OUR MISSION

We are an independent political organization of Northwest Side Chicago residents who believe our community deserves politics that work for working people. We bring our neighbors together to build political power, strengthen our public institutions, and to fight for the common good and material improvements in people’s lives on the Northwest Side and across the city. We’re committed to advocating for everyone’s fair share of opportunity, dignity and economic stability.

OUR VALUES

We believe in the fundamental equality of all people and the necessity of working collectively toward systemic change and social justice. We respect and celebrate the full range of passions, capabilities, and experiences of our members. We strive to provide accessible, open, and dynamic platforms for our work that meet the diverse perspectives and needs of our community. We share a commitment and responsibility to the ongoing work necessary to build and sustain an antiracist organization centered on equity and inclusion. In the broadest sense, our principles are democratic, our processes are inclusive, our policies are redistributive, and our politics are populist.

OUR SCHOOLS

Strong public schools are the building blocks of strong communities and strong democracies. Public pre-K-12 schools deserve full and fair funding distributed according to evidence-based formulas that promote equity, and should be governed by an elected and representative school board that is accountable to the public. We oppose school privatization and will work to advance access to high-quality and sustainable public schools with class sizes that promote both student well-being and learning, that promote restorative justice over policing, and which provide a free and appropriate education to students with disabilities. A robust system of higher education, jobs training, and trade schools should be tuition-free to all.

OUR HEALTH

Healthcare and healthy environments should be a human right. We oppose environmental racism that has allowed polluters to degrade the air and water in our communities without repercussions. We will fight for a citywide approach to industrial development and remediation that prioritizes people over profits. We support policies that improve the quality of life for our neighbors of every age, including the establishment of a single payer healthcare system, increasing available mental health resources, the protection of reproductive autonomy, increased access to health options for people with disabilities, and efforts to realize a Chicago Bike Grid.

OUR HOMES

Housing should be a human right. Policy must be aimed toward securing the long-term stability and affordability of our homes and our communities, and housing those of us without a home. To these ends, we support the construction of new affordable and accessible housing, the empowerment of tenant unions, and the enactment of rent control, property tax reform, and the effort to Bring Chicago Home. We oppose housing discrimination and believe that, especially in times of crisis, measures to provide rent and mortgage relief, as well as eviction and foreclosure prevention, are essential. Together, these policies give us a shot at securing stable neighborhoods where we can grow up and grow old together.

OUR LABOR

Democratize the economy, particularly the workplace. We recognize the importance of labor unions as the historic backbone of stable communities and are alarmed by the current corporate efforts to degrade our labor and power. We join the ongoing fight for safe working conditions, living wages, and equal pay for equal work. We support efforts to defend and expand hard-won gains related to the minimum and prevailing wage, paid sick days and family leave, public pensions, a fair workweek and fair scheduling. We must protect workers’ right to organize a union and strengthen rules that sustain good jobs and strong communities.

OUR GOVERNMENT

We demand accountability, honesty, and transparency from our elected officials, including rejecting corporate political contributions and bringing the people most impacted by policies to the forefront of the decision-making process. Corporate control over our political system has led to disinvestment, austerity, and privatization: our schools are underfunded and the public safety net is in tatters. Let’s renew and rebuild the public sector through progressive revenue and ending corporate subsidies and loopholes. Reforming programs and systems that lack transparency, such as tax-increment financing (TIF), police oversight, and school governance, are essential.

OUR SAFETY

To break the cycles of violence and imprisonment that harm our neighbors and threaten our social peace, we support fully funded social service programs, including mental health crisis management, jobs programs, and reintegration programs for formerly incarcerated people. We support the defund movement and efforts to reallocate funds to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, including Treatment Not Trauma and efforts to Stop ShotSpotter. We believe that law enforcement personnel do not belong in schools. We support the Referendum for Community Power Over Policing to bring the Chicago Police Department under democratic control, and to ensure that no one is above the law. We will work to ensure that Chicago is a true sanctuary city providing opportunities and safety for our immigrant and undocumented neighbors.