Chicago Public Housing Research Articles

Book Review: The Dignity of Resistance: Women Residents’ Activism in Chicago Public Housing.

Book Review: The Dignity of Resistance: Women Residents’ Activism in Chicago Public Housing.

Counterpublics in Public Housing: Reframing the Politics of Service-Learning

Describing a service-learning project in Chicago public housing, the author argues for a reconception of counterpublics that takes the individual (and individual development) as the primary unit of analysis. The real question for service-learning educators, he suggests, is not whether the private and the public can inform each other, but whether we are prepared to discern the ways in which they already do inform each other in the communities we wish to serve. The students in the project developed a much broader conception of themselves as members of the human family, with the consequence that, although social problems in public housing were not changed, public discourse and private convictions about race in those communities were altered, suggesting that cultural difference may be less of a problem and more of a resource in service learning courses.

The dignity of resistance: women residents' activism in Chicago public housing

Foreword Sheila Radford-Hill Preface and acknowledgments Part I. Introduction: 1. Struggle for homeplace Part II. Wentworth Gardens' Historic Context: 2. US public housing policies: Wentworth Gardens' historic backdrop 3. Memory of a better past, reality of the present: the impetus for resident activism Part III. Everyday Resistance in the Expanded Private Sphere: 4. The community household: the foundation of everyday resistance 5. The local advisory council (LAC): a site of women-centered organizing 6. Women-centered leadership: a case study 7. The appropriation of homeplace: organizing for the spatial resources to sustain everyday life Part IV. Transgressive Resistance in the Public Sphere: 8. The White Sox Battle: protest and betrayal 9. Linking legal action and economic development: tensions and strains 10. Becoming resident managers: a bureaucratic quagmire Part V. Conclusions: 11. Resistance in context Epilogue Appendices References Index.

Participation in a residential mobility program from the client's perspective: Findings from Gautreaux Two

In 2002, the Gautreaux Two housing mobility program provided low‐income families living in Chicago public housing with the opportunity to move to more affluent, less racially isolated communities. This article presents findings on their complex search and moving process. Only about one‐third of enrolled families actually moved through the program ("leased‐up"). In‐depth interviews with a randomly chosen sample of 71 families and an additional 20 “likely mover” families showed that movers fell into four groups distinguished by personal characteristics that made it easier for them to move or by residence on Chicago's North Side. Nonmovers faced a variety of obstacles, both external (a tight rental market, discrimination, and bureaucratic delays) and internal (limited experience and program comprehension, large household size, and health problems). Also, some nonmovers were too busy with work or school to engage in what proved to be an onerous process of identifying a suitable unit and moving.

What Is The Second Ghetto?

Arnold Hirsch’s landmark book Making the Second Ghetto offers a temporal answer to the question, “What is the second ghetto?” Hirsch argues that the second ghetto, which lasted from 1933 to 1968, was distinguished by federal intervention. Government funds sponsored the creation of high-rise public housing in Chicago, a new source of racial segregation in the United States. Hirsch’s thesis does not fully account for continuing racial segregation in private housing.

