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Hispanic Heritage Month Community Partner Spotlight
Happy #HispanicHeritageMonth! To kick off the celebrations, we are proud to spotlight our community partner, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos (CTU).
CTU is a grassroots organization based on the Southeast Side of Chicago that builds collective power with immigrant and low-wage workers.
International Day of Peace Community Partner Spotlight
Happy #InternationalDayOfPeace! To celebrate this important cause, we are proud to spotlight one of our key community partners, Increase The Peace (ITP). ITP is a youth-led, grassroots organization based on Chicago's Southwest Side. ITP focuses on building youth leadership, preventing violence, and strengthening community power through organizing, civic engagement, and mentorship.
Decoding Housing Disputes: A Community Partner’s Perspective
While Illinois continues to introduce policies to better protect tenants, the housing crisis remains far from resolved. The lack of affordable, available housing still affects renters across the state in serious and lasting ways.
New Partnership Announcement: ACTA
At this critical moment for tenant rights and protections across Illinois, bringing on a new partnership is essential to strengthening Beyond's capacity, expanding our reach, and ensuring that tenants have the support they need to win lasting victories.
Board Member Spotlight: Josh Taylor
After six incredible years of service, we bid a heartfelt farewell to Josh Taylor, who is stepping down from our Board of Directors. Since joining the board in 2019, Josh has been a steadfast leader, thoughtful advisor, and passionate advocate for our mission.
Decoding Housing Disputes: An Attorney’s Perspective
After decades of housing policy disproportionately favoring landlords in Illinois, a long-overdue shift is beginning to emerge – one that places greater emphasis on the rights and protections of tenants. For those who haven’t yet explored the first installment of this series, we encourage you to read our in-depth analysis of the historical development of tenant rights in Illinois here. Understanding this context is essential to contextualizing much of the current momentum toward more equitable housing practices.
The Evolution of Tenant Rights in Illinois
Housing is more than just a roof over our heads – it's a basic human right. This principle is enshrined in international law, most notably in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, the UDHR affirms that everyone has the right to adequate housing, a place that supports dignity, health, and well-being.
Disability Independence Day Community Partner Spotlight
Happy #DisabilityIndependenceDay! To celebrate, we are putting the spotlight on our community partner, Jane Addams Senior Caucus (JASC). JASC is a power building 501c3 that supports the leadership of Chicago-area seniors and tenant families to transform their housing and communities.
Pride Month Community Partner Spotlight
This #PrideMonth, we’re proud to spotlight our community partner, OCAD Chicago. Organized Communities Against Deportations (OCAD) is an undocumented-led group that organizes against deportations, detention, criminalization, and incarceration of Black, brown, and immigrant communities in Chicago and beyond.
Inside the Asylum Process: A Community Partner’s Perspective
Asylum protections for Community Members (CMs) are vital now more than ever, especially in light of recent policy shifts and heightened anti-immigrant rhetoric from the current administration. If you missed the first two installments of our asylum series, check them out here. Learn about the historical context of asylum in the United States and gain insight into how immigration attorneys navigate these complex cases.
AANHPI Heritage Month Community Partner Spotlight
To close off May, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate our Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Community Members. May is AANHPI Heritage month and to celebrate, we are putting the spotlight on our Community Partner (CP) Vietnamese Association of Illinois (VAI).
Inside the Asylum Process: An Immigration Attorney’s Perspective
The US faces an unprecedented backlog—over 2 million asylum applications are pending, and this number is likely to climb with increased global violence and political unrest.
May Day Community Partner Spotlight
Happy #MayDay! To celebrate, we are putting the spotlight on our community partner, Arise Chicago. Arise is a worker power organization that organizes low-paid immigrant workers and their faith community allies to take power in workplaces and win public policy changes that uplift all workers.
Fair Housing Month Community Partner Spotlight
Today we are spotlighting one of our community partners, Autonomous Tenants Union (ATU), for #FairHousingMonth. ATU is a tenant-led volunteer collective based in Albany Park
Arab American Heritage Month Community Partner Spotlight
April is #ArabAmericanHeritageMonth, and to celebrate we wanted to spotlight Arab American Action Network (AAAN), one of Beyond’s community partners. AAAN is a nonprofit organization that strives to strengthen the Arab community in the Chicago area. AAAN does this by building community members’ capacity to be active agents for positive social change.
National Farm Workers Day Community Partner Spotlight
Today is National Farm Workers Day! This holiday commemorates labor activist and civil rights icon Cesar Chavez, whose fight to better the lives of the nation's farmworkers helped improve the inhumane working conditions of the vital, but often overlooked industry.
Women's History Month Community Partner Spotlight
In honor of Women’s History Month, we wanted to put the spotlight on another Community Partner, Revolution Workshop (RW)! RW is a nonprofit whose goal is to create pathways in the construction industry for Black and Brown Community Members.
Asylum 101
Seeking asylum is a human right - period. But now more than ever, it’s important to understand who can benefit from this and what the limitations are.
International Women's Day Community Partner Spotlight
To celebrate #InternationalWomensDay, we are spotlighting one of our Community Partners, Healing to Action (HTA). HTA is ending gender-based violence by building the leadership and collective power of the communities who are most impacted, transforming the narrative of survivors from vulnerable “victims” to powerful leaders in the movement to end gender-based violence.
Difficult by Design
Marlon is a Community Member who came to the U.S. in 2024. At the border, he was forcibly fastened with an ankle monitor. Beyond this humiliating act, the device was burdensome: it was buckled too tight, which caused him great amounts of pain and, ultimately, made it difficult to walk.