In response to the white-supremacist rallies in Charlottesville and elsewhere, Windy City Times has received requests from readers about where they can support grassroots anti-racist and pro-immigrant Chicago-area groups. There are of course many larger LGBTQ groups that do this work, as well as many in the mainstream. We focus here on a few of the much smaller groups with very few or even no staff. If you want to add your group to the online version of this, please email to editor@windycitymediagroup.com .
Affinity Community Services
Website: affinity95.org .
Description: Affinity is a social justice organization that advocates for and provides resources and community for Black LGBTQ women and other LGBTQ communities of color. Affinity has been in existence for over 22 years and primarily serves the South Side of Chicago.
Donate: affinity95.org/acscontent/get-involved/donate/ .
ALMA: Association of Latinos/as Motivating Action
www.almachicago.org .
ALMA fights for the rights of the Latino lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning community by advocating for fairness and equality, and affirming Latino/a/x LGBTQ culture.
Donate: www.almachicago.org/donate.php .
Assata's Daughters
assatasdaughters.org .
Assata's Daughters is a Chicago-based radical organizing collective of Black women and girls.
Donate: assatasdaughters.org/supportus .
Black and Pink: Chicago
Blackandpink.org, facebook.com/chicagoblackandpink .
Black and Pink: Chicago is an open family of GLBTQ prisoners and "free world" allies who support each other: "Our work toward the abolition of the prison industrial complex is rooted in the experience of currently and formerly incarcerated people. We are outraged by the specific violence of the prison industrial complex against GLBTQ people, and respond through advocacy, education, direct service, and organizing."
Donate: secure.actblue.com/contribute/page/blackandpink .
Black Lives Matter, Chicago
www.blacklivesmatterchicago.com .
The group states: "Black Lives Matter Chicago is an intersectional vehicle that values Black people and our right to self-determination. We fight for justice with families most impacted, while working to create just and equitable systems. We work to end state violence and criminalization of Black communities by deconstructing white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchy."
Donate: www.blacklivesmatterchicago.com/donate-.html .
Brave Space Alliance
bravespacealliance.org/ .
Brave Space Alliance is a grassroots-funded initiative created by trans people of color for trans people of color to generate opportunities their ourselves, their families and their comrades to engage in healing, community building and the creating of kinship. They strive to educate and empower each other through sharing skills, knowledge and resources as they build toward the liberation of all oppressed people. BSA is a vehicle to organize trans people of color to fill the void of representation of POC voices included in making key decisions that impact the trans community at large. They state: "By focusing our efforts on creating space and building capacity in three key areas, we aim to create opportunities for our communities to thrive unapologetically in their truths: Health and Wellness; Leadership Development; Visibility._
Donate: PayPal.Me/BraveSpaceAlliance or email for paypal is bravespacealliance@gmail.com .
BYP100 Chicago Chapter
www.byp100.org .
BYP100 Chicago is the local chapter of a national organization of young Black activists committed to building a Black freedom movement in our lifetime: "We are abolitionists organizing for Black liberation through racial, LGBTQ, economic justice efforts in Chicago and nationwide."
Donate: www.byp100.org/donate .
Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus
chiblackgaycaucus.org/ .
Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus is a grassroots organization led by Black gay, bisexual, and same-gender-loving men that works to ensure healthcare engagement, eliminate new HIV infections, and achieve undetectability among the men in the community.
Donate: http://chiblackgaycaucus.org/donate/
Chicago Freedom School
www.chicagofreedomschool.org .
Chicago Freedom School works with young people of color and allied adults to build capacity for social justice leadership and action. CFS engages people in studying social movement history, analyzing current issues through the lens of racial justice, and building skills for youth-led and intergenerational action to address oppression.
Donate: www.chicagofreedomschool.org/getinvolved .
Let Us Breathe Collective
www.letusbreathecollective.com .
