Mural on Paulina and 18th Place in Pilsen. The Pilsen Neighbors Community Council works to preserve the heritage of the neighborhood’s Mexican population. (Karen Callaway/Chicago Catholic)
In June, when Forbes magazine named Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood as “one of the 12 coolest neighborhoods in the world,” the news was not well received by some residents. Teresa Fraga remembers her son-in-law’s reaction: “My God, my rent just went up $300 a month.” Fraga is a member of the board for Pilsen Neighbors Community Council, a community group created in 1954 that receives funds from the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. They have been working to offer educational, medical and housing resources to people in Pilsen. The annual collection for the Catholic Campaign for Human Development takes place in parishes the weekend of Nov. 17-18. Started in 1969, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. CCHD awards grants to local and national organizations each year that work to end the cycle of poverty. Fraga, a parishioner of St. Procopius/Providence of God, 1641 S. Allport St., has been part of Pilsen Neighbors Community Council since 1975, but arrived in Pilsen with her family in 1966. During those years, European immigrants were leaving the neighborhood and there were many abandoned homes. “The inspectors came very often looking for violations,” Fraga said, “because everyone was ready to demolish those buildings.” Fraga said many of the buildings’ owners had moved to the suburbs and they only came to the neighborhood to collect rent. Also of interest... 2018 CCHD grants This year, CCHD awarded grants totaling $660,000 to 26 non-profit organizations in Cook and Lake counties that support transformative anti-poverty and social justice work in low-income communities. Local funding comes from the portion of the collection retained by the Archdiocese of Chicago. National funding comes from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to which the archdiocese contributes a portion the collection each year. Local grantees Alliance of the SouthEast | $15,000 Alliance of the SouthEast is a multicultural, interfaith coalition of community organizations, faith institutions, labor institutions, businesses, and schools united to address challenges facing southeast Chicago neighborhoods. They organize the South Side Anti-Violence Endeavor which includes a youth leadership council, a restorative justice program, and a tenant association. They are working to obtain a Community Benefits Agreement for the South Works land project to ensure that development benefits local residents through jobs, training, affordable housing, and environmental protections. Chicago Coalition to Save Our Mental Health Centers | $20,000 The Coalition to Save Our Mental Health Centers works to ensure all Chicago residents, especially the low-income and underinsured, have access to adequate community mental health services. They organize local residents, mental health consumers, and faith leaders to create Expanded Mental Health Services Programs (EMHSPs). In 2012 and 2016, they created Chicago’s first two EMHSP programs on the northwest and west sides. They are currently working in the Logan Square, Avondale, and Hermosa communities to create a third EMHSP. Chicago Workers’ Collaborative | $20,000 The Chicago Workers' Collaborative (CWC) fights for the creation of stable, living-wage jobs and racial and gender equity for temporary staffing workers. In 2017, CWC won passage of the country’s most ambitious regulations of the temp staffing industry. They continue to inform temp workers about their rights, assist workers in reporting violations, and monitor the new law’s implementation while pursuing accountability campaigns to stop gender violence in the workplace. Communities United | $15,000 Communities United (CU) takes a holistic approach to advancing social justice through leadership development and systemic change in affordable housing, health and education equity, youth employment, immigrant rights, and justice system reform. CU led campaigns to increase access to healthcare for the uninsured and undocumented, preserved 59 units of affordable housing, and influenced a statewide policy to increase investment in trauma-informed supports such as restorative justice and mental health counselors in high-need schools. Community Renewal Society | $15,000 Community Renewal Society informs and brings people of faith and congregations together—in partnership with communities, coalitions, interfaith organizations, and civic leaders—to transform society toward greater social justice at the intersection of racism and poverty. In partnership with the Restoring Rights and Opportunities Coalition of Illinois (RROCI), they passed several bills that will remove barriers to employment and create better opportunities for people with criminal records. Illinois Hunger Coalition | $10,000 The Illinois Hunger Coalition is the only statewide, antihunger organization working to end hunger and address its underlying causes by working for a deeper and more transformative approach to racial and economic