[Event 1/31] “Lawndale Conversations Series: The Contract Buyers League”

by Max Harkavy
Communications Intern, JCUA

On January 31^st at 6pm, the Hull House on UIC’s campus will be hosting an event titled “Lawndale Conversations Series: The Contract Buyers League.”  The Hull House is convening in partnership with the North Lawndale branch of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS), and the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs (JCUA) in order to raise awareness about the Contract Buyers League and the history of its neighborhoods, specifically North Lawndale.  North Lawndale has a rich narrative and many feel that in order to bring about change in the community this narrative has to be brought to light.

Contract Buyers League Protesters

The Contract Buyers League was a union of African Americans during the 1960s that fought the exploitative sale of homes to blacks through the selling of contracts.

“I think it’s really important to tell this story to make all the people that lived through it proud of their accomplishment, and to raise awareness among the younger population,” said John Wolf, an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for the NHS North Lawndale office.

Neighborhood Housing Services seeks to promote positive change from within the community.  Director Charles Leeks believes that, “In order to turn a neighborhood around, you have to recognize what the community has been.”  Leeks explained that sometimes people choose to ignore the community’s past, “if it is not convenient for them at any given moment.”  The goal of this event is to raise awareness of North Lawndale’s rich past and to foster pride from within.

Beryl Satter

There will be three guest speakers at the event.  The first is Beryl Satter, author of the book, “Family Properties: Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America” which tells the tale of the Contract Buyers League and the struggle against unfair housing practices that occurred throughout the 40s to the 70s.  Satter’s father was an attorney who fought for equal rights for African Americans during the time of the Contract Buyers League.

Clyde Ross

The second speaker will be Clyde Ross, who was at one time the co-chairman of the Contract Buyers League, and was recently named the recipient of the Neighborhood Heroes Award given to him by the NHS.  Ross still lives in the house he bought under contract.

Jack Macnamara

The final speaker is Jack Macnamara, a Jesuit seminary during the time of the Contract Buyers League.  He also worked as a community organizer that brought people together on issues concerning the Contract Buyers League in the 1960s.

“The image of community and the way north Lawndale is projected in the press is often negative but this event is a way of talking about positives from the community and one the biggest positives of North Lawndale is its history,” said Wolf.

JCUA’s Director of Organizing Will Speak on Immigration Through a Jewish Lens at Southside Community Gathering

Rabbi Ali Abrams will be talking about immigration from a Jewish perspective at the Hyde Park and Kenwood Interfaith Council 2013 Annual Meeting.

Rabbi Ali Abrams

• When: Tuesday, June 4, 6:00pm
• Where: Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.  Below is a summary of the event’s schedule.

Event Schedule:

6 p.m. – Registration and dinner (buffet style) will begin.  Those coming for dinner are asked to contribute $10 toward its costs.

6:30 p.m.  While dinning continues, the program will begin.

The program is entitled “Welcoming the Stranger?  Faith Traditions on Immigration Reform.”  A panel of 3 or 4 individuals, from the Jewish, Christian, and eastern religious traditions, will speak on how their faiths inform and guide them in responding to the current Immigration Reform legislation and debate.

7:45 p.m. (to roughly 8:30 p.m.)  Annual Business Meeting

Contact:

If you have further questions please contact Rabbi Ali Abrams at alison@jcua.org.

Meet JCUA’s 2013 Summer Interns

JCUA hosts interns year-round. The best and brightest who are looking to change the world come to us from schools across the country, and get trained in promoting social change through a Jewish lens (find out more about Fall 2013 internship opportunities). As summer nears, meet our 2013 summer internship cohort…

Leiah Moser

Internship Focus: Rabbinical Fellow, Or Tzedek
School/Program: Reconstructionist Rabbinical College

Leiah just finished her second year at the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. As a rabbi in training, she has a deep interest in finding new ways to build spiritually engaged, inclusive communities of prayer. In addition to blogging about issues of identity and gender diversity within Judaism, she is active in service leading at a number of local congregations, particularly at Dorshei Derech, the Reconstructionist minyan at Germantown Jewish Centre, and has been involved this year in Mitzvah Mensches, a service program for adults with special needs at Mishkan Shalom. She’s looking forward to spending the summer in her former hometown of Chicago, and can’t wait to get to know and work with this year’s Or Tzedek participants!

Beth Filipiak

Internship Focus: Community Development, Organizing and Advocacy
School/Program: Loyola University Chicago, MSW and MA in Social Justice

Having received her BA in Sociology, Beth spent the next several years in direct services and as an Assistant Director for a Low-Income Senior Housing Management Company.  During this time, she also volunteered twice with a holistic development organization in the Philippines, living, working and learning with this organization for almost a year a half total.  Currently, she is in her final year of a dual master degree program at Loyola University Chicago where she is working toward her MSW and MA in Social Justice and Community Development, with a potential for a certification in Non-profit management and philanthropy. Beth will be with JCUA through December, 2013.

