The Grassroots Collaborative unites nine membership-based organizations in Illinois in order to create policy change on local and statewide levels. Our alliance spans diverse ethnicities and a variety of organizing networks; including low-wage service employees, the homeless, senior citizens, immigrants, peace activists, faith leaders, and residents of poor and working class neighborhoods. We are driven by the notion that disenfranchised people, despite their differences, have broad common interests and can come together to improve all of their lives. By bringing together organizations across movements, especially labor and community, we have built a broad and deep base necessary for fighting the corporate interests working against all of our constituencies.