Our story:
Incorporated in 1998, ALSO was created to coordinate services for youth and families in the Logan Square community on Chicago’s Northwest Side. Becoming aware of the devastating impact of community violence on those families ALSO began to take action by implementing prevention programs to end street violence.
However, violence is pervasive and spans beyond the streets. In 2007, ALSO expanded its violence prevention and intervention efforts to include intimate partner violence. By working to end violence more broadly, ALSO began to see connections between violence on the streets and violence in the home.
Today, ALSO works both locally and nationally to end violence. By expanding its reach, ALSO informs its national work from a local perspective and brings knowledge and best practices from around the country to our neighborhoods in Chicago.
Core Conviction
The elimination of violence is a collective responsibility — no one is free from the threat or act of violence until we are all free from the threat or act of violence.
Our Culture
Everyone who is part of the ALSO culture — from our staff to our partners to the individuals and communities which we serve — operates on the basis of a uniquely lived experience and that people are the experts in their own lives. Our collaborative alliance celebrates these differences, utilizing each unique background and expertise to create a cross-programmatic knowledge base with deep layers of meaning.
Our Values
Our values are reflected in our internal culture, which is informed by our commitment to the communities we serve.
Remaining Responsive
It’s vital that we create tailored, community-based initiatives in response to existing needs. Encouraging input and feedback, our work is able to pivot to the changing needs of individuals and communities that experience violence.
Meet People Where They Are
We will always operate with the highest sensitivity to and respect for lived experiences. Striving to meet people where they are, we place deep and intentional emphasis on survivor-centered, trauma-informed, and community strengths-based thinking to fully meet healing and safety needs.
Building Trust and Positive Relationships
Our work is enabled by building trust and positive relationships between staff, clients, and communities on a local and national scale. More than just building these bridges between our agency and our partners, we recognize the importance of enabling positive interrelationships and communication to thrive within the communities that we serve.
Learning As a Continuous Process
We understand that learning is not a finite process, and we actively seek opportunities to address knowledge gaps within the agency and within our external communities, to broaden our perspective and the perspectives of those around us, and to navigate our work with best practices and a holistically informed approach.
The Alliance of Local Service Organizations does not discriminate in its services, hiring or employment with regard to race, ethnicity, creed, religion, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, military service, marital status, order of protection status, handicap, disability including HIV/AIDS status, or any other factor determined to be unlawful by federal, state, or local statutes.
Employees, volunteers, or individuals receiving services from ALSO who believe that they have encountered discrimination may file a complaint with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), the Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR), the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) (for employees), and the U.S. Department of Justice Office for Civil Rights (OCR). ICJIA complaint forms can be found at ICJIA's website or by contacting the ICJIA’s Civil Rights Officer at 312-793-8550. Complaints filed with ICJIA may be filed via the web (http://www.icjia.state.il.us/