Jim Poole, Alderman Pawar’s Chief of Staff to join NAMI as Director

Today, I’m sharing bittersweet news for all of us at the 47^th Ward Public Service Office. In the coming weeks, Jim Poole will be leaving his position as Chief of Staff and taking on the role of Director of Resources and Referrals at the National Alliance of Mental Illness Chicago (NAMI Chicago). In addition to working to reduce stigma around mental illness and working with families to support loved ones with mental illness, NAMI Chicago is on the leading edge of providing crisis intervention training to the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and served on the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. I know Jim will make important contributions to all of NAMI’s work and establish himself as a rising leader in the mental health community.

Jim and I have been working together since 2009 when we both started graduate school at the University Of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Jim was one of the top students. I was not! Jim was interested in all things radical. I was not. But Jim jumped at the chance to partner on an aldermanic campaign to take on the Chicago machine. So together with Jim and Charna, we started knocking on doors. You know the rest of the campaign story. But here’s one fun fact: Jim graduated from SSA in two years and it took me until 2016, a full seven years.

After taking office, Jim has helped push initiatives and see them through from concept to implementation. Some notable highlights include: helping to manage the growth of GROW47, developing and implementing the 47^th ward participatory budgeting process, coordinating capital infrastructure projects, and working on legislation. Some examples of Jim’s legislative talents include: crafting the Chicago Towing Bill of Rights, the Chicago Fair Trade Ordinance, and the forthcoming legislation creating the Office of Labor Standards. Jim was also a key player in passing the Chicago Earned Sick Time Ordinance.

More locally, Jim has led on efforts to build new affordable housing in our community and he has an encyclopedic knowledge of nearly every service issue that has crossed his desk.

Most of all, Jim is a kind, caring, and empathetic human being. He cares about good government and our community. So before Jim goes, he and I are working on one final project. When we took office in 2011, we had to start a ward office from scratch. So we vowed to ensure a smooth, honest, and seamless transition for whoever comes after us, no matter their politics. As you know, I am not running again and to prepare our office for next year’s transition, Jim has been spending time setting up the transition. Like all things with Jim, he always leaves things better than he found them.

Jim: thank you for your service. You will be missed. I also want to extend a bigger thanks to Jim’s wife, Betzi. Thanks for lending Jim to us for many long days, evenings, weekends and beyond. And thank you for your unwavering support of our office and community. Oh, and one final thing: Go Louisville! (Jim and Betzi are graduated from the University of Kentuky, and were members of the marching band.)

Next Chief

Brad Gregorka will be taking over as my new Chief of Staff. Over the last four years, Brad has been managing our office’s transportation policy planning, aldermanic menu, and various service related issues. Brad has one of the most important jobs in politics: the closer. As we plan to transition our office over the next year, Brad will be working closely with me and the community to advance and close-out community projects. I hope that you will join me in congratulating Brad.

And finally, I will leave you with one of Jim’s most memorable quotes. We have a quote wall in our office where we’ve documented the funniest, oddest, and most interesting quotes from our team and people around the city. My favorite is a Jim Poole classic. “If you fart once, they forever call you stinky”.