Southwest Organizing Project

Healthcare-related organizing:swop works to ensure that everyone in southwest chicago has access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. Swop, partnering with many of its member institutions, is a leader in responding to the covid-19 pandemic with vaccination and testing drives. Swop leads the southwest system of care (swsoc), a collaborative effort to ensure access to needed services for students and families in local schools. Swop partnered with marquette school of excellence and esperanza health center to open a health center at the school. Swop community navigators are working with families across the community to give them the information they need to access the healthcare services they need. This work is funded by the chicago department of public health (cdph), the chicago cook workforce alliance, and private foundations. This work benefits all residents of the chicago lawn, gage park, west elsdon, west lawn, and ashburn communities.

Community organizing, education, and training activities were performed for the purpose of achiving an economically stable, open, multiracial community within chicago's southwest neighborhoods. At the heart of swop's work is community organizing: a strategy of building relationships between people who share common self-interests so they can work together to build power to achieve their goals. Swop's organizers and leaders work through member institutions to connect with people who have an interest in public life. These organizers and leaders conduct one to one meetings to build an understanding of what motivates each person and to invite them to participate in collective action on issues they care about. This work is funding by private foundations, corporate donations, individual giving, and earned income. This work benefits the 40,000 people who are part of swop's member institutions.

Violence prevention:swop runs the communities partnering 4 peace (cp4p) initiative in southwest chicago. Through this effort, outreach workers and case managers are connecting with individuals likely to be perpetrators or victims of shootings and help them find alternatives to violence.- people are referred to job and educational opportunities and are engaged in community improvement efforts. In addition, swop is a leader in the effort to create accountability and civilian control over the police department. Swop helped pass the ordinance creating a new police oversight process and is working to implement this effort. This work is funded by the illinois criminal justice information authority (icjia), cdph, cook county, and private foundations. The work benefits all residents of the chicago lawn and gage park communities.housing issues:the southwest chicago communities of chicago lawn, gage park, west lawn, and west elsdon were ground zero for the foreclosure crisis of 2007-08. Thousands of foreclosures were initiated, and hundreds of buildings were left vacant in the community. Swop is partnering with united power for action and justice and brinshore development to carry out the reclaiming southwest chicago campaign. Through this effort, swop and its partners are buying, rehabbing and then renting or selling the buildings as affordable housing. In addition, swop connects people to housing counseling, rental and mortgage assistance, and foreclosure prevention services. This work is funded by the illinois housing development authority (ihda), the city of chicago, private foundations, corporate donations, individual giving, and earned income. The work benefits all the families living in the 94-block target area.citizenship and immigration:southwest chicago has a large immigrant population, with many families living in dual status households. Swop works to ensure that every person is treated with dignity and respect and that they can fully participate in the public life of the community. Swop provides know your rights trainings and connections to legal services. Swop leaders are advocating at all levels of government for changes in laws and policies to support immigrant families. In addition, swop helps people apply for citizenship and connects immigrant families to needed services. This work is funded by the illinois department of human services (idhs) through the illinois coalition of immigrant and refugee acts (icirr), private foundations, and individual giving. During the current fiscal year, swop provided services to over 7,000 individuals.