Center on Halsted

Following the advice of noted Chicago architect Daniel Burnham, Center on Halsted organizers early on decided they would “make no small plans.” The Center’s vision reflects this philosophy:

A Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender journey… celebrating, affirming and discovering possibilities.

To achieve this vision and create a place where people can come together to play, learn, and talk to one another, the Center’s mission is as follows:

In a safe and nurturing environment, the Center on Halsted serves as a catalyst for the LGBT community that links and provides community resources, and enriches life experiences.

These guiding messages inspire every step of the way as Center on Halsted becomes a reality. The Center will be an anchor for all facets of the LGBT community to congregate freely in a safe, understanding and nurturing environment – with support networks and programs that meet the cultural, emotional, social, educational and recreational needs of LGBT persons, whether youth, adults, seniors or families.

Above all, the Center will act as a bridge between persons and between communities, enabling new possibilities.

The Center on Halsted will also house a number of organizations serving Chicago’s LGBT community. More than 40 have expressed their interest in participating with the center. Chicago has long been the center of the LGBT community for the greater Midwest. While the city has a wide array of LGBT organizations that provide many health, social services, recreational, cultural and advocacy programs and services, there is no one place where these organizations can easily come together to collaborate, extend their reach, or share resources. The Center on Halsted will celebrate and solidify this role. This multipurpose facility will provide organizational support and meeting space for LGBT groups, cultural and recreational programming and counseling services. At the heart and soul of the Center are programs that will be offered by a community of nonprofit organizations. Literally tens of thousands will be served each year through the organizations that become partners in this bold new project. The Center will also strengthen the community by serving as a link among diverse organizations that otherwise might not interact.

Contact:

http://www.centeronhalsted.org/home.cfm

Center on Halsted
3656 N Halsted
Chicago, IL 60613
Phone: 773.472.6469
Fax: 773.472.6643
TTY: 773.472.1277
Email: mail@centeronhalsted.org

Common Cause

Common Cause is a nonpartisan nonprofit advocacy organization founded in 1970 by John Gardner as a vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.

Now with nearly 300,000 members and supporters and 36 state organizations, Common Cause remains committed to honest, open and accountable government, as well as encouraging citizen participation in democracy.

Website: http://www.commoncause.org

70 East Lake Suite 1700
Chicago, IL 60601
phone – (312) 372-3860
fax – (312) 372-3861

grassroots@commoncause.org

Critical Resistance

Critical Resistance seeks to build an international movement
to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief
that caging and controlling people makes us safe. We believe that
basic necessities such as food, shelter, and freedom are what
really make our communities secure. As such, our work is part of
global struggles against inequality and powerlessness. The success
of the movement requires that it reflect communities most affected
by the PIC. Because we seek to abolish the PIC, we cannot support
any work that extends its life or scope.

Critical Resistance’s vision is the creation of genuinely safe, healthy
communities that respond to harm without relying on prisons and punishment.
We call our vision “abolition”, and take the name purposefully from those
who called for the abolition of slavery in the 1800’s. Abolitionists
believed that slavery could not be fixed or reformed – it needed to be
abolished. As PIC abolitionists today, we also do not believe that reforms
can make the PIC just or effective. Our goal is not to improve the system;
it is to shrink the system into non-existence.
We don’t believe that we need the PIC to keep us safe. Instead, we work to
build safe and healthy communities, where the basics are provided, such as
food, shelter, and self-determination. We also work to create and promote
alternatives to the current system.
Critical Resistance (CR) is building a member-led and member-run grassroots
movement to stop using punishment to “cure” complicated social problems. We
know that more police and prisons will not make our communities safer.
Instead, we know that things like food, housing, and freedom are what
creates lasting safety. We work to prevent people from being arrested or
locked up in prison. In all our work, we organize to build power and to
stop the devastation that the reliance on prisons and policing have brought
to ourselves, our families, and our communities. Website: http://www.criticalresistance.orgCritical Resistance Chicago
Phone: 212.462.4382
email:crchicago@criticalresistance.org
CR-Chi meets every other Monday at 7 p.m. at
CLAIM’s offices
70 E. Lake
St. Suite 1120
Phone: (312) 281-1463
Cell: 1-773-443-4077
Email: Yusufu@criticalresistance.org
Yusufu L. Mosley, Project Coordinator

