“At COFI, we focus on specific issues so that the action steps are achievable and concrete.”

Meet Arisbeth! She’s lived in Evanston for nearly 23 years and heard about COFI training five years ago. 

“One of my friends invited me to join because we needed support to organize and meet with the Dual Language Committee, and that’s how I connected with COFI,” she said.

Since then, her leadership has grown. Arisbeth is now a delegate for her branch and a part of POWER-PAC IL’s statewide Governing Council. Of all the COFI trainings, she reflects that Phase 2: Community Outreach & Action helped her connect most with her community and others. 

“I learned to speak not only to residents but to community representatives in an intentional way, using one-on-one conversations,” she said.

“There are many problems, but at COFI we focus on specific issues so that the action steps are achievable and concrete,” she said. 

During this process, she and other Evanston leaders created community surveys aligned with their team’s vision for mental health support groups in Spanish. That included improving residents’ quality of life through affordable housing and improving community safety.

Together, their team interviewed 220 people in Evanston and held a community forum to present the results. They invited school district administrators, the police department, other Evanston organizations, such as Evanston Latinos, and the general public. 

“It was the first time I dared to speak English in public, and for me, it was a great step and opportunity for leadership development,” she said.

They worked with participants to develop solutions for mental health, affordable housing, and community safety. As a result of their forum, a parent-led mental health support group made up of COFI and POWER-PAC IL Evanston leaders received a $20,000 grant to provide peer-to-peer mental health support for Spanish-speaking families. Another group of parents received a grant to participate in a pilot entrepreneurship program.

Today, Arisbeth and the Evanston branch have spent much of their time working to achieve affordable housing in Evanston. They served on a city housing committee and advocated for financial assistance to pay rent, as well as tenant rights. As of May 2026, a major local win came: the Evanston City Council voted 7-2 to adopt the Just Cause rental law into the housing plan, which provides greater protections for renters when a landlord refuses to renew an existing tenant’s lease. Lo

“There are many problems, but at COFI we focus on specific issues so that the action steps are achievable and concrete,” she said.