{"id":760065,"date":"2026-04-28T23:46:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:46:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/760065\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T23:46:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T23:46:29","slug":"passages-amisha-patel-windy-city-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/760065\/","title":{"rendered":"PASSAGES Amisha Patel – Windy City Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Amisha Patel. Photo courtesy of Neena Hemmady<\/p>\n

Economic-, racial- and gender-justice organizer Amisha Patel died April 24 at home surrounded by loved ones after a nine-year battle with cancer. She was 50.<\/p>\n

Patel was born May 30, 1975, in Chicago to Indian immigrant parents. She graduated from Stanford University in 1997 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in anthropology. During her college years, Patel co-founded Youth United for Community Action, an organization of young people of color who fought for environmental and social justice in East Palo Alto, California.<\/p>\n

In the late 1990s, Patel supported young people by creating an award-winning documentary directed by the ACVPC Video Team titled\u00a0Young Azns Rising! Breaking Down Violence Against Women,<\/strong>\u00a0which was screened at film festivals across the United States. It won the Best Documentary category at aMedia\u2019s annual Ammy Awards in 2000.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel rallies the crowd during the historic 2012 CTU strike. Photo courtesy of Neena Hemmady<\/p>\n

The project marked the beginning Patel\u2019s lifelong work as an organizer, which included projects aimed at combating violence against women and transforming Chicago for working people.<\/p>\n

Her professional accomplishments included six years as the Community Coordinator for SEIU Local 73 in Chicago, where she organized hospital employees and Head Start workers into a union as well as with other community organizers in their fight to stop school closures.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel speaks at a 2016 Rauner Revenue Action. Photo courtesy of Neena Hemmady<\/p>\n

Patel left the SEIU to become executive director for Grassroots Collaborative, a community-labor coalition that builds power with working families to ensure fully funded public education, critical services and affordable housing. She held that post for 15 years.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Patel served as a senior advisor for Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson\u2019s transition committee. She also worked on various other progressive candidates for public office as well as community and labor campaigns.<\/p>\n

Patel was also a co-founder of the United Working Families independent political organization, whose goal is to elect more progressives from Chicago to local, state and national offices. Those candidates included included Johnson and Democratic House Rep. Delia Ramirez. Her final organizing work included working with a broad-based national coalition to fight authoritarianism.<\/p>\n

She organized until her death. Patel fought for empowering young workers, increasing the minimum wage and ensuring that TIF money was used for community improvements and education. Patel also worked against the terror that ICE was inflicting in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Her reach extended beyond Chicago; Patel trained thousands of Illinois residents on race, class and gender issues. In Peoria, for example, she helped Black parents build their power around education justice.<\/p>\n

Patel credited her involvement in peer counseling, a process that centers an equitable give-and-take of deep listening and focuses on collective liberation, as key to her ability to stay focused and creative as an organizer.<\/p>\n

In an\u00a0essay for Truthout<\/a>\u00a0that Patel wrote this past March, she referenced her work in co-counseling and pointed out lessons she learned as a political organizer. She also wrote editorials for Crain\u2019s Chicago Business, Bill Moyers, In These Times and Chicago Sun Times.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel and Neena Hemmady at their wedding. Photo courtesy of Hemmady <\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel and Neena Hemmady outdoors near the water. Photo courtesy of Hemmady<\/p>\n

Patel met her wife Neena Hemmady in 2001 through the South and West Asian LBTQ women-focused organization Khuli Zaban. Their wedding took place at the Chicago Teachers Union Jackie Vaughn Hall in August 2019.<\/p>\n

Patel is survived by Hemmady; mother Kusum Patel; children Ayush Hemmady-Wright and Varsha Hemmady-Wright; brothers Nitin Hemmady (Weiwen) and Amit Patel (Vaishali); niblings Vishal Patel, Meridith Embry, Sahil Patel and Anishi Patel; and countless chosen family members and friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Arvind Patel.<\/p>\n

