jenna pollack

Jenna Pollack (she/her) is the Principal of Solidarity Works LLC where she collaborates on solidarity economy and creative projects focused on community economic development, research, policy, and media production. She is currently consulting with the Oak Park Regional Housing Center on building community land trusts in West Cook County, and with the Community WEB – a new nonprofit strengthening Chicago's Community Wealth Building (CWB) ecosystem. From 2023-2025 Jenna was a Researcher & Field Organizer for the Chicago Community Wealth Building Ecosystem (CCWBE) at the University of Illinois Chicago, which served as the research lead and convener of the City of Chicago’s CWB initiative. 

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Jenna currently serves on the Archiving Advisory Board for the Chicago Black Social Culture Map, and on the Board of Directors for Links Hall and Springboard Danse. She was a 2024-25 Fellow with Chicago United for Equity, and a 2024 Cooperative Leaders & Scholars Fellow with the Cooperative Development Foundation. 

Her recent research includes the chapter "Locating Power: Sammy Dyer School of the Theatre and Urban Renewal" in Dancing on the Third Coast: Chicago Dance Histories (University of Illinois Press, 2026). She is currently developing a book project on the Chicago dance sector's entanglements with urban planning, policy, gentrification, displacement, and community self-determination.

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Jenna holds a Master of Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP) from University of Illinois Chicago, an Executive Certificate from University of Pennsylvania's School of Social Policy and Practice in Social Impact Strategy, an M.A. with Distinction in Choreography from the Institute of the Arts Barcelona/Liverpool John Moores University, a Certificate with Honors from Harvard Business School Online’s CORe program, and a B.F.A. in Dance Performance from The Juilliard School.

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Jenna is a former dance professor and current cat mom. She loves live performance, non-fiction, and rabble-rousing.