Byron Sigcho-Lopez

Committees:

Policy

Biography:

Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez was elected to the Chicago City Council in April 2019 to reform city government and to push back against austerity measures that disproportionately burdened working class communities across Chicago. Byron came to the US alone as a teenager. Byron has worked as an adult education teacher for the last 10 years, founding the bilingual adult education program at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He became politically active after former-Mayor Rahm Emanuel listed a neighborhood public school for closure where Byron volunteered as a soccer coach and lead community efforts to keep that school open which were ultimately successful. Later, Byron became Director of the Pilsen Alliance where he was a leader in the struggle against gentrification and displacement, co-founding the campaign to Lift the Ban on rent control in Illinois. Byron is a member of the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America. He holds a bachelors in Mathematics and Business Administration from Cumberland University, and a Masters in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is currently a PhD candidate in the field of Urban Education Policy.