Hemmady<\/strong>\u00a0said in a Facebook post, \u201cAmisha was my world and she meant everything to me, as she was that to so many others. She challenged me to be more vulnerable and more open and has made my life so much deeper with love and connection that I never thought was possible. I owe her my life\u2026.I will be more in love with her as each day passes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ramirez<\/strong>\u00a0said in a Facebook post, \u201cWe lost a longtime Chicago leader, organizer, and my dear friend, Amisha. [She] was a giant of our movement and she will be deeply missed. Her three decades of work to unite diverse communities to build power laid the groundwork for winning affordable housing, quality education and more in Chicago and across the state of Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel (center front), Neena Hemmady (wearing sunglasses), Amisha\u2019s mother Kusum Patel (far left), their children and niblings. Photo courtesy of Hemmady<\/p>\n

Close friend and Activist Stacy Davis Gates<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cAmisha was a visionary and had great resilience on a personal level. Amisha\u2019s ability to fight for her life made me trust her when it came to fighting for the lives of Black children in this city. There are a long list of charlatans who say that they\u2019re fighting for marginalized populations [like] young people, workers and the LGBTQ+ community, but you could believe Amisha, because you could see her fight for herself. Anyone who would wage the battle that she waged against cancer is someone I could trust. She will be greatly missed by many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Close friend and Activist Erica Bland<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cAmisha led with a love that forever changed the city of Chicago and the world through organizing. She had a fierce brilliance that challenged systems of oppression, ultimately changed some and helped lay the foundation for many fights to come. Her legacy is woven into the fabric of the Chicago fight of working people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Longtime and Activist Madeline Talbott<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cIn 2007, Grassroots Collaborative hired\u00a0Amisha\u00a0to lead the organization. She made big changes, bringing an unwavering commitment to racial and economic justice and a strategy to include the grassroots members of the coalition\u2019s organizations in popular education trainings, allowing them to build relationships across organizational lines. Amisha also brought her delight in using art and making events fun to the organization, creating a new dynamic in the organization that attracted more participants and made more of an impact.<\/p>\n

Close friend Maya Schenwar<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cAmisha combined so many beautiful aspects of humanity into one powerhouse spirit,\u00a0charged with bravery,\u00a0creativity and light. She was generous\u2014with resources, her time, her mental capacity, her energy and most of\u00a0all, with her love. During the times I spent with her in the\u00a0last month of\u00a0her life, when she was suffering hard, she still asked constantly about me,\u00a0and wasn\u2019t interested in small talk. She wanted to\u00a0know what was going on deep down\u2014the hard stuff\u2014and offered her empathy and insights. Amisha was fierce and steadfast in her commitment to connection, always urging us to see each other in our full humanity, knowing that through connection comes solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grassroots Collaborative<\/strong>\u00a0leadership<\/strong>\u00a0said, \u201cOur hearts are broken. After months of striving to beat the disease, she turned her amazing courage toward facing the conclusion of her time with us. Our hearts are with her wife, Neena, her family and the many, many people whom she loved and who loved her back. She gave us many gifts to carry with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Patel\u2019s funeral will take place\u00a0Saturday, May 2 at New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, 4301 W. Washington Blvd.\u00a0<\/strong>Viewing will be from 12-2 p.m. and the program from 2-4 p.m.<\/p>\n

Hemmady said in her Facebook post announcing Patel\u2019s death that they decided to hold the funeral at this specific church because Patel and \u201cher fellow organizers held so many groundbreaking events there that changed the course of our city.\u201d All are welcome to attend.<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel, Ayush Hemmady-Wright, Neena Hemmady, and Varsha Hemmady-Wright. Photo courtesy of Hemmady<\/p>\n

\"\"Amisha Patel and her parents, mother Kusum Patel and father Arvind Patel . Photo courtesy of Neena Hemmady<\/p>\n

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