There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz

Children's Environments Vol. 9 No. 2 (1992) There Are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America Kotlowitz, Alex (1991). New York: Anchor Books, Doubleday; 318 pages. $14.95. ISBN 0385265565. Late last fall the Boston Globe reported on the homicide trial of seventeen yearold Felicia Morgan in Milwaukee. Morgan was tried for gunning down a girl herown age who had refused to hand over her leather trench coat when Morgan andfriends demanded it. Morgan's attorney, Robin Shellow, in an unusual insanitydefense, attempted to convince the jury that her client suffered fromposttraumatic stress syndrome, and was unable to distinguish right fromwrong. Felicia Morgan, she claimed, had grown up in the unrelentingly violentenvironment of the inner city. This, together with her abusive home life, had sodamaged her psychologically that she should be absolved from responsibility forher crime. James Garbarino, a noted expert on the effects of violence onchildren, testified that life for children in America's urban areas is asbrutal, insecure, and traumatic as it is for those in war zones. The judge,however, would not allow the jury to hear his testimony. Morgan in the end was not absolved. The jury convicted her of murder and armedrobbery, and she was committed to life in prison. Felicia Morgan's crime waschilling, and it is hard not to sympathize with the conclusion of her victim'sfather. For him it was a matter of right and wrong: 'You don't kill no one overa coat,' he said. 'I wouldn't do that. You wouldn't do that.' But Morgan'sattorney raised a critical issue, and one that needs to be raised again andagain, until we as a society are willing to look unflinchingly at the lives ofchildren reared in the violence of our cities, and to consider whereresponsibility lies. Nowhere are these lives more effectively chronicled that in Alex Kotlowitz' finebook, There Are No Children Here. Kotlowitz describes in graphic detail theextent to which children do indeed live in war zones in this country. Thesubjects of his book are brothers, 292 Lafeyette and Pharoah Rivers, aged 11 and 9when the account begins. They live with their mother and 4 year old tripletsiblings in a Chicago public housing highrise. The elevators don't work, thebasement is full of rats and rotting carcasses, and putrid smells rise throughthe plumbing to make their apartment unbearable on a hot day. Kotlowitzdescribes two years in the lives of the boys, and it is a wrenching report byany standard. He tells of his first meeting with Lafeyette, when the boy wasbarely ten years old. They were discussing his plans for the future. 'If I growup,' the boy says, 'I'd like to be a bus driver.' 'If,' Kotlowitz points out,'not when. At the age of ten, Lafeyette wasn't sure he'd make it to adulthood.'His mother, LaJoe, is no more secure about his chances. In the six monthspreceding the summer of 1987, 57 children were killed in the city, fiveof them in the vicinity of the family's building. That summer LaJoe took outburial insurance on the two boys and the younger children. Gunfire in the projects is a fact of life. Rival gangs shoot at one another fromhighrise to highrise on a regular basis. In the boys' apartment there are bulletholes in the livingroom curtains, in a bedroom window, and in one of thedoors. The narrow hallway is their fallout shelter, and they spend hours theresometimes, trying to contain the restless triplets, and waiting for the soundsof battle to end. There is a harrowing account of a gang dispute one day just asschool is letting out, and of Lafeyette's fear that Pharoah will run through thegunfire on his way home. Pharoah makes it home and pounds frantically on thedoor to be let in, but he cannot be heard over the sounds of the shooting. The wonder is that these children hold on to any kind of hope. We hear ofLafeyette's longing for another kind of life and his determination not to dropout or join a gang; of his despair at being convicted for a crime he didn'tcommit; of his pain and growing cynicism, as...

The poverty of life-affirming work: motherwork, education, and social change

Preface Introduction The War Against Subsistence Ache When I Think of My Children: Raising Children in Chicago's Public Housing Welfare Mothers: Invisible Work Becoming Visible--And Invisible Again Literacy and Motherwork Teaching and Learning as a Political Ally Creating and Sustaining Life and Community Conclusions References Index

The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago

The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago

The Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago. By Susan J. Popkin, Victoria E. Gwiasda, Lynn M. Olson, Dennis P. Rosenbaum, and Larry Burton. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Pp. 256. $52.00 (cloth); $22.00 (paper).

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook ReviewThe Hidden War: Crime and the Tragedy of Public Housing in Chicago. By Susan J. Popkin, Victoria E. Gwiasda, Lynn M. Olson, Dennis P. Rosenbaum, and Larry Burton. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 2000. Pp. 256. $52.00 (cloth); $22.00 (paper).James GarbarinoJames GarbarinoCornell University Search for more articles by this author Cornell UniversityPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Social Service Review Volume 75, Number 4December 2001 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/339147 Views: 30Total views on this site Citations: 1Citations are reported from Crossref Permission to reprint a book review printed in this section may be obtained only from the author.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Brian K. Payne, Deeanna M. Button Developing a Citywide Youth Violence Prevention Plan, International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 53, no.55 (Jul 2008): 517–534.https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X08321868

