Overlooking Roseland (Photo Credit: Nitram242/Flickr).
When I drive through the Roseland neighborhood—the community I serve in —I don’t just see blight. I see possibility.
I see land that’s been neglected, families who’ve been denied, and generations waiting for someone to care. But as we’ve come to realize, no one is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves.
The current housing crisis in cities like Chicago reflects decades of systemic issues and underinvestment. It’s the result of decades of policy decisions that cut off Black and Brown communities from access to capital, homeownership and wealth-building opportunities others take for granted. It’s a modern manifestation of what Isabel Wilkerson calls America’s caste system.
In her book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, she describes it as “the infrastructure of our divisions,” a hierarchy so deeply embedded that many don’t even notice how power and privilege move in predictable patterns.
But we notice. We live it every day.
At The Hope Center Foundation, and as a proud member of United Power for Action and Justice, we are part of a coalition committed to doing what others said couldn’t be done: building 1,000 homes on the South Side and another 1,000 on the West Side of Chicago.
We’ve taken our inspiration from the East Brooklyn Congregations, who turned empty lots into thriving communities in New York.
If they could do it, so can we.
This fight isn’t just about bricks and mortar. It’s about justice. It’s about reclaiming our place. As a woman, Black leader, and mother, I know what it means to carry the weight of systems that weren’t built for us. But I also know the power of our collective voice.
There’s a line in the play A Hit Dog Will Holler that speaks to this moment. It says, “Trauma walks with you, even when you pretend it’s not there.”
For too long, our communities have carried that trauma in silence. But now, we’re speaking. We’re organizing. We’re building.
As I tell my team, This is strategic work.
As Robert Greene says in The 48 Laws of Power, “Plan all the way to the end.” We’re not just responding to a crisis—we’re designing the future.
We are working to influence policy decisions through direct engagement with elected officials.
We are collaborating with builders to develop high-quality housing that revitalizes and uplifts neighborhoods. We are working to help generational renters achieve homeownership and build wealth within their neighborhoods. And we’re holding each other accountable.
Because this isn’t charity, it’s power. And power concedes nothing without a demand. Wilkerson reminds us, “You cannot solve anything that you do not admit exists.”
Chicago has an affordable housing problem.
At The Hope Center Foundation, we’re not waiting for anyone to fix this. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. And together, we will build—not just homes, but hope.
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