Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: United Workers' Center

We're raising $20,000 to expand the reach of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: United Workers' Center within our community. Your contribution will enable CTU’s Parent Mentor Program to offer increased opportunities for students, families, and the wider community!

About CTU's Parent Mentor Program:

CTU is committed to empowering Latino and immigrant communities across Chicago's southeast side and south suburbs. Our Parent Mentors Program, a partnership with the Parent Engagement Institute, provides leadership training and educational workshops to volunteer parent mentors across seven Chicago Public Schools.

“Beyond the Classroom” Community Violence Prevention Campaign:

Every year, our parent mentors participate in our "Beyond the Classroom" program. This year, we partnered with experts in our community to educate parents and students about various forms of violence, including emotional, physical, and community-related violence.

The South Side of Chicago has historically struggled with disproportionately high rates of various forms of violence, including gang-related violence, community conflicts, and domestic issues. The need for intervention to curb this violence is critical to ensure the safety and well-being of residents, particularly children and young adults.

Throughout the year, we offered workshops to empower over 50 parent mentors with knowledge, resources, and strategies to identify and address violence in their communities. By fostering a deeper understanding of these issues, we aim to create a supportive network of informed mentors who can guide and advocate for the students in their care.

At the culmination of the year-long program, parent mentors held a drawing contest for 8th-grade across our seven schools. We invited students to respond to the prompt "Ending Violence in Chicago's South Side." A panel of judges from our community evaluated the submissions, and the top seven winning artworks (one from each school) were selected to be in bus shelters across the southeast side and south suburbs. These posters serve as a powerful medium to raise awareness, promote dialogue, and inspire action against violence in the south side community.

Your Impact:

Your donation will help fund crucial programs including:

By supporting CTU's Parent Mentor Program, you're contributing to a safer, more united, and violence-free South Side. Together, we can make a lasting impact on our communities.

Our Mission:

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: United Workers’ Center (CTU), established in 2008, uses a systems-change approach to build power among low-income immigrant communities and communities of color in Chicago’s southeast side and south suburbs. CTU works with local, state and national partners in the movement for social justice, primarily focusing on the intersection of immigration and labor. Our vision is a healthy and thriving local economy free from exploitation and oppression in which workers’ rights are respected, their dignity is upheld, and their labor justly compensated.

Southeast Side Chicago Mutal Aid Support for New Arrivals:

Join us in supporting newly arrived immigrant families staying at police stations. The conditions in the stations and temporary shelters is dire and we need community support to be able to respond to this crisis. No human being deserves to live under these conditions. These families deserve diginied care.

All donations will go directly to purchasing food, clothes, toiletries, basic medical supplies, and any necessities that families need.

If you have any questions about how your donations will be used to support families, please contact Centro de Trabajadores Unidos.

For my birthday, I want to raise support for economic justice and community building in Chicago. That's why I am asking you to donate to Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: Immigrant Workers' Project.

This organization does just about everything: from immigrant rights support to labor organizing to business incubation and mentorship. Few groups in Chicago are making this kind of localized and visible impact on the ground at the community level. I have volunteered for this organization in the past and can testify to the great work they are doing.

So much of what I believe in is encapsulated by the work of Centro de Trabajadores Unidos. To me, they represent a model for other groups to emulate throughout Chicago. Thanks in advance for your contribution to this cause that means so much to me.

More information about Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: Immigrant Workers' Project: Educate workers on their rights, develop leadership within the immigrant community, support and organize all workers as they fight for their rights in the workplace and fight for changing policy that increases standards for all workers.