Brighton Park Neighborhood Council

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) is a community-based, non-profit grassroots organization serving a working class neighborhood on Chicago's southwest side. BPNC's mission is to create a safer community, improve the learning environment at public schools, preserve affordable housing, provide a voice for youth, protect immigrant rights, promote gender equality, and end all forms of violence. We envision a community where institutions and leaders work together in a coordinated network that joins resources and strategies so that all children and families are able to thrive and grow to their potential. Since our founding in 1997, BPNC has worked to realize our vision for an equitable distribution of resources that guarantees every family's right to a thriving, safe community, where they are treated with dignity and respect. We believe in lifting up the voices of youth, the undocumented, people of color, and other marginalized identities that too often are ignored or silenced.

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) works to empower our community and build its capacity by providing school and community-based services and programs. We provide direct services including: after-school academic and enrichment programming; school-based counseling and clinical case management; comprehensive case management for families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness; housing counseling; financial coaching; public benefits enrollment; summer youth employment; case management, advocacy, and citizenship workshops for the immigrant community; health education workshops; and leadership development. BPNC also engages leaders in social justice organizing campaigns. We work to win change at the local, state, and federal levels. BPNC believes in addressing the holistic needs of the community and the root causes of poverty and inequity through a racial justice lens. BPNC also convenes the Brighton Park Neighborhood Network (BPNN), a coalition of more than forty members that seeks to build the capacity of our community to dramatically improve outcomes for every resident by providing comprehensive support in education, health, and employment. The BPNN engages institutions and community leaders in policy change campaigns in the areas of violence prevention and public safety, education, health, and financial stability.