Message on Chicago Stock Exchange during 2024 DNC

Activists from AFSC and the Chicago #StopShotSpotter Campaign project a large message on the side of Chicago Stock Exchange on the final night of the Democratic National Convention in 2024.  Eduardo Rodriguez / ERC Productions

The Chicago Peacebuilding program works to dismantle militarist practices that disproportionately affect Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities. We support the well-being of those who are targeted and criminalized by state violence and work for the abolition of the Prison Industrial Complex.

The Chicago Police Department (CPD) receives nearly $2 billion in annual funding, a disproportionate sum that starves local communities of life-affirming resources necessary for real community safety.

Chicago Peacebuilding responds by working alongside those directly impacted. We contribute to strategic coalition efforts to cut CPD's budget — with the goal of abolishing police completely.

Additionally, AFSC Chicago supports community needs and builds community alternatives. Using anti-colonialism as a framework, we make explicit the systemic interconnections between militarism abroad and its effects here in Chicago.

One key entry point for AFSC is the mental health care system in Chicago. We are working with the Treatment Not Trauma coalition to reopen 12 mental health clinics and establish a robust public mental health care system. The coalition aims to create a hotline to dispatch EMTs and social workers instead of armed police officers.

AFSC also works with the Final 5 Campaign to close the remaining five youth prisons in Illinois.

 
 

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