National Immigrant Justice Center

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“Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) is dedicated to ensuring human rights protections and access to justice for all immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

With offices in Chicago, Indiana, and Washington, D.C., NIJC provides direct legal services to and advocates for these populations through policy reform, impact litigation, and public education. Since its founding three decades ago, NIJC has been unique in blending individual client advocacy with broad-based systemic change.

Partnering with the legal community

Thanks to the support of hundreds of pro bono attorneys from the nation’s leading law firms, NIJC has made critical advances in the lives of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers. NIJC provides legal services to more than 10,000 individuals each year and maintains a success rate of 90 percent in obtaining asylum for those fleeing persecution in their home countries. NIJC and its pro bono attorneys have been on the vanguard of federal impact litigation and advocacy, setting positive precedents for those seeking human rights protections within our borders.”
— https://www.immigrantjustice.org/about-heartland-alliances-national-immigrant-justice-center

CeaseFire Illinois

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“CeaseFire Illinois is the Illinois branch of the Cure Violence Organization, which operates in 6 cities throughout the state – Chicago, Maywood, Rockford, East St. Louis, Springfield, and North Chicago/Waukegan.

CeaseFire began in 1995, and after five years of strategy development, had its first program in the West Garfield Park neighborhood where it achieved a 67% drop in shootings and killings. Following four more replications of the new model – averaging a 42% drop in shootings and killings – the work was expanded to 15 communities and in 2004, Chicago had a 25% drop in killings, with a 50% drop in the CeaseFire zones. Since then CeaseFire has been active in 18 communities in Chicago and 7 communities in Illinois. The method has had an extensive multi-year multi-method evaluation supported by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
— http://cureviolence.org/partners/illinois-partners/

Rape Victim Advocates

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“Mission
Rape Victim Advocates (RVA) is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the healing and empowerment of sexual assault survivors through non-judgmental crisis intervention counseling, individual and group counseling, and medical and legal advocacy in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. RVA provides public education and institutional advocacy in order to improve the treatment of sexual assault survivors and to effect positive change in policies and public attitudes toward sexual assault.

Vision
RVA envisions a world where prevention efforts and global awareness of sexual violence expose rape myths, remove stigmas, eliminate rape and support all people as equal members of society.”
— http://www.rapevictimadvocates.org/about-us/

Sierra Club of Illinois

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“Our Priorities

Our number one goal is to ensure a healthy environment for people, plants, and animals.

From the shores of Lake Michigan to the forests of the Shawnee, Illinois is a state rich in natural beauty. It’s our job to protect these places. Sierra Club Illinois’s priorities reflect the diversity of our state’s natural resources and our commitment to the health of our communities. Here you can find information about our campaigns on conservation, energy issues, clean water, and transportation.”
— https://illinois.sierraclub.org/priorities