Introducing Broken Office Chair, a new podcast produced by Alternatives, a Chicago-based nonprofit. Broken Office Chair is hosted by Alternatives’ Executive Director, Bessie Alcantara, a Chicago native and a first-generation Salvadoran-Mexican American who’s passionate about dismantling systemic racism.In each episode, Bessie will be joined by friends and colleagues who are ready to talk frankly about the most important issues within the nonprofit sector. Topics range from challenges for women of color in nonprofit leadership to the cost of being poor.To learn more, visit our website: www.alternativesyouth.org/brokenofficechair

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Adela Carlin, Senior Director of Advocacy at Illinois Partners for Human Service and Sarah Daniels, Chief Of Staff at ICOY for a special live recording of Cocktails & Complicity. This event was recorded on March 12th, 2026, This is Part 1 of a series related to Community of Care. Speakers touched on how true community is defined by mutual accountability and restorative connection, standing in direct opposition to the modern shift toward transactional, isolationist, and work-centric lifestyles. As rising costs, diminishing social spaces, and digital distractions erode our collective "free time," the nonprofit sector, and society at large, risks prioritizing capitalistic productivity over the essential human need to care for one another. To reclaim our well-being, we must dismantle the systems that frame social obligations as "unprofessional" and instead prioritize the relational ties that allow diverse communities to truly thrive.

Adela Carlin is a Latina community lawyer with more than 20 years of experience advancing equity and justice alongside individuals, families, and community groups. She serves as Senior Director of Advocacy, co-leading the Living Wages, Thriving Communities Campaign to advance sustainable, equitable investments in the human services workforce. In her senior advocacy role, she mobilizes and supports partners to engage in strategic, values-driven advocacy that centers community voice and lived experience.

Adela develops equity-focused training for coalition partners and is a Racial Justice Institute Fellow, national facilitator with Reframing Aging, and member of the National Health Equity Collective. She serves on the boards of Solutions for Care, Forefront, and AMPT Chicago.

Adela grew up in Little Village, is bilingual in English and Spanish, and earned her law degree from the University of Illinois College of Law at Urbana-Champaign.

Sarah Daniels received her BA in Communication/Public Relations from Millikin University. While debating on whether grad school would be the next best thing, she decided to stay at Millikin as an AmeriCorps*VISTA, where she focused on economic development and education for one school year. Many of her duties entailed creating service-learning opportunities, grant management for voter engagement, solidifying and maintaining partnerships with community organizations. She then went on to complete her Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Illinois- Springfield.

At the start of a global pandemic, she joined ICOY as a Policy Analyst. A year into her role, she was promoted to Assistant Executive Director. She represents ICOY and its members on policy commissions, committees, and various workgroups. As a public servant, Sarah is someone who wishes to always teach and give back to those in the community, especially as it relates to regaining power in underserved areas by extending resources and opportunities for growth.

When she is not “working”, she can be found selling real estate in the Chicagoland area, traveling with friends and family, binge-watching the latest TV shows, or enjoying brunch and creating content for her socials.

Broken Office Chair host, Bessie Alcantara is joined by Ald. Jessie Fuentes, Alderperson of the 26th Ward and a queer Latina grassroots organizer, educator, and public policy advocate.

Growing up in Humboldt Park amidst the generational traumas of parental substance use, mental illness, and job instability, Jessie resorted to dealing with her own struggles of resentment and anger with the juvenile justice system, as experienced by far too many young Chicagoans.

Jessie found a home at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School, an alternative high school in the heart of Humboldt Park. Jessie was politicized by educators who understood her life experiences. She graduated high school, earned a degree from NEIU, and returned home to Humboldt Park to serve as the Dean of Students of both Roberto Clemente Community Academy and her alma mater, ensuring Black and Latine students had the resources to transcend trauma and pursue their aspirations. As Director of Policy and Youth Advocacy at the Puerto Rican Cultural Center, she championed community-driven solutions that address violence, housing affordability, and re-entry for returning citizens.

Now she utilizes her past experiences to serve as the Alderperson of the 26th Ward, bringing over a decade of experience in education, criminal justice reform, affordable housing, community development, and sustainability to give back to the community that shaped her.

@Jessiefor26th

@26thwardchicago

www.the26thward.org