Growing Up in the Projects: The Economic Lives of a Cohort of Men Who Came of Age in Chicago Public Housing

Growing Up in the Projects: The Economic Lives of a Cohort of Men Who Came of Age in Chicago Public Housing by Steven D. Levitt and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh. Published in volume 91, issue 2, pages 79-84 of American Economic Review, May 2001

The hidden war: crime and the tragedy of public housing in Chicago

Focusing on three developments, this study chronicles the many failed efforts of the Chicago Housing Authority to combat crime and improve its high-rise developments. The authors reveal the dilemmas facing women and children who are often victims or witnesses of violent crime.

Low-Income Families in Their New Neighborhoods

This article investigates short-term changes in neighborhood conditions for families moving from Chicago public housing as part of the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) demonstration program. MTO features a controlled experimental design and thus may be better suited, in the long run, than recent survey-based studies to elucidate the effects of neighborhood conditions on family and children's well-being. We focus on five key aspects of family well-being: neighborhood conditions, feelings of safety, experiences with crime, opportunities and risks for teenagers, and access to services. All mover families experienced significant improvements on each measure, yet those that were required to move to low-poverty neighborhoods experienced the greatest improvements. The only drawback to these low-poverty moves appears to be the relative isolation of the destination, particularly concerning access to public transportation; however, more intensive housing counseling might help families choose neighborhoods with better access to transportation and closer to other services.

McCUBBIN, Hamilton I, Elizabeth A. THOMPSON, Anne I. THOMPSON and Jo A. FUTRELL, editors, RESILIENCY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES

McCUBBIN, Hamilton I, Elizabeth A. THOMPSON, Anne I. THOMPSON and Jo A. FUTRELL, editors, RESILIENCY IN AFRICAN-AMERICAN FAMILIES. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1998, 357pp., $28.95 softcover / $59.95 hardcover. in African-American is one edited book of three volumes on in Series produced by the Center for Excellence in Family Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The research aim is to focus on the power of families, in all forms, to recover from adversity. The editors argue that much emphasis has already been placed on African-American families as passive and dysfunctional, instead it is important to study the resources families have and/or develop under adverse circumstances. As such, ecological models are primarily utilized by the included studies. The book has fifteen chapters and is divided into two topical sections: first, and Communities, and second, and Relationships. The book begins with Alex Kotlowitz', a journalist, keynote address at the Resiliency in Families conference. His book, There Are No Children Here, about two young African American mates lived experiences in public housing in Chicago, provides a harsh community context, yet the author also argues for a sense of optimism for the community resident's future. Next, Harriet Pipes McAdoo's article builds on the theme of resiliency by providing a more evident academic framework by discussing coping strategies of resilient Black families, then gives an overview of relevant topical areas, such as marital structures, and children in single-parent homes. The and Communities connections continues by the inclusion of studies about peer, housing and neighborhood, religious-church, and prenatal care, as well as the following. Michael C. Thornton investigated the role of caregiver among Black family members, finding that whether immediate or extended, Blacks are very attached to their families in ways that cannot be assessed conventionally. Hamilton I. McCubbin conducted a large, empirical study on a neglected segment of the military population that found even under the stress of military life on foreign ground, AfricanAmerican families adapted and proved resilient. The second section focuses on and Relationships, here, relations between marital partners, perceptions of young fathers on the meaning of fatherhood, mother and daughter interactions, and at-risk youth's success with a twelve month treatment program are explored; as well as the following. Velma McBride Murry found that most adolescent females have successfilily avoided pregnancy, a small percentage had obtained abortions, and more Black females had become adolescent mothers than Hispanics or Whites. …

Immunization outreach in an inner-city housing development: reminder-recall on foot.

