A Year in Review - 2023

 To our Steadfast Beyond Supporters, 

Today, we mark the final year in our 10-Year Campaign. This is your last chance to support our 10-year anniversary campaign and help us celebrate this incredible milestone!

As we look back at our final year in review, 2023 saw the momentous launch of a new community partnership with the Chicago Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (CIWOC), the first partnership of its kind in Chicago.

Reflecting on this historical moment, CIWOC noted that:

“Having [Beyond] at our side will magnify and maximize the power that unionized incarcerated people can forge. Together, we will combat state-sanctioned mass torture, death, and irreparable harm caused by the Illinois Department of Corrections… With the power that is imbued by the state to attorneys we will break through the isolation imposed on prisoner’s communication. We look forward to building new avenues towards freedom and incarcerated worker power.”

2023 also saw the design and implementation of our response plan to newly arrived community members, spearheaded by none other than Beyond’s new Executive Director, Bindhu Vijayan. This response plan allowed for Beyond to strategically organize concerted efforts to support newly arrived community members in tandem with our community partners. 

Reflecting on the importance of Beyond’s response, ED Bindhu notes: 

“Supporting newly arrived community members was and remains critical because it embodies our community-cubed model. By being responsive to urgent needs and remaining flexible, we ensure that the solutions come directly from the communities and people most impacted, fostering dignity and agency for individuals seeking asylum while supporting our partners to strengthen their own communities.  

This work highlights the power of community leadership. By centering the voices and direction of those directly affected, we provide not just immediate legal support and legal refuge for those fleeing persecution but also support our community partners to build sustainable, community-driven systems of care and solidarity.”

As we wrap up this campaign of intentional reflection, we want to thank you for following along each month this year. 

Over the past year, we have had the opportunity to showcase how an organization with a big vision of revolutionizing legal aid came into form. Starting with our first partnership at Enlace and our founder, Lam Ho, working out of a storage closet (no, literally!) Beyond has grown into a leading voice that is changing legal aid from the ground up. 

These reflections have underscored the importance of our work, now more than ever. 

As a new decade of Beyond dawns, we would humbly ask for your continued and generous support for our work and the thousands of community members who have come to rely on the effectiveness of our innovative model.