Sixty Search Dropdown Menu

Resources Towards Solidarity, Care, and Community Defense

by

·

, ,

200+ resources for community self-defense, basic needs, solidarity, creative caretaking, and organizing within the Chicagoland area.

Image: The hands of artist Dorothy Burge can be seen holding a magenta-colored fabric flag with yellow lettering that reads, “My Humanity is Bound To Yours.” Behind the flag you can see glimpses of the bold patterns and bright colors of the outfit Burge is wearing. Photo by Joshua Clay Johnson.
Image: The hands of artist Dorothy Burge can be seen holding a magenta-colored fabric flag with yellow lettering that reads, “My Humanity is Bound To Yours.” Behind the flag you can see glimpses of the bold patterns and bright colors of the outfit Burge is wearing. Photo by Joshua Clay Johnson.

Created from and inspired by resources that have been circulating between artists, organizers, and other trusted friends of Sixty over the past several months, this list is meant to serve three purposes. 

First is to provide resources for those who are seeking ways to meet their basic needs or want to support community-based mutual aid and self-defense efforts. This list can help you tap into existing ways that Chicago’s communities show up for one another to meet our basic needs—or find ways to organize your own where gaps exist.

Second is to offer starting points for building knowledge and self-directed research into the long-standing issues causing distress in our cities and communities—ICE kidnappings, censorship, digital and community surveillance, electoral politics, human rights violations, attacks on social support systems, erasure of digital information–as well as the organizers who have been working to address these distresses for quite some time. 

Third is to connect our communities to information, resources, and educational spaces that will both fuel our creativity and curiosity, and remind us of the power in solidarity. We need to continue building towards the world we are fighting for—while also providing those who have money and time a list of local Chicago-based or nationally-aligned collectives, organizations, independent news platforms, and community-rooted efforts that can be supported directly.

How To Use (and Expand) This List

  • This list was built to be useful over time. Efforts are being organized quickly and rolling out every day, so we encourage you to seek out the ways that these groups are sharing information and upcoming events in real-time. Join their mailing lists and follow their social media. Some events can be found on Sixty’s monthly Art Picks or by following our stories on Inst*gram.
  • Find balance between online and offline spaces. Online platforms are useful tools for information and connection, but history shows that some of the most powerful organizing and knowledge-sharing happens offline. Use this list to find communities you want to follow, but also consider taking a more active approach. Find ways for them to become part of your community and you a part of theirs.
  • This list is evolving. Our hope is for this to grow and change over time, and some of the links may become outdated shortly after we publish. But we welcome your input. You can submit your suggested additions, edits, or changes here.
  • We want to create lists like this for the entire Midwest region–and pay editors, researchers, and organizers to do it. Currently, this is a Chicago-focused list that we’re working to expand to be more statewide and regional. To make that happen, we are seeking organizers, researchers, editors, artists, and curators to be paid Regional Resource Editors, helping us create customized versions of this list for the Native lands overlapping the arbitrary colonial boundaries of the 12 states of the Midwest. If you’re interested, pitch your city, state, or region here—deadline to submit is December 15th.

FOR BASIC NEEDS

Where can I find resources for local food access, community gardens, and food-based mutual aid projects that I can tap into, donate to, or volunteer for?

What community-based programs can I turn to for urgent and ongoing healthcare needs?

What community-based programs or sources can I turn to for housing needs?

Where can I find no- or low-consumption communities, creative reuse resources, free stores, free community resources, or other non-monetary support networks?

FOR ACTION + BASIC RIGHTS

Where can I turn if I have legal aid needs or for reliable guidance and information that prepares me or my loved ones for an encounter with ICE or being detained?

How can I show up and support the meeting of urgent needs for community members who are immigrants and refugees, or others under the threat of being targeted by ICE?

I plan on attending rallies or protests in the future or want to know ways I can show up beyond protests. Where can I find details on ones that are happening and what do I need to know before I attend?

I want to be ready to document ICE in my city or I have some documentation of ICE using force, stop & frisk, or conducting traffic stops in Chicago and want to hold them accountable. What do I need to know right now and where can I share my footage?

I want to tap into electoral politics and/or contact my alderperson, city officials, or other legislators in Illinois–where can I turn?

FOR DIGITAL SECURITY, CENSORSHIP RESISTANCE, WEB ARCHIVING, + CREATIVE FREEDOM

I’m concerned about surveillance, infiltration, my digital protection, and web security—where can I find accessible information on how to protect myself, my family, and my community?

I’m concerned about censorship, freedom of speech, and first amendment rights. What tools exist to help me navigate these issues and use my voice bravely?

I’m concerned about digital preservation, web archiving, and attacks on information access. What resources can I turn to to build my knowledge and skills for caretaking around our sources of history, information, and culture?

FOR THE MIND, SPIRIT, SOLIDARITY, + WORLD-BUILDING

There’s so much happening. How can I begin to understand what is happening right now or get some backstory? And what independent local news sources and journalistic efforts are providing reliable, consistent, and trustworthy guidance or reporting on our current political climate and issues?

What physical spaces of knowledge, healing, and community can I turn to right now?

What are resources for learning why and how to organize my own liberatory and community-nourishing efforts or joining ones that exist locally or nationally—mutual aid networks, solidarity economy projects, community organizing tools, labor organizing, healing efforts, etc.

What can I be reading, listening to, watching or subscribing to—to keep me nourished, curious, and grounded in my mind, body, spirit, and creativity?

FOR INTERSECTIONALITY + INTERCONNECTEDNESS

There’s been so much going on, but I don’t want to lose sight of other urgencies that are  directly or indirectly connected to what’s happening in my city or this country. What are some news and information sources that I can turn to if I want to stay conscious of and give attention to related fights for liberation nationally and globally?

More by This Author

Get Sixty in Your Inbox

* indicates required

Follow Us

Donate

Copyright © 2025 Sixty Inches From Center. Privacy Policy