Acorn Institute

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation’s largest community organization of low and moderate income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities. Since 1970, ACORN has grown to more than 220,000 member families, organized in 850 neighborhood chapters in over 100 cities across the U.S. and in cities in Canada, the Dominican Republic and Peru

ACORN’s accomplishments include successful campaigns for better housing, schools, neighborhood safety, health care, job conditions, and more. ACORN members participate in local meetings and actively work on campaigns, elect leadership from the neighborhood level up, and pay the organization’s core expenses through membership dues and grassroots fundraisers.

ACORN has constantly challenged the traditional notions of what a community organization is, and its family of organizations includes two radio stations, a voter registration network, a housing corporation, and several publications.

Chicago ACORN, honored as Chicago Community Organization of the Year in 2003, is on the move! You’ll see red t-shirts in core Chicago communities of Englewood, West Englewood, North Lawndale, and Little Village, in the South Suburbs, in demonstrations on city-wide issues, at city council and school board meetings, and in Springfield when the legislature is in session.

Website: address: www.acorn.org

Contact: Chicago ACORN

209 W. Jackson Blvd. 2nd fl, Chicago, IL 60606

Phone: 312-939-7488 Fax: 312-939-6877

Email: ilacorn@acorn.org

Play for Peace

Play for Peace

At Play for Peace, we teach people to be leaders for peace and how to live and play together in creating more peaceful communities. Play for Peace is a global organization, now in its 10th year, which brings together children, youth and organizations from communities in conflict. As part of our community development initiatives, we use play to promote relationships among people whose communities suffer from a history of cross-cultural tensions. Play is one of the primary ways that human beings learn.

In this non-threatening environment, children have the opportunity to play with peers from other cultures and communities consistently, over time. Play for Peace is all about change—changing the way people relate to each other.

OUR OBJECTIVES:
- To promote positive relationships among the people of societies in conflict.
-To foster leaders for peace around the world.
-To build self-sustaining learning communities in which all of our regions work interdependently to build a more peaceful world.
-To create a non-threatening environment, free from fear, in which people of all ages can experience the joy of play.

Website: http://www.playforpeace.org

Contact Information:
1 E. Superior St.
Suite 304,
Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA

Phone: 773-275-0077, Fax: 773-275-3385
Email address: info@playforpeace.org

The Declaration of Peace

The Declaration of Peace

The Declaration of Peace is a grassroots nonviolent action campaign calling on the US government to establish a comprehensive plan to end the US war and occupation in Iraq. It is working to stop US military escalation in Iraq, to defund the war, to bring the troops home safely, and to support a comprehensive peace process.

Last September 21-28, thousands of people and over 500 endorsing organizations participated in 375 Declaration of Peace event in cities and towns across the United State. These public actions for peace were the culmination of a four-month initiative to call on members of Congress to publicly commit to co-sign legislation to bring the US troops home safely and to support a plan for a just and lasting peace. One of the objectives of this campaign was to contribute to making the fall mid-term Congressional elections a referendum on the war.

Website: http://declarationofpeace.org

Email address: info@declarationofpeace.org
Phone: 773-777-7858

The Peace Alliance

The Peace Alliance

Participate in an historic citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace. There is currently a bill before the U.S. House of Representatives (HR 808). This landmark measure will augment our current problem-solving options, providing practical, nonviolent solutions to the problems of domestic and international conflict.

Domestically, the Department of Peace will develop policies and allocate resources to effectively reduce the levels of domestic and gang violence, child abuse, and various other forms of societal discord. Internationally, the Department will advise the President and Congress on the most sophisticated ideas and techniques regarding peace-creation among nations. Join us now. Create a Department of Peace.

