Transit access for every community in Illinois.
We organize underserved communities to be heard in the transportation policy decisions that determine who gets transit service — and who gets left behind.
Hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents live in communities the transit system was never built to reach.
How we change thatAcross northeastern Illinois, hundreds of thousands of residents live in communities where reliable public transportation simply does not exist. They are not underserved. They are unserved.
The performance-based formula that distributes transit funding rewards existing ridership. Communities with no service generate zero on every metric. The formula rewards the served and punishes the invisible.
Connect Illinois Network exists to make those communities visible — in the data, in the policy rooms, and in the decisions that will shape regional transit for decades.
Three pillars. One mission.
Research & Documentation
We identify and quantify transit gaps that existing data systems miss — making invisible communities visible in the formulas that decide who gets funded.
Policy & Advocacy
We translate documented need into specific, actionable policy positions and bring them directly to the decision-makers who control funding and service design.
Coalition Building
We organize the local partnerships that transit agencies require to deploy new service. When nobody has organized the ask, we fill that gap.
Where we're working right now.
Transit for Western Kane County
The western half of Kane County has zero fixed-route service. We're organizing the municipal partnerships and demand data to change that.
Invest in Kane
We're advocating for Kane County to create a dedicated transit grant program — modeled on Cook County's proven Invest in Cook — funded by new NITA revenue.
Counting Who Gets Left Behind
Traditional ridership data can't count demand where no service exists. Our registry builds the data that decision-makers can't ignore.
Do you need transit in your community?
Kane County is receiving new transit funding. Decision-makers need to know who gets left behind when service doesn't exist. Your registration becomes evidence they can't ignore.
Join the Registry — it takes 5 minutes