Alternatives

05/29/2026

📅 SAVE THE DATE: Alternatives' next Cocktails & Complicity is July 9, 2026.

Join us for part 3 of our 4-part series on Community Care to discuss rights in the workplace with Yadira Montoya from and Lauren Wright from .

Eventbrite link coming soon.

05/15/2026

HUGE NEWS and a BIG WIN for our communities: On Wednesday, May 13, the Mayor announced citywide rollout of the CARE Program, a non-police mental health crisis response team. CARE clinicians are trained behavioral health professionals who provide de-escalation, brief counseling, and transportation to crisis stabilization centers and behavioral health emergency rooms if needed. With this program, *the city no longer has to rely exclusively on police intervention for mental health crises* (we told you this was huge news).

Alternatives has been working closely with the Collaborative for Community Wellness (CCW) on the rollout and expansion of this program. Chicago is the first major city in the US to make its non-police crisis response citywide, and we're excited to see this change for our city. 👏🏿 👏🏽 👏🏼

CARE models so much of what Alternatives stands for: holistic, trauma-informed care; a non-punitive approach; and accessible services. We're proud of the work we've done with CCW to advocate for this program, and for this historic achievement.

For more information and to read the Mayor's press release, visit https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2026/may/citywide-CARE-expansion.html.

05/14/2026

Youth voices are at the center of Alternatives' work, and are a valuable part of our communities. Young people deserve the best resources we can offer them, including equitable funding for schools.

On March 26, young people in our Youth Leadership Development programs joined 120 advocates down in Springfield for the Funding Illinois' Future Coalition K-12 Advocacy Day. They spoke with state senators about teacher shortages in their schools, leading to classrooms where grade levels are combined and getting the support students need from teachers is challenging. They also shared that if funding continued to increase at the current rate, they would be 25 years old and would never have attended an adequately funded K-12 public school. The campaign coalition demands that legislators increase school funding by $550 million this year to help close funding gaps.

We're proud of the young people we work with every day, but we're especially proud when they feel confident enough to stand up for themselves and their communities through advocacy and civic engagement.

05/08/2026

At last night's Cocktails & Complicity, guests could pick up a free book (or two) to build their knowledge on community, resistance, and freedom. What would you have chosen? The options were:

- We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, by Mariame Kaba
- Let This Radicalize You, by Kelly Hayes & Mariame Kaba
- The Impossible Will Take a Little While: A Citizen's Guide to Hope in a Time of Fear, edited by Paul Rogat Loeb
- Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds, by Adrienne Maree Brown (FYI, Tanya Lozano highly recommends this one!)

Catch us at the next Cocktails & Complicity later this summer. Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date on all our events.

05/08/2026

Another Cocktails & Complicity in the books! Thanks to Amanda Hwu and Tanya Lozano ( ) for making this an incredible evening full of quotable quotes and love. Catch us at our next event!

04/27/2026

joins Amanda Hwu for Cocktails & Complicity on May 7. Have a seat and chat with us about what it takes to build a village. Link in bio or find us on Eventbrite.

04/24/2026

Alternatives is seeking intern applicants for our SEEIT program. Visit our website at alternativesyouth.org/internships to learn more and apply today.

04/20/2026

Tickets now available for Cocktails & Complicity on May 7, featuring Amanda Hwu from Illinois Community Power Fund. Link in bio.

04/16/2026

Episode 35 of Alternatives' Broken Office Chair podcast brings you into our March Cocktails and Complicity discussion on creating a community of care. True community requires a commitment to showing up for one another in ways that are both consistent and equitable.

Catch the honest insights from our guest speakers on how to foster these vital connections in your own life.

Stream the full episode:

Welcome to Broken Office Chair, a podcast produced by Alternatives and hosted by Alternatives’ Executive Director, Bessie Alcantara, a Chicago native and a first-generation Salvadoran-Mexican American passionate about dismantling systemic racism.

04/13/2026

We're back! Mark your calendar for the next Cocktails & Complicity on May 7, 2026. Eventbrite link coming soon.