Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality

by: Peter B

On February 13th, Chicago’s abc 7 news ran a story covering a recent report out of the University of Illinois in Chicago that ranked Chicago as the most corrupt city in the United States. In the past 42 years, 1,731 people in Illinois’ Northern District have been convicted of public corruption.

In a city notorious for mobs, powerful unions, the political machine, and gang-related violence, you cannot wait for the government to work for you. Hundreds of local grassroots organizations on the Northside of the city are working to make a positive impact in the daily lives of some of the cities most vulnerable residents.

Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality, more commonly known as ONE Northside, is a community organization working towards strengthening “a diverse, united North Side of Chicago acting powerfully for our shared values of racial, social, and economic justice in communities where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.” The organization works primarily on issues facing neighborhoods north of the city’s center, including Rogers Park, Edgewater, Uptown, Ravenswood, North Center, Lakeview and Lincoln Park. Since 2013, when the organization came into existence via a merger between the Lakeview Action Coalition and Organization of the Northeast, ONE Northside has organized people from over 100 local institutions to work towards affordable housing, education, economic justice, mental health justice, healthcare, violence prevention, and positive youth development.

Since Organization of the Northeast’s founding in 1974 and Lakeview Action Coalition’s founding in 1993, the organizations separately and together have secured an extensive list of accomplishments on behalf of Chicago residents. Through widespread collective action and coalition building, the organizations have been able to build power on a local scale that has led to significant accomplishments. A few of the many accomplishments include: establishing a $1 Million Transitional Jobs program for Chicagoans returning from incarceration, created the first loan-program in the U.S. for the citizenship application fee, helped to retain a $10 million appropriation to retain affordable housing, with partners won the first State of Illinois commitment to affordable housing in the capital budget of $145 million, transformed a poorly managed hotel into quality low-income housing that also links tenants to social services and jobs, and won a tax break for developers to build or rehab affordable housing. A few of the efforts ONE Northside is currently working include Police Accountability, the “Grow Your Own Teachers” program, and a gun violence prevention program.

According to Carl Nightingale, author of the book Segregation: A Global History, Chicago “was a laboratory for segregation” in the early 20th century. The city was among the first cities to utilize tools of real estate analysis and racial data to further inequality. This is just one of many unjust practices that have resulted in a city characterized today by continued segregation, inequality, and a declining population. For the Chicagoans who remain committed to the city, local organizations like ONE Northside are helping push the city toward a more just and equitable future.

For more information, visit onenorthside.org

Cited:

Kalpen, Bria (Feb 13, 2019) “Chicago is nation’s most corrupt big city, Illinois is third most corrupt state, report finds” abc7. https://abc7chicago.com/politics/chicago-is-nations-most-corrupt-big-city-report-finds-/5137350/

Moser, Whet (March 31, 2017) “Chicago Isn’t Just Segregated, It Basically Invented Modern Segregation.” Chicago Mag. https://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/March-2017/Why-Is-Chicago-So-Segregated/