Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced the city's new COVID-19 Recovery Task Force during a briefing on Thursday.
The taskforce is comprised of industry experts, community leaders and regional partners and will take aim and aiding the city's economic recovery planning and help rebuild in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
“COVID-19 is more than just a health crisis; its impact on our local economy has cost the livelihoods of thousands of Chicagoans and has imposed tremendous hardships across the social and economic fabric of all our communities,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “While the City continues to prioritize its public health response in order to keep our residents safe and healthy from this disease, we are also looking ahead to the next phase of this challenge to develop ways Chicago can emerge from the unprecedented event stronger than before."
Lightfoot is co-chairing the effort with Chicaogan and former White House Chief of Staff and U.S. Transportation Secretary, Samuel K. Skinner, who has served as a point person on several economic crises like Hurricane Hugo and the 1989 San Francisco earthquake.
There are 15 current members of the Taskforce that make up five sectors that focus on different key issues including: policy and economic stimulus, mental and emotional health, marketing and business development, economic change study and regional coordination.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is one of the co-chairs handling issues surrounding regional coordination.
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“Cook County has had a long track record of working closely with the City and collar county officials to lay the foundation for a regional economic approach in how government leads," Preckwinkle said. "The formation of the Recovery Taskforce is yet another example of local government collaboration to deliver comprehensive solutions during this turbulent time.”
Chicago's historic water tower, the site of Lightfoot's Thursday briefing, is one of only a few buildings left standing in the city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
