The mission of the Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx) is to foster creativity and environmental stewardship by reimagining and redistributing surplus. We support and inspire Chicago’s teachers, nonprofits, artists and community groups by connecting them with surplus materials, supplies and equipment donated surplus by businesses and individuals. We encourage creativity and problem-solving in the process. Our belief is that trash is just a failure of the imagination and our goal is for creative reuse to become an integral part of Chicago’s infrastructure. CCRx goes beyond just moving stuff - we are building an ethos of reuse and sharing. CCRx offers a combination of events and programs that teach creative reuse; we provide direct communication via social media, e-newsletters, surveys and exchanges; we also provide community-building and resource sharing events, instilling lifelong responsible habits.

Every year, Chicago’s 15,000 teachers and nonprofits scramble to acquire supplies, equipment, books and other materials. At the same time, businesses and individuals dispose of millions of dollars in surplus at considerable cost to themselves and to the environment. CCRx was formed in 2016 to make this connection between individuals/businesses who have good materials that are clean, safe, working and the teachers and organizations who need it/can use it.

Since launching, CCRx has accomplished a whole host of programming & events -- Swap Circles for Teachers, Giveaways, Pack-ups, Creative Reuse Workshops, End of School Donation Drives, Brainstorming Sessions and Teacher Cohort Exchanges. Many events were held as pop-ups in donated locations or through partnerships with like minded organizations. The success of our events demonstrated a clear need, but CCRx needed a physical space in order to offer year round operations. In the Fall of 2019 CCRx opened a warehouse in the West Englewood/Auburn-Gresham neighborhood through a partnership with another nonprofit Envision Unlimited. CCRx sees our warehouse as an economic and creative engine within the community - attracting artists, teachers, nonprofits from across the city, donor businesses, people who want to volunteer (individuals or groups), and people attracted to creative ideas. Our commitment to locating in this area was intentional and especially meaningful. CCRx is an artist-led organization, with a tremendous team of paid and volunteer staff. The arts, along with social justice & the environment are primary motivations in all programs/services offered. CCRx continues to work at the intersection of art and social justice, using the redistribution of materials and supplies, with creative reuse programming to support and inspire Chicago’s educators, to create bonds between people across geographies and economies.