LIVE FREE ILLINOIS MOBILIZES BLACK CHURCHES TO IMPROVE PUBLIC SAFETY AND TRANSFORM AMERICA’S BROKEN CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.

Our vision

An Urgent Crisis: In Chicago and Illinois, two core issues have an outsized impact on Black communities: public safety and criminal justice. For decades, Chicago has led the nation in shootings, disproportionately impacting Black neighborhoods on the South and West Sides. Too often, the response from our local and state governments is insufficient and downright harmful. Despite the fact that Black residents make up just 15% of Illinois’ population, half of the state’s incarcerated population is Black. There’s a reason why our elected leaders continue to create so much harm: Too often, they design policies without listening to the communities most impacted by them.

What we do: Live Free Illinois is a state chapter of Live Free USA that works to end this moral crisis by mobilizing Black churches — the most powerful organizing institution within our communities — to improve public safety and transform our criminal justice system.

Our Theory of Change: As a faith-based organizing force, Live Free Illinois seeks to grow the chorus of voices advocating for policies that transform Black communities, save lives, and actualize God’s grace in our justice system. That’s why we measure our success in terms of the number of faith communities we’re mobilizing across Illinois, and the number of laws and policies we help reform.

The Body: Addressing Gun Violence

Gun violence exist as a lingering problem, predominantly in black communities on the south and west sides of Chicago. We acknowledge that gun violence is a symptom of poverty and oppression. Therefore, as we work to eradicate the root causes of violence in our communities, our priority is to execute strategies that will help to drastically reduce gun violence in the most effected areas of Chicago. This strategy includes:

Strengthening Relationships with the Church and Community

  • Hosting Block Club Parties

  • Community Parties

  • Block by Block Organizing

  • Strategic and Relational Night Walks

Partnering with Local Service Providers

  • We believe in an intensive community approach that calls for community members at risk to be shooters or victims to be in relationship with multiple providers. This supports our belief in promoting a communal reconciliation and healing approach.

Community Listening and Connection to Resources

  • Clergy will build relationships with shooting victims, “labeled shooters”, and potential targets of violence. These people will be identified thorough community listening and partnerships. Clergy will work with other agencies to assist individuals with complete wrap around services.

 

The Ballot: Combating Structural Violence

We believe that our churches are the legacy institutions in our communities, with a unique platform, that has historically brought communities together for healing and justice. Through the teaching of resistance theology, our goal is to “organize the church” to combat institutional and systemic racism.

LIVE FREE CHICAGO Congregations will mobilize voters—particularly low-propensity voters—to influence policies, practices, and programs that have a direct impact on our most vulnerable communities. LIVE FREE CHICAGO pays attention to local election cycles which often have the biggest impact on issues of safety, incarceration, and criminal justice. To help educate the public, the LIVE FREE campaign produces reports and sample legislation that exemplify the types of policies and programs that will help to decriminalize people of color.

Our organizing includes:

  • Organizing Training for the Church and Community

  • Issue based campaigns led by the congregations and communities

  • Leadership Development

  • Clusters hosting monthly community meetings

  • Non-violent civil disobedience and protest

 

The Buck: Addressing Economic Violence

“Building Healthy Communities”

LIVE FREE CHICAGO congregations use their financial resources to invest in programs and initiatives that build better access to jobs, entrepreneurship, and the alleviation of poverty and discrimination; they also divest resources from companies and programs that discriminate against vulnerable communities or help to perpetuate racial and economic injustice throughout our society. Our goals are to:

  • Increase the circulation of the dollar in the communities that we serve.

  • Partner with churches to create black businesses in the communities served.

  • Train entrepreneurs and assist with the creation of their business from start to finish.

  • Help to build the capacity of existing black businesses.

  • Work towards the start-up of two franchises.

 

OUR VALUES

Accountability: We are accountable to the community we serve, ourselves and our churches. Moreover we are accountable to challenge institutions, systems and people in power when necessary.

Integrity: Adhering to the principles of honesty, truthfulness, and ethical behavior when engaging in the organizing work.

Grassroots: We prioritize and organize marginalized voices empowering them to lead as we challenge systems of racism, domination and exclusion.

Culture: We are an unapologetically Black, faith based, organization committed to uplifting and loving of our people, communities and institutions.

Faith: As faith based organizers our grounding principles is love. Through the power of love we are moved to:

  • Wrestle with powers and principalities

  • Love justice do mercy, and walk humbly before God

  • Bring about the Kingdom of God on Earth

  • Activate Faith Communities through the power of the Holy Spirit