Causing A Stir (CAS) aims to increase inclusion, education, leadership and mentorship within the hospitality industry for women, people of color and LGBT. CAS provides interactive workshops, scholarship programs, a platform to connect and network, and news of employment opportunities for underserved and underrepresented communities in the hospitality industry. CAS highlights the career achievements of hospitality professionals in Chicago and other communities. We work strategically with other organizations to create a valuable community for all hospitality professionals. Born from a luncheon of 10 female bartenders and hospitality professionals of color who gathered to discuss the frustrations of the bar community, CAS was founded because the group agreed there was a need within the Chicago bar community for increased racial inclusion, educational opportunities for minorities, and mentorship for people of color.

Based at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, the Center on Wrongful Convictions, and our sister project the Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth, engages the next generation of lawyers in cutting-edge criminal justice reform, with a special focus on innocence, interrogations, and confessions. We represent Brendan Dassey, whose false confession was profiled in the hit Netflix docuseries Making a Murderer, and others like him -- and have successfully secured the freedom of more than twenty children and more than thirty adults who were convicted of crimes they did not commit. We are dedicated to identifying and rectifying wrongful convictions and other serious miscarriages of justice. In addition, we advocate for policy reforms aimed at preventing future wrongful convictions and raise public awareness about the prevalence, causes, and social costs of wrongful convictions. We aim to change lives and the system.

Co-founded by a group of diverse, passionate Northwestern University students, COMMUNITY CURRENCY (CC) seeks to chip away at educational inequalities by optimizing on the fact that more than 90% of international travelers return to the United States with leftover foreign currency. Here’s how it works: (1) CC collects foreign currency in international airports, college study-abroad offices, and banks; (2) the foreign currency is converted into American money; and (3) that money directly supports disadvantaged Chicagoland children’s participation in summer camps at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago. We dream to ensure that the zip code you’re born in doesn’t determine the story of your life.

The Muslim American Leadership Alliance (MALA) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to leadership through integrity, and as such, provides a platform for people to share their individual stories and to speak for themselves. Our premier civic engagement project—“Muslim American Journeys”—is an opportunity for Muslim Americans to share their own unique stories. Produced in partnership with National Public Radio and the Library of Congress, “Journeys” aims to document oral history, inspire pride, celebrate individuality, and enhance understanding of the diversity of Muslim Americans. Other MALA campaigns aim to unite Americans of all backgrounds to advance constructive solutions to extremism and human rights abuses. Literally and metaphorically, we link arms with fellow Americans to stand up for basic human rights for freedom. Finally, we mentor and empower emerging young leaders. Beyond giving them a platform to tell their stories, MALA runs leadership training workshops. Open to choice and creed, MALA embraces free expression, gender equality, and pluralism as cherished universal ideals.