Membership Principles

We are a membership driven organization guided by principles. Pilsen Alliance members are united by the following:

1. Healthy communication

We communicate in ways that prioritize active listening, seek to understand and comprehend each other’s perspectives and experiences, and utilize conflict resolution and restorative practices when needed. We advocate our own and others’ needs.

2. Deconstructing patriarchy

We uplift and motivate the voices and leadership of marginalized gender identities, including women, non-binary, and/or trans individuals. We respect and affirm everyone’s gender identities, pronouns, and boundaries in all interactions and spaces—organizing, social, or elsewhere.

3. Youth and adult collaboration

We work against adultism and pride in our ability to work together regardless of age, where the opinions of youth, adults, and elders are considered and valued, especially when making decisions or addressing conflict.

4. Promoting equity, inclusion, and intersectionality

We emphasize the importance of equity and inclusion among all members by highlighting all issues of injustice, including those that are less often acknowledged. We work to undo anti-Blackness, anti-Indigenousness, mestizaje, homophobia, transphobia, and ableism inside and outside our spaces.

5. Creating joyful and bonding spaces

We recognize that our liberation is dependent on our relationships with one another. We strive to form bonds within our community by creating a safe space for all members to interact comfortably and openly and to establish a joyful and uplifting atmosphere that fosters enthusiastic commitment.

6. Prioritizing respect and accessibility

We create spaces that prioritize respect and accessibility in ways that meet everyone’s needs.

7. Organizing principles

We nurture a leaderful space that is transparent, accountable and open to change. We advocate for representative, accessible, leadership and processes and engage the full membership at different levels to make decisions.

8. Strong political values rooted in community

We believe everyone has a right to a quality life, including housing, education, health, and safety. We aren’t free until we are all free. Our liberation is bound to Black liberation, Indigenous sovereignty, and economic and climate justice.

9. Wellness, self and communal care

We communicate and respect our personal and work boundaries, when we have energy and when we need rest. We don’t work in ways that lead to burnout. We prioritize taking care of ourselves and each other.

10. Working through harm, accountability, and transformative justice

We foster a space where members feel comfortable addressing harm, where we constantly reflect and keep ourselves accountable on our accountability practices, and where we drive away from carceral practices through restorative and transformative justice.