Rachel Aaronson

Internship Focus: Or Tzedek
School/Program: Grinnell College (incoming)

Rachel is currently finishing up her gap year of service with the Americorps program City Year, an education based non profit dedicated to solving our nation’s high school drop out crisis. She’s spent the year working full time as a tutor and mentor in a 6th grade language arts classroom in Orlando, making sure all of her students are given the tools necessary to succeed both in and out of the classroom. She graduated from Chicagoland Jewish High School in 2012, and will be attending Grinnell College in the fall. As an Or Tzedek alumna and an avid advocate for social change, Rachel cannot wait to return to JCUA for this summer!

Jessica Cohen

Internship Focus: Communications
School/Program: Johns Hopkins University, English/Sociology

Having grown up in Chicago, Jessica is now a student at Johns Hopkins University (Class of 2016). In high school she volunteered with kindergarten and nursery school children, primarily as an assistant teacher at K.A.M. Isaiah Israel’s Sunday School program. Jessica has a strong interest in communications, and has pursued journalism and graphic design as an editor for her high school yearbook. She is currently a staff writer for her college newspaper, the Johns Hopkins News-Letter, and is a Layout Editor for the undergraduate public health research journal, Epidemic Proportions. Jessica also volunteers once a week at a soup kitchen in Baltimore that supports battered women, and is a member of the Johns Hopkins’ Sexual Assault Resource Unit.

Eliana Fisher

Internship Focus: Or Tzedek
School/Program: Barnard College

Eliana is a student in the double degree program with Barnard College and Columbia University and List College at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Eliana was a participant in Or Tzedek’s 2011 summer program, and a JCUA volunteer in summer of 2012. She feels that these experiences with JCUA and Or Tzedek were truly life-changing and she is really looking forward to working with Or Tzedek and JCUA again this summer.

Margaret Port

Internship Focus: Jewish-Muslim Initiative
School/Program: Vassar College

An Evanston Township High School graduate, Margaret just completed her freshman year at Vassar College.  She plans on pursuing a double major in psychology and political science.  Her other interests include playing violin, swimming, and volunteering at the Pediatric Development Center in Chicago.

Ione Barrows

Internship Focus: Community Organizing and Advocacy
School/Program: University of Chicago

A Massachusetts native, Ione is an undergraduate at the University of Chicago majoring in History and Gender Studies. She has previously worked as an English tutor at a public school in Woodlawn and is currently an intern at jU Chicago, a campus organization dedicated to redesigning Jewish traditions and engaging Jewish students on campus through innovative programming. She lives in Hyde Park.

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Find out more about internship opportunities at JCUA by visiting:
www.jcua.org/internships

Questions about internships at JCUA? Contact:
Asaf Bar-Tura
Director of Programs
asaf@jcua.org

Our Jewish Response to Chicago’s Soaring Foreclosure Crisis

Judy Levey

by Judy Levey
Executive Director, JCUA

An article this week in the Washington Post called attention to the economic suffering of many communities four years after the housing bust. Near the top of the list for the most suffering is our own Cook County. The article states:

The list of worse-off communities includes places such as Cook County in Illinois, where home prices have fallen nearly 20 percent, unemployment has risen and the inventory of foreclosures has soared.

Responsive to poverty and community needs, JCUA’s work addresses this devastation through our housing advocacy work and our Community Ventures Program. Community Ventures provides zero-interest loans for the redevelopment and preservation of affordable housing. The program currently funds the rehabilitation of foreclosed homes in North Lawndale and neighboring communities through a loan to Breaking Ground, Inc., in addition to predevelopment costs associated with the rehabilitation of the Rosenwald Building to create more than 230 affordable units in Bronzeville (see more Community Ventures projects here).

My rabbi, Rabbi Kensky of Beth Hillel Congregation Bnai Emunah, spoke about the need for a Jewish voice in working to combat injustice in his Dvar Torah last Shabbat on the story of Noah. He generously shared his Dvar Torah with me and gave me permission to share it here. In it, Rabbi Kensky explained:

Make the Vision Possible, Says JCUA’s CEO

Judy Levey, JCUA’s chief executive officer, was a featured speaker at our recent “Acts of Change” event (June 20, 2012). She identifies JCUA’s main issue areas as immigration, housing, Jewish-Muslim community building and empowerment of Jewish teens. The event honored immigration attorney Kalman Resnick and Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia with the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Award.

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Judy Levey, JCUA CEO

It is an honor to be here, following the great tradition of Rabbi Marx, Jane Ramsey, and others have led this organization. Our honorees, Kalman and Chuy are role models for social justice. They, together with our community partners, and all of you – are Actors of Change.

I would like to illustrate several of the ways JCUA, with your help, makes our world more just. These examples make clear what a group of committed and focused people can accomplish when we work together.

Proposed Crete Detention Center

Let’s begin with the dramatic recent events taking place in the Village of Crete. The Corrections Corporation of America was hoping to construct a private immigration detention center there. But the CCA has a bad track record, and their profit incentives lead them to skimp on food and health care. Private detention centers in general are notorious for violations of basic human rights.

