Partners

Chicago Data Collaborative is a cooperative effort by newsrooms, academics, and nonprofit researchers to help each other understand our criminal justice system. The Invisible Institute works as part of the collective to get data from public agencies, organize and document that data, and link the data together. 

Chicago Independent Media Alliance is an alliance of nonprofit and small for-profit Chicago-area community and ethnic media to collaborate on both business and editorial fronts. The Invisible Institute is a proud member of the Chicago Independent Media Alliance. 

Chicago Reporter is an investigative publication set on the mission of documenting the city’s struggles with the burning issues of race and poverty. 

City Bureau is a non-profit newsroom that aims to produce civic journalism that brings journalists and communities together in a collaborative spirit. 

Civis Analytics is a data science company that brings objective, data-driven truth to organizational decision-making. Staff at Civis Analytics have provided pro bono support to the Invisible Institute since 2016 including data processing for CPDP.co. The Invisible Institute worked with Civis Analytics to developed an algorithm to help identify the names of officers who may have contributed to a prisoner's wrongful conviction. 

Forensic Architecture (FA) is a research agency, based at Goldsmiths, University of London that undertakes advanced spatial and media investigations into cases of human rights violations, with and on behalf of communities affected by political violence, human rights organizations, international prosecutors, environmental justice groups, and media organizations. The Invisible Institute worked with Forensic Architecture in 2018 to create Six Durations of a Split Second: The Killing of Harith Augustus for the 2019 Chicago Architectural Biennial. 

Human Rights Data Analysis Group is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that applies rigorous science to the analysis of human rights violations around the world.

Hyde Park Academy High School is a public 4–year high school located in the Woodlawn neighborhood on the south side of Chicago, opened in 1863. The Invisible Institute’s youth / police project worked with the media program and teacher Keva McGee from 2011 to 2020. 

Innocence Project frees innocent, life-sentenced prisoners and advocates for sensible criminal justice policies that reduce wrongful convictions.

Loevy & Loevy is a civil rights law firm dedicated to seeking justice for people whose civil rights have been violated, and for whistleblowers.

Mandel Legal Aid Clinic (University of Chicago Law School) educates law students in legal theory while actively serving as advocates for people typically denied access to justice; and aims to reform legal education and the legal system to be more responsive to the interests of indigent clients.  The Invisible Institute partners with Craig Futterman, who is the Director of the Civil Rights and Police Accountability Project. Clinical law students work with the youth / police project learning from and providing resources to our students, and with our legal program on accessing open records and public data about policing.

Midnight Productions is a documentary film studio lead by Rick Rowley & Karim Hajj. The Invisible Institute worked with Midnight Productions in 2016 to produce the SHOWTIME Documentary 16 Shots which was nominated for a Peabody Award in 2020. 

monk parakeet / Peterman Studios is a Chicago-based experimental art project and curatorial platform. It challenges and bridges diverse urban audiences; questions assumptions about how artistic and interdisciplinary cultural programming can unfold on a neighborhood level; and builds connections between local and international initiatives.

People's Law Office is nationally known for its successes in uncovering secret abuses by police and government officials, including a torture ring inside the Chicago Police Department and for forcing systemic changes in the justice system in Chicago.  

Pozen Family Center for Human Rights (University of Chicago) supports innovative interdisciplinary teaching and research initiatives that critically explore the theory and practice of global human rights. 

South Side Weekly  is a nonprofit newspaper dedicated to supporting cultural and civic engagement on the South Side, and to developing emerging journalists, writers, and artists. 

ThoughtWorks is a global software consultancy solving complex problems with technology by connecting strategy and execution, helping clients to strengthen their core technology, scale with flexibility and create seamless digital experiences. The Invisible Institute has worked with ThoughtWorks since 2017 to build a new case management system to help OIPM focus on police accountability, reducing the amount of time spent compiling a case, searching for officers, and attaching allegations to those officers. 

The Intercept is an award-winning news organization dedicated to holding the powerful accountable through fearless, adversarial journalism. The Invisible Institute has published some of its most impactful reporting through our partnership with The Intercept, including the Code of Silence investigation, the Harith Augustus project, the Somebody Podcast, and the Chicago Police Files series.

USA Today is an internationally distributed American daily newspaper. The Invisible Institute worked with reporters at USA Today to create the Tarnished Brass project, a national database of 30,000 decertified police officers. Our team also collaborated with their reporters to investigate systems for police decertification. 

WITNESS helps people use video and technology to protect and defend human rights. In 2018, the Invisible Institute and WITNESS co-hosted a national convening to explore strategies for making data related to police violence more transparent and accountable to communities.