equity. They organize grassroots collaborative efforts across low-income communities to expand programs that reduce poverty, bring federal and state resources to low-income communities, and train marginalized people to become leaders. In 2018 they secured protections of SNAP benefits for over 260,000 unemployed adults and 40,000 low-income community college students. Kenwood Oakland Community Organization | $15,000 Kenwood Oakland Community Organization develops multi-generational leaders who impact decision-making processes and public policies to improve the quality of life in their communities. They launched a workforce development initiative for African American youth, led a rent control campaign, and a helped develop a Community Benefits Agreement for the Obama Presidential Library to address widespread gentrification and prevent displacement. Lake County Sponsors | $10,000 Lake County Sponsors (LCS) is a broad-based community organization that unites 22 churches, mosques, synagogues, and non-profits to develop leaders that collaborate as agents for change for the common good. LCS built support for 110 affordable housing units, a $31 million skilled care facility for low-income elderly, a new behavioral hospital in Waukegan, and a program helping 150 at risk students finish college. They are currently implementing a strategy to reduce the flow of the mentally ill into the criminal justice system by advocating for their placement into crisis centers, treatment, and supportive housing. Logan Square Neighborhood Association | $15,000 The Logan Square Neighborhood Association is a community-based organization advancing diversity, leader development, and models for engagement as the catalyst for social change. Emerging youth and parent leaders, together with housing and education activists, engage local families in conversations about the future of their neighborhoods, push for new housing ordinances and zoning processes that promote affordable, family-sized housing, and make connections between housing displacement and its impact on neighborhood schools. Lugenia Burns Hope Center | $10,000 The Lugenia Burns Hope Center empowers Chicago residents through education, leadership development, community organizing, and social change advocacy to become engaged decision-makers, acting on their own behalf. They advocated for rent control in 10 wards, introduced a new ordinance through the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability, and formed a coalition to provide technical assistance to local school councils. Pilsen Neighbors Community Council | $10,000 Pilsen Neighbors Community Council works for justice and equity by investing in the development of community leaders and pastors through leadership training and action. They implemented the Pilsen Schools Specialization Initiative to bring Pilsen residents back to Pilsen schools and significantly improve the quality of education in the community. They mobilized local churches and community members to support families that were at risk of immigration raids and continue efforts to unite Latino and African American leadership around issues of violence prevention, mental health, and school closings. South Side Community Federal Credit Union | $20,000 South Side Community Federal Credit Union (SSCFCU) equalizes economic power and fights poverty by providing holistic financial education and access to innovative savings and credit services in low-income communities. They are the only financial institution on the south side of Chicago with a community development mission. In the past three years, SSCFCU saved 1200 families from foreclosure through their HUD counseling program, opened 1,262 new member accounts, and disbursed 574 low interest rate loans for a total of $1,107,425.80 in community assets. Southwest Organizing Project | $15,000 The Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) is a membership-based community organization serving the southwest side communities of Chicago Lawn, West Lawn, Gage Park, West Elsdon, and Ashburn. SWOP is well known for its work to revitalize the community after the foreclosure crisis and for reducing violence through the CeaseFire program, improving education with the Parent Mentor Program and other community schools efforts, supporting immigrant families to gain dignity and respect, and assisting families in attaining healthcare. St. Agatha Parent & Family Empowerment Initiative | $20,000 St. Agatha Catholic Parish has been working on critical restorative justice work for 6 years through parent training, conflict resolution, communication training, and peace circles in schools, Cook County jail, and within the parish. After the school closed in 2016, St. Agatha used the empty space to fortify and strengthen families—spiritually, emotionally and physically—by providing programs to address the source of the ongoing violence and trauma that plagues North Lawndale. Target Area Development Corporation | $15,000 Target Area Development Corporation amplifies and channels the informed voices of families and other stakeholders into the decision-making and policy development process in order to benefit disenfranchised