CUSP celebrates difference, self-determination and the full spectrum of ability and identity. Together, we work toward collective liberation and interdependent communities where people can thrive.
Why CUSP?
Frontline communities in Chicago have been historically marginalized, discriminated against, and disinvested in.
LACK OF BASIC RESOURCES
Frontline communities struggle to get even basic needs met. They will continue to be the most affected in the face of intersecting climate, environmental, economic, social, and health crises.
Organizations working to assist frontline communities often have to compete for resources.
SCARCITY MINDSET AND THE NPIC
The nonprofit industrial complex and racial capitalism have created an economy of scarcity by limiting and creating barriers to resources, making it difficult for organizations to secure the space and resources required to achieve regenerative impact.
Many people in frontline communities participate in the informal economy out of necessity.
LACK OF FORMAL SUPPORT
While the informal economy may help meet people’s needs, they lack worker protections and the safety net of the formal economy.
The CUSP Response
Networked Holistic Care
CUSP is a collective of organizations sharing resources, knowledge and experience to meet the full spectrum of people’s needs in frontline communities.
CUSP seeks to build, practice, and support new economies of care through mutual aid, community and collective organizing.
CUSP builds local power in and across neighborhoods through mutuality, solidarity, and the tenets of shared liberation.
CUSP works to confront and dismantle white supremacy and disrupt harmful power dynamics in spaces where people seek care, comfort, health, safety, and basic resources.