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Marta Corto is excited. In just a few weeks, she and her family will get to harvest the tomatoes they planted in June.

Marta, 22, lives in the Ixil Mayan community of Nebaj, Quiché in the highlands of western Guatemala. Located in one of the country’s most inaccessible areas, Nebaj is part of what’s known as the “Ixil region”—along with the communities of Cotzal and Chajul—that is home to about 72,000 people.

Asha Edwards is currently an undergraduate student attending the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is a visual artist and community organizer. Asha sometimes engages in community-organizing, abolitionist rooted campaigns, and mutual aid as a member of community-based grassroots organizations in Chicago.

The city's discretionary budget is the people's budget; every person who resides in Chicago deserves to know and have a say in where this money goes. Why?  Because it's our money, our tax dollars, helping to sustain this city. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now working to pass next year’s budget through City Council. And keeping with the political machine tradition, there are minimal ways for regular people to actually have a say in where our city’s funding goes.