Looking toward the future, AAC remains committed toward the community that supports us year after year. In the coming months AAC will work within our management, our membership and with local community organizers in the hope of implementing new ways that our organization can help our community. This page will be an avenue of ideas and a gateway to already successful organizations that strive to help our community move forward.

Our biggest source of ideas, however, come from members like you. To remain successful in this endeavor, the most impressive ideas come from our membership, our community. We ask that you submit your ideas to the board by clicking on the link below or let us know your thoughts. Who know’s the next big idea may come from you!

Contact Us

Chicago Cubs Charities

Each year the Chicago Cubs raise over $1.5 million dollars for Chicago Cubs Charities which helps to support local organizations and people in communities throughout the Chicago area.

All fans can get involved in supporting Chicago Cubs Charities! Join us in these efforts by taking part in one of our annual events or making a donation. Together, we can continue to make Chicago a great place to live, work and play ball.

Chicago Cubs Charities supports programs that promote children and young-adult interest in sports, particularly baseball. Other areas of supports include community-based services targeted to low- and moderate-income families and individuals; community development initiatives; and schools, parks, open spaces and organizations within the immediate area surrounding Wrigley Field.

For more information on Chicago Cubs Charities, please visit them here.

Center on Halsted

Center on Halsted is the Midwest’s most comprehensive community center dedicated to building and strengthening the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community. More than 1,000 community members visit the Center every day, located in the heart of Chicago’s Lakeview Neighborhood.

Center on Halsted also serves as an incubator for a number of smaller LGBTQ non-profit organizations, called Resident Partners. We provide operational support, space and resources for organizations that may otherwise find it difficult to interact and grow.

In addition, there is a Whole Foods Market with two levels of underground parking at the Center. Free wi-fi access is available throughout the building including our lobby, reading library and our rooftop terrace. CofH also offer meeting and reception space, with special discounts for non-profit community groups.

For more information, please check their programs and events pages. And check out the get involved pages to find out how you can help build and strengthen the LGBTQ Community. We hope to see you at the Center soon!

Cure Violence

The Cure Violence initiative was founded in 1995 by Dr. Gary Slutkin, an American epidemiologist who maintains that violence should be treated like an epidemic and can be prevented by stopping the behavior at its source. We believe in this perspective, we have put it to use and we have seen it work wonders in our communities.

In 2000, Cure Violence launched in West Garfield Park, one of the most violent communities in Chicago, and was quick to produce results reducing shootings by 67% in its first year. Since then, our results have been replicated more than 18 times in Chicago and throughout the world.

In June 2009, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr., head of the Department of Justice, referenced Cure Violence as an example of “a rational, data-driven, evidence-based, smart approach to crime – the kind of approach that this Administration is dedicated to pursuing and supporting.”

Recently, Cure Violence participated in a 2-day workshop on the Contagion of Violence in collaboration with the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Over two dozen professionals and experts in a broad range of fields convened to consider self-directed, interpersonal, domestic, political, ethnic, community and collective violence as different manifestations of the same disease.

We ultimately want to shift the worldview of violence away from prosecution and focus more on prevention. If we can convince more and more people to properly re-understand violence as a disease, then we can treat it accordingly by stopping the epidemic, reversing it and curing it.