JCUA has been working in Crete since late last year, joining forces with the Interfaith Committee for Detained Immigrants, of which we are a founding member. With our help, the residents of Crete got organized and fought to make their voices heard.

There were some setbacks, but a couple of weeks ago the Village Board of Crete voted to kill the project.

Did it happen overnight? No, it was the result of the sustained efforts of the residents of Crete, JCUA, and allies, working together, building relationships, and persevering even in the face of what looked like defeat.

Making Vacant Homes Pretty

Inspired by her experience as an intern at JCUA, Audrey Hutnick created and managed a campaign to call attention to abandoned homes in Peoria, where she is a student at Bradley University.

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Peoria, It’s our City, Let’s Make it Pretty

By Audrey Hutnick
JCUA Intern, summer of 2011

As I packed up the car and returned to Bradley University for my final year of college, last fall, I recalled the many experiences I had while interning at the Jewish Council on Urban affairs.

I remembered celebrating the signing of the Illinois DREAM Act, preparing for the Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner, and helping out at the film screening focused on the 2008 immigration raid of Agriprocessors, Inc. I knew that I would eventually be able to use these experiences and skills, but I had no idea I would put them to use as soon as I took a seat in my first class of the semester.

Working together for a singular issue

Jewish Leaders Honored by Chicago Muslim Group

Rabbi Robert Marx, JCUA’s founder, and Jane Ramsey, longtime executive director, were among the honorees yesterday at “A Celebration with Soul,” the 2011 end-of-year dinner sponsored by the Inner-City Muslim Action Network.

In honoring Marx and Ramsey, IMAN said “JCUA is a long-time partner of IMAN and is currently working to combat the foreclosure crisis as part of the Multifaith Housing Reclamation Campaign.”

Read Ramsey’s acceptance remarks and watch Rabbi Marx on video

In honoring Marx and Ramsey, IMAN called JCUA an outstanding long-time partner. JCUA’s work to promote social justice, said IMAN, is profound and bold.

Muslims, Jews and Christians Have to Work Together

JCUA’s Jane Ramsey and Rabbi Robert Marx were the “special honorees” at the Inner-City Muslim Action Network’s end-of-year dinner, Dec. 11, 2011.  This is Ramsey’s acceptance speech, along with a video message from Rabbi Marx, who was not able to attend in person.

On behalf of Rabbi Robert Marx and myself, and all of us at the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs, I am deeply honored and moved to accept this extraordinary award from you and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network. [Ramsey's remarks continue below video link.]

I think back 10 years ago, when IMAN and JCUA became partners, recognizing that we shared a common vision for a just city and nation, and of working from the grassroots up to tackle poverty and inequities, and to build bridges across racial, religious, ethnic and class lines.

2011 Recap: JCUA’s Year in Review

A year’s work for JCUA, “the Jewish Conscience of Chicago”

JCUA provided a zero-interest loan through our Community Ventures LLC to help Breaking Ground rehab 75 foreclosed homes in North Lawndale over three years.  Learn more about Community Ventures.

JCUA assisted public housing residents at Lathrop Homes to avoid displacement. Learn more about Lathrop Homes.

JCUA joined forces with community partners to form the Multifaith Foreclosure Reclamation Initiative, working to secure properties in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood and planning for more. Learn more about the work on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

JCUA leaders were instrumental in passing the Illinois DREAM Act, putting Illinois at the forefront in recognizing that we all benefit when immigrant students have opportunities for higher education. Learn more about JCUA’s involvement in the DREAM Act.

JCUA marked Black History Month with the “Garment of Destiny” multi-media project, an online campaign to combat racism. Watch and read the “Garment of Destiny” project.

JCUA, in meetings with the White House, advocated for comprehensive immigration reform and the creation of additional affordable housing to meet the critical needs of very low income families and individuals. Learn more about JCUA’s advocacy work in the White House.

JCUA’s Or Tzedek Teen program developed a cadre of 75 Jewish social justice leaders who have taken action on the most pressing social justice issues in Chicago. Learn more about Or Tzedek, a Teen Institute for Social Justice.

JCUA brought together more than 1,000 Jews and Muslims, helping to create a more open, embracing society. Watch and read about “Iftar in the Synagogue.”

6210 Fairfield Becomes Symbol of Community Reclamation

By Judy Levey
Community Development Manager, JCUA

In the midst of an ongoing economic crisis that is displacing families and destabilizing communities, Jews and Muslims are reimagining what we can accomplish when we come together based on our shared commitment to social justice. Putting that energy to work locally, together we are tackling the foreclosure crisis that is devastating communities across the nation.

A young community member standings in front of photos of foreclosed homes in the area

This is a story of how we can go beyond interfaith dialogue to collaborative action, and how you can get involved.

Since 2009, residents near the intersection of Fairfield and 63^rd Street have grown increasingly distressed about an abandoned house in their neighborhood.  With over 5,500 foreclosures in the 60629 area code on Chicago’s Southwest Side between 2006-2010, there are scores of houses that are creating danger zones and wreaking havoc on neighborhood stability.