Alternatives

Kick off the 2026-27 school year with Pour In's Back to School Giveaway with a free backpack, school supplies, snacks, haircuts, bounce house, face painting and more!

Join the fun with music, games and raffles:
🗓️ Saturday, August 1st,
⏰ 12-3pm
📍Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72nd St.

This free event is sponsored by Youth Guidance, Jett's Jumpland & Catering, Black Fire Brigade and Mr. Dad's Father's Club.

Join our chat on building community care in the workplace in the 3rd part of our 4-part series.

Tickets available on Eventbrite: https://cocktails-complicity-workplace-rights.eventbrite.com .

Our latest Broken Office Chair Podcast episode features Dakarai Larriatt, Candidate for US Senate. Dakarai discusses his wrongful arrest in Michigan in 2024, leading to his run for office.
🎧 Listen to the full episode: https://rss.com/podcasts/broken-office-chair/2904554/

In this episode of Broken Office Chair, our host Bessie Alcantara is joined by Dakarai Larriatt, Candidate for US Senate. They discuss Dakarai's experience at the hands of Michigan State Police in 2024, his advocacy work, and his current race to become Alabama's next US Senator.
Dakarai Larriett, a proud Alabama native, is the son of a U.S. Army veteran and a dedicated public school teacher. Dakarai began his career in corporate leadership roles in New York before launching his own pet-care business in 2012. His debut memoir, Don’t Flush!, shares the story of his wrongful arrest in 2024 and serves as a powerful call to civic engagement and reform.
You can find Dakarai at:

www.dakarailarriatt.com

In this episode of Broken Office Chair, our host Bessie Alcantara is joined by Dakarai Larriatt, Candidate for US Senate. They discuss Dakarai's experience at the hands of Michigan State Police in 2024, his advocacy work, and his current race to become Alabama's next US Senator.

Dakarai Larriett, a proud Alabama native, is the son of a U.S. Army veteran and a dedicated public school teacher. Dakarai began his career in corporate leadership roles in New York before launching his own pet-care business in 2012. His debut memoir, Don’t Flush!, shares the story of his wrongful arrest in 2024 and serves as a powerful call to civic engagement and reform.

You can find Dakarai at:

www.dakarailarriatt.com

Tickets now available for Cocktails and Complicity on Thursday, July 9. Registration for this event is a pay-what-you-can donation; the suggested donation is $5. You can donate as much as you are able to - donations of all sizes are accepted. Link in bio for tickets.

Discuss community care in the workplace with Yadira Montoya from and Lauren Wright from

Come one, come all to the Alternatives Community Carnival!

Join the fun with carnival games, prizes and food for free.

🗓️ June 17, 2026
⏰ 12:00 PM – 4:00 PM
📍Trimuel Legacy Center
7522 S. Greenwood Ave
Chicago, IL 60619

HUGE NEWS and a BIG WIN for our communities: On Wednesday, May 13, the Mayor announced citywide rollout of the CARE Program, a non-police mental health crisis response team. CARE clinicians are trained behavioral health professionals who provide de-escalation, brief counseling, and transportation to crisis stabilization centers and behavioral health emergency rooms if needed. With this program, *the city no longer has to rely exclusively on police intervention for mental health crises* (we told you this was huge news).

Alternatives has been working closely with the Collaborative for Community Wellness (CCW) on the rollout and expansion of this program. Chicago is the first major city in the US to make its non-police crisis response citywide, and we're excited to see this change for our city. 👏🏿 👏🏽 👏🏼

CARE models so much of what Alternatives stands for: holistic, trauma-informed care; a non-punitive approach; and accessible services. We're proud of the work we've done with CCW to advocate for this program, and for this historic achievement.

For more information and to read the Mayor's press release, visit https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/mayor/press_room/press_releases/2026/may/citywide-CARE-expansion.html.

Youth voices are at the center of Alternatives' work, and are a valuable part of our communities. Young people deserve the best resources we can offer them, including equitable funding for schools.

On March 26, young people in our Youth Leadership Development programs joined 120 advocates down in Springfield for the Funding Illinois' Future Coalition K-12 Advocacy Day. They spoke with state senators about teacher shortages in their schools, leading to classrooms where grade levels are combined and getting the support students need from teachers is challenging. They also shared that if funding continued to increase at the current rate, they would be 25 years old and would never have attended an adequately funded K-12 public school. The campaign coalition demands that legislators increase school funding by $550 million this year to help close funding gaps.

We're proud of the young people we work with every day, but we're especially proud when they feel confident enough to stand up for themselves and their communities through advocacy and civic engagement.