families. They work to address crosscutting issues such as community violence and gangs, prisoner re-entry, poverty, and unemployment. They provided re-entry services to over 2,500 returning citizens this year and passed a bill to end criminal booking stations in schools. Waukegan to College | $15,000 Waukegan to College works with first-generation middle and high school students to prepare for, enroll in, and graduate from college, and provides training and leadership development to parents and students. They advocated for the Waukegan School District to create and rewrite a new, bilingual course selection guide so families can better understand the classes required for graduation, college and career readiness. National grantees Arise Chicago | $50,000 Arise Chicago organizes low-wage workers and builds partnerships with faith communities to fight workplace exploitation through education and advocating for public policy change. Arise organized suburban residents to protect the Cook County minimum wage and paid sick days ordinances after business lobbyists tried to strike them down. Arise, with their partners, saved the ordinances in four suburbs, resulting in 200,000 workers benefitting. Chicago Housing Initiative | $25,000 Chicago Housing Initiative is a coalition comprised of 10 community-based member organizations, each organizing low-income residents living in subsidized housing, shelters, transitional housing or nursing homes. Through leadership development, research and policy advocacy, they build the individual and collective capacity of families who are experiencing housing instability or homelessness to create more fair, inclusive and effective housing and land development policies. Jane Addams Senior Caucus | $40,000 Jane Addams Senior Caucus is a multiracial, grassroots organization led by concerned seniors in Chicago. Through leadership development, organizing and education, they use the power of their voice to work for economic, social and racial justice for all seniors. Leaders from over 15 senior buildings united to launch the Senior Housing Bill of Rights campaign to ensure that seniors can age with dignity and safety. Latino Union | $40,000 Latino Union collaborates with low-income immigrant and U.S.-born workers to develop the tools necessary to improve social and economic conditions. They are the only organization in the Midwest that offers comprehensive workforce development, leadership development and training programs for day laborers and domestic workers. They are advocating for the full implementation and enforcement of the Illinois Domestic Workers Bill of Rights and expanding city welcoming ordinances. Metropolitan Tenants Organization | $30,000 Metropolitan Tenants Organization is the largest organizer of tenants and tenant associations in Chicago. They educate, organize and empower tenants to improve their living conditions, prevent homelessness and preserve affordable housing. MTO is working in 23 buildings to help tenants improve living conditions and answers over 8,800 hotline calls each year from tenants requesting assistance. Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside | $50,000 Organizing Neighborhoods for Equality: Northside is a mixed-income, multi-ethnic, intergenerational organization that unites diverse communities by developing grassroots leaders to effect change, especially on issues of racial and economic justice. In 2018, they kept a local shelter open despite the budget crisis, worked to pass the Future Energy Jobs Bill, and participated in the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability to advocate for a community oversight committee and revised police union contract. Precious Blood Ministries of Reconciliation | $65,000 Precious Blood Ministries of Reconciliation works to improve the lives of people impacted by incarceration and inequality by educating and empowering at-risk youth and vulnerable adults, forming advocacy groups to influence policy change, and creating dialogue around restorative justice. PBMR launched the Connected Chicago campaign to share tools and resources and enhance collaboration with other restorative justice hubs. Progress Center for Independent Living | $40,000 Progress Center for Independent Living works with people with disabilities as peers and empowers them to live independent, productive lives within society while building their spirits of dignity, self-sufficiency and self-confidence through advocacy and leadership development. They were instrumental in creating a bill to restore overtime for personal assistants. PCIL is also conducting regular “shop-ins” at local businesses to increase awareness of the disability community and their purchasing power. Southside Together Organizing for Power | $30,000 Southside Together Organizing for Power is a multi-issue community organization that advances economic and social human rights by organizing and developing leadership among people affected by economic and racial oppression. STOP played a key role in advocating for the new University of Chicago trauma center and helped to develop a coalition of community organizations, labor unions and