In the wake of a militarized police response to the public outcry over the death of unarmed Black teenager Michael Brown, the #LetUsBreathe Collective formed as a fundraising initiative to bring supplies to Ferguson protesters. The #LetUsBreathe Collective works in collaboration with the Black Youth Project ( BYP100 ), Black Lives Matter, HandsUp United and Chicago Artists Against Injustice. The group serves as an incubator for innovative activism.
Masjid al-Rabia
masjidalrabia.org .
A new organization in Chicago providing spiritual care for marginalized Muslims. Women-centered, anti-racist, LGBTQIA+ affirming, pluralist and accessible.
Donate: masjidalrabia.org/donate .
Organized Communities Against Deportation
organizedcommunities.org/ .
OCAD organizes against unfair and inhumane immigration enforcement practices that impact immigrant communities. They fight case by case, person by person, at the same time that they work to change the implementation and enforcement practices that criminalize the community. OCAD emerged from the work by the Immigrant Youth Justice League.
Donate: www.crowdrise.com/deportationdefensebyocad/fundraiser/ocad .
Pride Action Tank
prideactiontank.org/ .
Pride Action Tank is a results-driven group that addresses challenges facing individuals and groups within LGBTQIA communities through a collaborative process of inquiry, advocacy and action. The work of Pride Action Tank focuses on six overlapping issue areas: housing, health, safety, financial security, youth and aging.
Donate: prideactiontank.org/donate/ .
R3 Coalition Chicago
resistreimaginerebuild.wordpress.com/ .
The R3 ( Resist. Reimagine. Rebuild ) Coalition, formed in November of 2016, includes 32 Chicago-area grassroots, anti-racist, labor and immigration rights organizations. They came together to forge a shared agenda to fight for social justice in Chicago.
TRUST Collective-Chicago
chi.trustcollective@gmail.com .
Founded in July 2016 "post-Orlando," TRUST Collective-Chicago consists of Latinx, LGBTQ, and Muslim individuals and organizations who have gathered to foster and support relationships across the Chicago area toward building a unified front and reducing targeted violence and discrimination. Storytelling event Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m., CAIR-Chicago, 17 N. State, 15th Floor, Chicago, free and open to the public. Join TRUST Collective-Chicago and CAIR-Chicago for an evening of community storytelling and fellowship. Food and beverages will be served. The Chicago Commission on Human Relations was part of the founding of TRUST, and CHR is hosting a Hate Crime Summit Oct. 25, 8 a.m.-3 p.m. University of Illinois at Chicago, 750 S. Halsted, Chicago, free and open to the public. The Hate Crime Summit is an opportunity to raise awareness regarding hate crimes, address the barriers to reporting hate crimes, and provide opportunities for networking, collaboration, and study. Audiences we seek to serve include educators, law enforcement, general community, researchers, and service providers. In Chicago, a coalition of community advocates, government agencies, and law enforcement officials are working to ease the burden on victims by closing loopholes and creating a highly collaborative response to hate crimes. For details on the Hate Crime Summit, go to: www.cityofchicago.org/humanrelations .
Ujimaa Medics
umedics.org/ .
They state: "We are Black community organizers, activists, pastors, healthcare professionals, mothers, brothers, sisters, fathers, cousins, and friends of African Descent in Chicago. We could no longer stand being completely helpless, terrified and devastated as we attended funeral after funeral. We work hard with few resources and for little or no money to because we love our communities. We get up and active because we know we can't depend on hospitals that refuse to open trauma centers, or medical centers with slow emergency response times. We are the ones we've been waiting for and we're much more wise and powerful than we often think we are."
Donate: www.paypal.me/umedics .
YEPP: Youth Empowerment Performance Project
www.wesayyepp.com .
The mission of YEPP is to create a safe environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth experiencing homelessness to explore their history, investigate new ways to address their struggles and to celebrate their strengths through the process of developing a theatrical performance piece.
Donate: www.wesayyepp.com/ .
