If you live on Chicago’s North Side, you already know the gap. Between what your neighborhood needs and what too many systems actually deliver. Safe, affordable housing. Schools that work for every kid. Real public safety that does not leave some communities more exposed than others. A democracy where working people have as much say as anyone else.
These are not abstract policy debates. They are the daily reality of thousands of people across Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, Ravenswood, North Center, Lake View, and Lincoln Park.
ONE Northside was built to close that gap. And they have been doing it longer than their name suggests.
Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside, known as ONE Northside, is a community organization formed through the merger of two Chicago institutions: the Lakeview Action Coalition and the Organization of the Northeast. Together, those two organizations carry nearly 60 years of community organizing history. ONE Northside officially launched on July 1, 2013.
Today, they organize people from more than 100 member institutions, as well as individual community residents, across seven North Side neighborhoods. They describe themselves as a mixed-income, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization, and that is not just language. It shapes how they build campaigns, develop leaders, and make decisions.
Their mission: to build collective power to eliminate injustice through bold and innovative community organizing by developing grassroots leaders and acting together to create change.
Their vision: a diverse, united North Side of Chicago acting powerfully for racial, social, and economic justice, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.
ONE Northside is values-driven in a specific way. Their organizing is built on four core beliefs that shape how they work and who they bring to the table.
Diversity: Communities are stronger when racial, ethnic, religious, economic, gender, sexual, and age diversity is not just represented but also organized. Diversity without power is decoration. ONE Northside works to turn it into something that can win.
Justice: There is no equality without justice. Justice means fair treatment and access regardless of race, gender identity, economic status, age, or sexual identity. That belief runs through every campaign they run.
Leadership Development: Leaders are made, not born. ONE Northside invests heavily in developing the skills of everyday residents because building power starts with building people.
People Power: Power is the ability to act. Organizing is how communities build that ability together. Everything ONE Northside does comes back to this.
ONE Northside organizes around five priority issue areas, all of which are rooted in what its members say they need most.
Housing Justice: Fighting for safe, affordable housing and working to protect the economic and cultural diversity of the North Side as gentrification continues to reshape Chicago’s neighborhoods.
Building Safe Communities: A vision of community safety that includes freedom from violence of all kinds, including gun violence, and community-driven approaches to public safety that go beyond traditional policing.
Environmental Justice: Pushing for healthy, sustainable homes, schools, and communities. Putting people and the planet before corporate interests.
Budgets and Revenue: Challenging billionaire and corporate influence over public budgets and fighting for a government that prioritizes people over profit. ONE Northside believes budgets are a moral document, and they organize accordingly.
Immigration Justice and Rapid Response: Standing with immigrant neighbors and organizing to protect vulnerable community members, especially in moments of crisis. Their Rapid Response network is available for urgent situations and mobilizes members quickly when communities need support.
Beyond issue campaigns, ONE Northside runs two community-based programs that put their values into direct action.
Parent Mentors
ONE Northside’s Parent Mentor program is anchored in eight North Side public schools. The program trains a cohort of leaders, mostly women of color, to build powerful families, schools, students, and communities from the inside out. It is education justice work, one classroom at a time.
Violence Prevention
ONE Northside runs a comprehensive community-based violence intervention program that includes street outreach, case management, and victim services across North Side neighborhoods. This is not a hotline. It is people on the ground in the community who do the daily work of keeping neighbors safe.
Donate
Donations to ONE Northside fund the organizing, the programs, and the people doing this work every day. Every contribution helps sustain the long-term effort of building power in Chicago’s North Side communities.
Donate here: https://onenorthside.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/contribute/transact?id=6&reset=1
Become a Member
Membership is one of the most direct ways to support ONE Northside’s work. Members are the backbone of the organization and the people who shape its campaigns and direction. Learn more at: https://www.onenorthside.org/membership/
Volunteer
ONE Northside’s member institutions have active volunteer needs. Epiphany UCC hosts a weekly Welcome Meal every Wednesday, feeding around 40 neighbors a three-course dinner and welcoming volunteers to serve, prep, clean up, and connect. Musicians are especially welcome. Contact Pastor Larissa at pa***********@**********cc.org to get involved.
Join the Rapid Response Network
If you want to be ready to act when a neighbor needs support, ONE Northside’s Rapid Response network mobilizes members to respond to urgent situations across the North Side. Learn more at: https://www.onenorthside.org/rapidresponse/
Attend an Event
ONE Northside hosts regular events, actions, and community gatherings. Check their calendar at: https://www.onenorthside.org/events
There is a version of community organizing that looks like one charismatic leader with a microphone. That is not what ONE Northside does.
What they do is slower, less visible, and more durable. They build relationships between neighbors who might never have met. They train people who never thought of themselves as leaders. They connect individual frustrations to collective action and individual action to real change.
Sixty years of combined history did not produce an institution. It produced a method. And that method is still running, still organizing, and still showing up for the North Side of Chicago every single day.
Learn more at: https://www.onenorthside.org/