churches to advocate for the Obama Presidential Library Community Benefits Agreement. The People's Lobby Education Institute | $50,000 The People's Lobby Education Institute is a grassroots organization of community groups, congregations, students and individuals that helps low-income people become powerful leaders to act collectively to strengthen their communities. Their participation in the campaign to end cash bail in Illinois resulted in an order requiring judges to set bail within affordable limits, which reduced the jail population significantly. “We started to feel that our dignity was being violated,” Fraga said. The neighbors began to organize among themselves and to demand services, like garbage collection to prevent rats and, with time, to promote the idea of buying houses and buildings among the neighbors. From its beginnings, PNCC had two basic areas of work: education and housing. Among other things, PNCC was crucial in the creation of the Benito Juárez High School and Alivio Medical Center. “Education was our first fight,” said Fraga, who remembers that the community needed a high school because the neighborhood public high school, at the intersection of California and Cermak, was far away and children had to cross gang territories to get there. The group expanded its focus on helping to make college attainable for Latino young people. Although PNCC board member Rita Aguilar was born in Chicago, she was committed to the fight to grant undocumented college students in-state tuition benefits. “Usually you don’t realize the need of an undocumented person, how hard it is to pay for the education and continue studying,” Aguilar said. “In many cases, the parents don’t have much education and the children are the first generation to go to college.” Illinois began charging in-state tuition to undocumented residents in 2003. An act that united and consolidated the work of PNCC was the urban renewal proposal Chicago Plan 21, which was created in 1973 by executives from several companies interested in restoring buildings and abandoned lots in the South Loop area, which affected Pilsen. PNCC opposed this project. “Plan 21 was going to displace us,” Fraga said. In 1976, PNCC was able to negotiate an alternative plan with the city of Chicago that would let them stay in the neighborhood. The alternative plan was not implemented and bought them some time. Next they tried to get people who lived in the neighborhood to buy properties there. “The banks were not giving mortgages to buy properties in Pilsen anymore,” Fraga said. “Back then, no one from the community had a mortgage and we had a campaign in the church.” They conducted a survey in the neighborhood churches in which they asked people, “If you could buy a house, would you do it?” Fraga believes this is one of the reasons why Pilsen has been one community that has resisted gentrification, because in the late 1970s and early 1980s, many Mexican families began to buy houses and take root in the neighborhood, as opposed to going back to Mexico after a certain period, as many had done in the past. “With the movement, people gained confidence and courage, they began to say, ‘I am not alone, my brother-in-law is going to buy as well, and my neighbor and fellow parishioner is going to buy,’” Fraga said. “In 1979, we bought our building and we are still here.” Aguilar believes strengthening the sense of community is very important, in both her parish, St. Paul, and in the rest of Pilsen. “Today we see the struggle with immigration, the separation of families, the raids, the deportations,” she said. “It is necessary that our community understands that we have some power, we have rights, even if we do not have our documents.” PNCC used CCHD money to help pay for youth activities, including hiring a youth organizer. Working with the next generation of Latinos has been a priority, and part of the group’s efforts have expanded beyond Pilsen. “We go farther south, to neighborhoods like Back of the Yards and Brighton Park,” Aguilar said, “because here in Pilsen we already have organizations working in different things, but over there, there is a shortage of organizations.”
Seminarians learn about poverty through immersion program Three seminarians from St. Paul Seminary in Minnesota spent three weeks at St. Mary of the Lake-Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, 4220 N. Sheridan Road, helping migrant families as part of an immersion program with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD).
Catholic Campaign for Human Development awards grants Each year, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development awards grants to projects aimed at changing the structures that perpetuate poverty in society. Some grants are awarded locally and are paid for with money collected in the archdiocese; others are awarded by the national CCHD office.
Church’s anti-poverty program: Giving the poor a voice for 50 years When the Rev. Marlon Tilghman learned that any Maryland juvenile taken into custody can be questioned by police without a parent being informed or without an attorney present, his thoughts turned to his teenage granddaughter.