To determine rates of immunization coverage among children 3 to 72 months of age in a large public housing development, to develop a community-based outreach program to increase coverage, and to evaluate the effect of the program. A door-to-door canvass of the development by specially trained emergency medical technicians to enroll families, to determine immunization status from written records, and to follow-up to encourage immunizations and well-child care. The program was evaluated, comparing rates of immunization by age with an expectation based on the immunization histories before enrollment. A Chicago public housing development, October 1993 through December 1996. Antigen-specific and series-specific coverage based on written records. Of the caregivers, 92% were able to identify a primary care provider. At the time of enrollment, 37% of 1075 children were up-to-date, but that proportion varied by age with 27% of children 19 to 35 months of age being up-to-date. The program increased rates of immunization compared with the expectation from the preenrollment rates. At their final assessment, 50% of the children were up-to-date. For individual vaccines, there was a positive program effect. For example, before enrollment, 22% of children 15 months of age had received measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine. However, 39% of children who were enrolled in the program before they were 12 months of age had received their first immunizations by 15 months of age. Children in the housing development had very low rates of immunization before enrollment. An in-person intervention was effective in reaching families and determining immunization status. In the 3-year enrollment and observation period, rates of immunization increased.

Where Does Community Grow?

This study examines how the availability of nature influences the use of outdoor public spaces in two Chicago public housing developments. Ninety-six observations were collected of the presence and location of trees and the presence and location of youth and adults in semiprivate spaces at one high-rise and one low-rise public housing development. Results consistentiy indicated that natural landscaping encourages greater use of outdoor areas by residents. Spaces with trees attracted larger groups of people, as well as more mixed groups of youth and adults, than did spaces devoid of nature. In addition, more dense groupings of trees and trees that are located close to public housing buildings attracted larger groups of people. These findings suggest that natural elements such as trees promote increased opportunities for social interactions, monitorng of outdoor areas, and supervision of children in impovershed urban neighborhoods.

A Call for Fairness: The Historical and Continuing Exclusion of Latinos from Public Housing in Chicago

A Call for Fairness: The Historical and Continuing Exclusion of Latinos from Public Housing in Chicago

Public housing, home ownership, and community participation in Chicago's inner city

Abstract The impact of public housing on the motivation of its tenants to engage in action to prevent its deterioration has been a topic of recent debate. This discussion has led some to advocate the sale of public housing to tenants as a means of giving them a stake in their community, and, thus, the motive to prevent its deterioration. By using the Urban Poverty Family Life Survey, this paper estimates the effects of public housing and home ownership on rates of community participation. The results do not support those who claim that residents of inner‐city public housing are less likely to become involved in community affairs than inner‐city home owners. The results also suggest that factors other than housing tenure status, such as church attendance, family structure, and the number of families known in the neighborhood are responsible for variation in rates of community participation. Taken together, these results stress the need to look beyond the simple causal relationship between community partici...

Smoking-related behavior, beliefs, and social environment of young black women in subsidized public housing in Chicago.

Survey data indicate that young Black female smokers living in public housing are heavier smokers and have weaker motivation to quit, health beliefs and social environment less conducive to cessation, and less knowledge of where to get help to quit than other young Black female smokers in metropolitan Chicago. Compared with White women, the latter, other Black women smoke fewer cigarettes daily and have a stronger desire to quit and more concern about health reasons for quitting, but have a weaker belief in the risk of lung cancer from smoking, greater concern about quitting difficulties, and less knowledge of where to get help to quit. Low education, not race, is associated with higher smoking prevalence and less social pressure to quit or support for quitting.

The failure of federal enforcement of civil rights regulations in public housing, 1963?1971: The co-optation of a federal agency by its local constituency

This paper reports on research regarding the federal role with respect to racially discriminatory practices in public housing. It is a case study of federal efforts to deal with inadequate housing for low-income Americans, based on Public Housing in Chicago from 1963 through June 1971.

Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest: The Case of Public Housing in Chicago

Politics, Planning, and the Public Interest: The Case of Public Housing in Chicago