kids experiencing fear and anxiety to families navigating disruption, missed school and growing uncertainty.
Chicago is the next stop for Vanguard, Next City’s annual experiential gathering for urban leaders. The conference is taking place Sept. 15-18, and we’ve already started recruiting for this year’s cohort — applications officially close on May 14 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern.
Vanguards, what we call participants and alumni of our annual event, will experience an immersive four days — exploring the city through thoughtfully curated tours and participating in panel discussions that will delve into this year’s theme: “The America that Never Was: In the Pursuit of…,” which speaks to the gap between what America has promised for centuries and what communities — particularly Black and Brown ones — have received.
Apply by clicking the link in our bio.
