The Congress of Racial Equality (aka CORE) doesn't meet in Washington but it does work for racial equality regardless of race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, or disability. Local chapters are spread throughout the US and in Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean. Programs include welfare to work projects, immigration counseling, victim and witness assistance, ex-offender rehabilitation, and community outreach and education. One of the first major civil rights organizations in the US, the CORE was founded by an interracial group of students at the Univeristy of Chicago in 1942 and participated in early civil rights battles like sit-ins, freedom rides, and fights against Jim Crow laws.