APNC was created in 2000 by community leaders who wanted to see change in their neighborhood. While the organization was initially built around local issues such as public safety, local park improvements, and environmental issues, it has grown to have a strong foundation of leaders that can simultaneously act on pressing local issues, and address policy issues at the city, state, and national level through collaboration with other organizations. Following are a few of APNC's recent accomplishments: (1) As a result of APNCs organizing, Sheriff Dart enacted a virtual moratorium on county-wide foreclosure evictions and APNC has created a national model for organizing around foreclosed rental buildings; (2) Through a citywide youth organizing collaborative that it was instrumental in forming, a commitment was secured from former CPS CEO Arne Duncan to support a set of youth-led recommendations to address the dropout crisis; (3) Through the Greater Albany Park Education Coalition, APNC has convened 10 cohorts of seventy-five 6th through 9th grade teachers from 6 schools during professional development time to develop collaborative plans for easing middle to high school transitions, aligning curriculum, and sharing best practices; (4) After local meetings with Congresswoman Schakowsky, Congressman Emanuel, USCIS, representatives from the FBI, and other national organizing efforts, USCIS committed to reducing 80% of the citizenship backlogs nationwide by October 1, 2008.

APNC unites 27 member institutions around common values of social justice. It was founded in 2000 to provide the diverse immigrant communities living in Albany Park, North Park, West Ridge and Irving Park with a vehicle to develop their leadership skills and engage in community organizing. It is APNCs mission to improve the quality of education, provide a voice for youth, preserve affordable housing, and increase access to affordable health care.

Albany Park Neighborhood Council has five organizing projects which are focused on improving the quality of education, preventing violence and providing positive opportunities for young people, preserving and creating affordable housing, working to promote policies that will strengthen immigrant and refugee families as they make a new life in this country, and increasing access to affordable health care for the uninsured. APNCs community organizing model for all of these issue areas is based around the following key principles: (1) That it works to develop local leadership to address the root causes of problems, change the power dynamics between community residents and their elected officials, and achieve systemic change; (2) That it unites people across racial, ethnic and religious lines around common values of social justice and a shared analysis of the problems impacting their communities; (3) That while the key principles and values of organizing may remain that same over time, that organizations engaging in community organizing must continually evolve. Following is a brief description of the goals of these organizing projects: APNC's youth organizing initiative, Project Y, was formed in response to a number of gang related shootings at the local high school. A group of 30 young people meet weekly to advance their efforts to increase teen resources, such as teen programs and summer jobs, as one way to reduce violence among teenagers. APNC's Foreclosure Prevention and Preservation Project consists of a team of leaders from area institutions that works to protect tenant's rights and preserve affordable housing threatened by foreclosure. APNC's education project unites parents, teachers, and principals to address issues of school quality including parent engagement, teacher professional development, access to higher education, and transitions between middle school and high school. It does this through a Professional Learning Community it developed called the Greater Albany Park Education Coalition. The Immigrant Rights Organizing Initiative works to promote policies that will strengthen immigrant and refugee families, such as immigration reform, a reduction in citizenship fees, and funding for crucial social services such as ESL, job training, and citizenship classes. Finally, APNC's Compassionate Care Network is a network of over 90 mostly Muslim physicians that provide reduced costs to patients at their own private practices, and conduct free health screenings and health information lectures at area institutions. Since its inception in 2000, APNC's projects have successfully opened up access to higher education for immigrant students in Illinois, reduced overcrowding at neighborhood schools through the opening of 3 new schools for the neighborhood, created a county-wide moratorium on foreclosure evictions, assisted hundreds of community residents in becoming citizens, and much more.