Website: http://www.thepeacealliance.org

Contact Information for Illinois Committee Members:

Jeannette Kravitz jkravitz@peacejourney.com
Phone: 312.573.1113 extension 33

Scott Roos slrooster@aol.com

Chicago Area Peace Corps Association

The Chicago Area Peace Corps Association (CAPCA)

The Chicago Area Peace Corps Association (CAPCA) brings together more than 400 returned Peace Corps Volunteers who live and work in the Chicago area. Organized in 1979 and incorporated in 1991 as a non-profit organization, CAPCA is affiliated with the Washington, D.C. based National Peace Corps Association.

Mission
CAPCA ’s primary objective is to fulfill, in the Chicago area, the mission of the National Peace Corps Association: Continue to work for world peace, understanding, and well-being, with an emphasis on bringing the world back home. The group works for this objective by funding Peace Corps Partnership projects, supporting youth programs that offer leadership and cross-cultural experiences, and providing speakers to organizations interested in the Peace Corps and international development. In addition, CAPCA coordinates a variety of volunteer projects that benefit local community service agencies.

Website: http://www.capca.org

Contact Information:

CAPCA
P.O. Box 1149
Chicago, IL 60690
Email address: cjanes1999@kellogg.northwestern.edu

Illinois Migrant Council

The Illinois Migrant Council or “IMC” is a community-based non-profit organization with the primary mission of promoting employment, educational and other opportunities for migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) and their families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and stability. IMC’s central focus is the well-being of the farmworker family. Since 1966, IMC has assisted farmworker families in meeting their needs and attaining their goals in their efforts to make the transition to a new community, home and job — whether they are working seasonally in agriculture or are settling out of the migrant stream in Illinois.

IMC implements its programs and services within the parameters of its federal and state funding resources. IMC field sites or Regional locations offer a range of services with workforce development as the nucleus. IMC is a partner in the Illinois workforce development system under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). The Illinois Migrant Council has identified key areas in the State of Illinois with concentrations of migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFW) who are low income and in need of employment and training services offered by IMC under the Workforce Investment Act National Farmworker Jobs Program. Farmworkers in Balance of State areas (i.e., outside the key areas) are also served based on need.

IMC Locations:

Northern Region
c/o IETC / One Stop Center
62 N. Ayer Street, Suite D
Harvard, Illinois 60033
Tel 815 943-6851
500 Russel Court
Woodstock, Illinois 60098

North Central Region
2000 N.E. Perry Street
Peoria, Illinois 61603
Tel 309 674-1752

Central Region
Champaign One Stop Career Center
1307 North Mattis Avenue
Champaign, Illinois
Messages may be left at: Tel 217 722-3191

Community Service Center
520 E. Wabash Avenue
Rantoul, Illinois 61866
Messages may be left at: Tel 217 721-3806

Additional site in development:
Kankakee One Stop Career Center
255 N. Schuyler Avenue
Kankakee, Illinois 60901
Messages may be left at: Tel 217 721-3806

Delta Southern /Southwest Region

Cobden Technology Learning Center
111 S. Appleknocker Street
Cobden, Illinois 62920
Tel 618 893-1922
email: tlc@illinoismigrant.org

Web Address: http://www.illinoismigrant.org

Call to Action

Call to Action (CTA) is a Catholic movement working for equality and justice in the Church and society. An independent national organization of over 25,000 people and 53 local chapters, CTA believes that the Spirit of God is at work in the whole church, not just in its appointed leaders. The entire Catholic Church has the obligation of responding to the needs of the world and taking initiative in programs of peace and justice. CTA acts as a nexus where the full panoply of Church renewal issues come into focus, intersecting and interacting to produce a vision of the Catholic Church as it can and should be. CTA promotes its vision of a progressive, engaged Catholicism through its acclaimed annual conferences, award-winning publications, extensive network of regional groups and joint programs with other Catholic renewal organizations.

CTA draws its mission from the US Bishops’ 1976 Call To Action conference, and the “Call for Reform in the Catholic Church” proclaimed by more than 20,000 signers (New York Times, Ash Wednesday, 1990) articulates its goals for our Church. (Click here for Church reform highlights.)

Website: http://www.cta-usa.org/index.html

 

Contact: Call to Action

2135 W. Roscoe 1N

Chicago, IL 60618

 

Phone:773-404-0004

Fax: 773-404-1610

Email: cta@cta-usa.org