Housing Commissioner Andrew Mooney Speaks on the Importance of Addressing the Foreclosure Crisis

Andrew Mooney, Chicago Commissioner of the Department of Housing and Economic Development, spoke at JCUA‘s 2011 Rabbi J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner.  Below is a copy of his powerful speech about the importance of affordable housing and people like the dinner’s honorees, Ralph Brown, Roberta Nechin and David Midgley.   

Andrew Mooney speaking at JCUA's Annual Dinner

Thank you and good evening, thank you Rami.  I am honored to be here.  When Nikki Stein asked me if I’d make these presentations tonight, I responded immediately.  Not only are tonight’s awardees long time champions of social justice, they are dear friends and colleagues, who have had an enormous impact on the things I care about most in this great city.

Ralph, David and Roberta all share the values that are the hallmark of JCUA.  They have dedicated their lives and careers to actualizing justice in the form of affordable housing in livable neighborhoods.  They have made clear what most of us know instinctively, that to live the good life we have to have certain fundamentals, and that in our society we have both the democratic imperative and the financial resources to do so if we so choose.  Ralph, David and Roberta chose to do so and their recognition tonight is richly deserved.

Yet there is a bitter irony that we are honoring these three in the midst of these remarkable financial times.  Like many of us they began their work several decades ago when both private and public institutions red-lined urban neighborhoods, which consequently destroyed the value of those neighborhoods, leaving them with few resources other than the people themselves.  I fear that the same has happened again.

2011 JCUA Raffle Winners

Winners for the 2011 JCUA Raffle were announced at this year’s Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner on June 23 at the Fairmont Chicago.

• Lilli Schaye – $150 for dinner for two at aria at the Fairmont Chicago
• Erica Marks – $170 gift certificate for salon services at J Gordon Designs
• Maurice Fantus – $500 gift certificate to Hanig’s Footwear
• Kim Jones – Susan Fredman Design Group design consultation and luxurious throw ($585 value)
• Steve Vance – $1000 in fine Jewelry from Gregg Helfer Jeweler Ltd.
• Robert “Bud” Lifton – iPad 2
• John Slocum – six night vacation to Chateau at Silver Lake in Deer Valley, Utah

Housing Commissioner Andrew Mooney Speaking at Anuual Dinner on June 23

Ralph Brown, Roberta Nechin and David Midgley

We hope you will be able to join us for our social justice awards dinner on June 23 honoring Ralph Brown, Roberta Nechin and David Midgley, three people dedicated to ensuring all Chicagoans have decent, safe and affordable housing.

Andrew Mooney

Andrew Mooney, commissioner of the City of Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, will be speaking at the dinner and presenting awards to the honorees.

Chairing the dinner is JCUA board member Peter Hanig along with JCUA advisory board member Sheldon Baskin and Kitty Freidheim of Freidheim Consulting as honorary chairs.

Whether or not you are able to attend the dinner, you can purchase tickets for our 2011 raffle for an opportunity to win an iPad 2, a six-night vacation, $1000 worth of fine jewelry, $500 for shoes or up to $150 for dinner for two.

You do not need to be present to win; however, you must be an Illinois resident to participate.

“A Household That Held Social Action As Essential”–Esther Saks at JCUA’s 2010 Annual Dinner

Esther Saks with her four daughters

Esther Saks’ remarks at this year’s Rabbi Robert J. Marx Social Justice Awards Dinner, Nov. 18, 2010 at the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel, Chicago, Ill.

[Learn more about the Saks Family]

When I was thinking about what the remarks should be that I would make tonight, I remembered an incident that happened to me and Alan quite a number of years ago.

We were on one of our trips, one of our annual trips to England, business trips that we took at that time, and we were invited to spend a weekend with some new business associates in their house in the country in London.

And while we were having some “get acquainted” conversations, our host said to me, “Um, we hear that you’re a do-gooder.” And I said, “Hmmm.” And I suspected that he meant that I was one of those village ladies that are so disdained in British novels that know everybody else’s business and run flea market sales.

And then I remember saying, “Well, you know, if you mean that I want to know, that I need to know, about the issues that are shaping my community and my society—that affect me and my family, and that I can affect, then I guess I’m a do-gooder—and Alan is too.”

One wonders how that need—really that impulse, to be involved starts. For us I think it started in the generations before us.

For Esther Saks and Family, Social Justice is a Way of Life

A colorful quilt by the artist Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson, hangs on the wall in the dining room of Esther Saks’ Chicago apartment in Lakeview. Its elements are finely detailed—down to the images of people woven into the fabric. And like the images woven into the quilt, so has the desire to do social justice work been woven into the fabric of who Saks is.

“Living a self-sustaining and self-supporting life is a given, but above that offering one’s resources, time and intelligence to your communities, takes the meaning of life next level,” said Saks. “Our family has always felt that one owes something to your community,” she said.

Saks, 80, shared this passion for social activism with her late husband Alan Saks, and in their 50-year marriage, the couple were deeply committed to many political and social justice movements and activities, and raised four daughters who followed in their footsteps.

“Both my parents and Alan’s parents led by example – we always tried to do the same,” said Saks.

Esther and Alan Saks