The Center of Cultures facilitates contact and cooperation between the many ethnic and cultural communities of Chicago, promoting a model of mutual aid and advocacy. We believe that these communities have much to teach and learn from each other, and that each has some thing to contribute to the construction of a new, universal, human nation.

As humanists we declare: No human being is illegal. People must be recognized as human beings first, and immigrants second. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone should have the right to change his or her country or nationality, and it is our responsibility to help that process. In this global era, efforts are made to increasingly eliminate the barriers that inhibit movement of capital, products, and marketing across borders: why is it, then, that barriers are erected against people? Everyone deserves equal rights under the law, regardless of the "accident" of birth.

Equal opportunity is the cornerst one of a just society. In order for equal opportunities to exist, however, we must work to eliminate barriers to healthcare, education, and employment currently in place for many immigrants and their children -- in particular, barriers rooted in xenophobi a, racism, and ethnocentrism.

The growing centralization of money and power is creating the condition for great social upheaval, as people are increasingly left out of the decisions that most affect their lives. The Center of Cultures supports efforts that promote direct participation.

The Center of Cultures is an initiative that aspires to converging diversity. It respects the particular differences and sheds light on the values, lifestyles, and ideas that have moved peoples in an evolutionary direction throughout history. We aspire to a world of multiplicity, diverse in ethnicity, languages and customs, diverse in local and regional autonomy, diverse in ideas and aspirations, diverse in beliefs, whether atheist or religious, diverse in occupations and creativity.