Northside P.O.W.E.R. is the Kitchen’s advocacy component which is designed to address systemic hunger and poverty issues through community organizing. NsP was created by the Kitchen in November of 2005 at a public meeting attended by 200 community residents and several local, county, state and federal elected officials. At this meeting a three issue campaign was developed: community safety, health care and job training leading to living wage local jobs. NsP and the Kitchen are members of the Metropolitan Alliance of Congregations (MAC) and through MAC NsP members receive organizing training and consultation regarding the issue campaigns.

NsP began in June of 2004 as the "Patron’s Council", a kitchen patron leadership group who were empowered to have a voice in Kitchen matters such as patron/volunteer/staff relations, food quality and patrons rights. Patron’s Council members then recruited several neighborhood residents to form the Core Team who, in the wake of several incidents of street violence that summer, decided to address community safety. After conducting more than 200 surveys with community residents a five point safety agenda was developed:

• Increase neighborhood foot and bicycle patrols
• Shut down area "hot spots" where open and notorious drug and gambling activity occurred
• More police officers of color needed district wide
• Mounted "blue light" police camera’s needed
• Regular meetings with the district police commander

Each of these community demands were met within eight months of the November 2005 public meeting. The cooperation between NsP and the police department which grew from regular meetings with the police commander has resulted in a 50% drop in street homicides in this neighborhood between the summer of 2005 and 2006.

NsP’s health care campaign resulted from two community nurses who asked NsP to consider starting a campaign to bring a Cook County medical clinic to Rogers Park. More research and community surveys occurred and we learned that a Kitchen patron had been arrested at Stroger County Hospital because he fell asleep in the waiting room. Two local non-profit medical clinics readily admit to serving thousands of patients per year above their capacity and Rogers Park has higher than average rates of childhood obesity, childhood lead poisoning, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, mental illness and many other illnesses. This information compelled NsP to adopt the count y medical clinic campaign. Currently, the Northshore Caucus (NsC) is taking a very active leadership role on this campaign.

Beginning in the summer of 2006, more than $140 million dollars in construction projects broke ground in Rogers Park. The $80 million dollar, three-year Howard 'L' redevelopment, the $8 million dollar Gale Community Center, and the $50 million dollar Loyola University Library expansion. No plan exists to make sure local residents are trained to work on these local jobs. Simultaneously, we learned that nearly $9 million in TIF money is earmarked for job training specifically in Rogers Park and yet sits unused. This was the genesis of the NsP’s jobs campaign.

To make these campaigns a reality NsP has developed important relationships with several key elected officials who have publicly supported NsP’s work including 49th Ward Alderman Joe Moore, Cook County Commissioner Larry Suffredin, State Representative Julie Hamos and U.S. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.