Your information

Who we are

Chicago Urban Honor Syndicate is a nonprofit in Chicago, Illinois. A 501(c)(3) public charity. You can reach us at hello@chicagouhs.org.

One account for both sites

You have one account, and it is the same whether you joined here, on chicagouhs.com, or at one of our tables with a volunteer. Chicago Unified Holdings & Systems, the separate for-profit company at chicagouhs.com, runs the account system for both.

Two separate choices about who may contact you

When you join, you see two boxes. Both start unticked:

• “Chicago Urban Honor Syndicate (nonprofit): programs, events, surveys and help.”
• “Chicago Unified Holdings & Systems: offers, marketplace and app rewards.”

You can tick one, both or neither. Your account works either way. Each organization contacts only people who ticked its box. Messages about something you asked for, such as a claim code or a coat pickup reminder, still reach you either way.

Each answer is saved on its own, with the date and time, where you gave it (a website or an event) and the wording you saw.

What we collect, and why

• When you join online: your first and last name, a phone number or an email (at least one), a password, and that you are 18 or older. Your street address is optional. Your password is stored only in a scrambled form that can't be read back.
• At one of our tables: a volunteer enters your name, your phone or email, your address if you want to give it, your two choices, and any survey answers. If the signal is bad, the entry is kept encrypted on the volunteer's phone and removed from it once it is sent. You get a card with a code to finish your account.
• On your profile: your coat size, the kinds of help you want to hear about, and any children you add (see below).
• When you take part: your survey answers, event RSVPs, check-ins and attendance at events, coat reservations, and the petitions you sign, votes you cast and ideas you back.

We use this to run our programs: to match coats to sizes, to check who lives in North Lawndale for coat reservations and voting, to count what neighbors need, and to send you the messages you asked for.

Children

You must be 18 or older to have an account. Children don't get accounts. A parent or guardian can add a child to their own profile with a first name, a coat size and, if they choose, a school grade. Nothing else about a child is asked for. You can remove a child from your profile at any time; if a coat is reserved for them, cancel it first.

Checking your address

If you give a street address, we check whether it is in North Lawndale (Chicago community area 29). A ZIP code never counts. A volunteer may also confirm where you live in person; no image of an ID is stored. Your address is never published.

To check an address, we look it up on a map. The address (with “Chicago, IL” added if you left the city out) is sent to three public services: OpenStreetMap's Nominatim and the City of Chicago's data portal, which find it on the map, and Wikipedia, which is asked for a picture of the place found. Your name, phone, email and survey answers are never sent to them. Each has its own privacy policy. If you would rather not have your address looked up, leave it blank and a volunteer can confirm where you live in person.

Who sees what

• Survey answers and program records, such as a coat you received, are collected for our programs. Chicago Unified Holdings & Systems may use them to plan services. Neither organization sells them.
• Our staff can see your sign-up details (your name, phone or email, your address if you gave one, your community area, your two choices, whether your address was confirmed, and when and where you signed up) and individual survey answers, so they can run our programs. A volunteer at a check-in table sees only your name and the last 4 digits of your phone number.
• Outside organizations get neighborhood totals only, never anything about one person, except for petition names (below).
• Petitions: if you tick “Include my name when this petition is delivered.”, your first and last name go to whoever the petition is addressed to. Without it, you are counted but not named.
• What we publish on this site is totals, never anyone's answers:
  • Survey results appear only once at least 10 people have answered, and any answer's count under 5 is hidden.
  • Petition signature totals are exact.
  • Other Community voice counts under 5 are shown as “a few”.
  • Vote results appear only after a vote closes with at least 10 votes.
• Chicago Unified Holdings & Systems also keeps a small copy in a separate internal records system for people who ticked at least one box. It holds only an account number, your two choices, your community area, whether your address was confirmed, and where you joined. It never holds your name, phone, email or address. If you later untick both boxes, only the account number and the two “no” answers stay there.

On your device

When you sign in, this site keeps your sign-in in your browser's storage so you stay signed in. Signing out removes it. The events map loads its map images from CARTO, a map service, so your browser contacts CARTO when you look at the map. No account details are sent to it.

Changing your mind

You can withdraw either choice at any time, or give it later, with the two boxes under “Who may contact you” on your profile. Each change is saved at once, and we keep a record of each answer and when you changed it.

Deleting your account

To ask us to delete your account and what is stored with it, write to hello@chicagouhs.org with your name and the phone number or email on your account. We act on deletion requests.

How long we keep it

We keep your account, and what is stored with it, while your account is open.

Questions

Write to hello@chicagouhs.org. See also our terms.