For weeks have been digging through history, identifying the powerful, noting how systems can be open, public, helpful or can remain hidden, secretive, messy. But now we get to a fun week! This week we get to identify the change makers!
I want to kick us off with an unusual program, but one that I find very inspiring because of its “on the ground” nature.
Right outside Chicago, IL is a small suburb called Oak Park. Oak Park is cute and lively and diverse. It also can be a little divided because one side of Oak Park borders the hood. As you all can easily imagine after our study together, many (white) folks who want to move into Oak Park make special effort to move as far away from the Black neighborhood as possible. But here’s the rub. Oak Park is about 4 square miles big. Dassit. Yet, folks still manage to divide this small city into the “sides of town” they are willing to live within.
Enter the Oak Park Regional Housing Center. I read about this organization in the Washington Post a…