One of the most intractable situations facing the Chicago area is not chronic un- and underemployment, not high crime, and not poor education. Yet, it has an impact on all of those areas, because it creates a situation where citizens of Chicago, who have
We too often do not regard ourselves as Chicagoans. Chicago has long been called one of the most segregated cities in America. That may or may not be true, but it is certain that this city of big shoulders is also a city of strong neighborhoods and strong neighborhood ties. In fact, while outside the city Chicagoans are quick to identify with the city, within the city they most commonly identify with their neighborhood, and, to take it one step further, their high school.
Many of the people I speak with talk about their high school BEFORE they talk about their neighborhood (often because they no longer live in that neighborhood, but they still pledge allegiance to that high school.) While it is laudable to cling to neighborhoods, it is counterproductive to extol that neighborhood at the expense of collective effort.
One of the problems is that there are agencies and programs in every neighborhood, some of them providing the exact same service, with the only difference being that one is in East Garfield Park and the other is in West Garfield Park.
Too often, organizations spring up on the South Side of Chicago, that do great work, yet, they only bite off that particular swatch of real estate, and some are even encouraged (by city officials, by aldermen, by funding agencies) to stay local, rather than extend beyond ward or neighborhood lines.
Unfortunately, the problems faced by our citizens almost uniformly extend beyond ward or neighborhood lines, and often, one neighborhood, by itself, cannot deal with the problems, and can only apply a Band- Aid to the hemorrhaging. There are at least four Chicago chapters (or units) of the NAACP (Chicago Far South Side, Chicago Northside, Chicago Southside, and Chicago Westside).
Certainly, at some time, given the large Black population of this city, it must have been necessary to have so many NAACP chapters. But it doesn’t appear necessary now. I have been in Chicago for a year as executive editor of this publication, and I have yet to get any information about an NAACP function, program, march, protest or even Freedom Fund Dinner.
Not to pick on the NAACP, but that proliferation of organizations is endemic to the problems facing this city. We have so many organizations, all doing quality work, but the quality and the relevance would be so much greater if they worked together, or, at the very least, even acknowledged the other’s existence. Instead, they plod along, their heads fully entrenched in their own parochial problems, and fail to see that their problems are everyone else’s problems.
Does EVERY neighborhood need an anti-violence program? Should each neighborhood sponsor a youth program? Could a coalition of churches better address poverty in a particular neighborhood, or must they work alone, even when they are of the same faith?
If a program is working well on the Westside, do citizens on the South Side talk to the originators of that program to gain input, or do they simply recreate the wheel where they are? Too often, we’re getting yet another wheel. I’m not saying that these organizations should shutter their doors.
But at some point, they are going to have to recognize that they cannot exist in a vacuum, and that in an era of shrinking resources, they MUST pool their resources, and their information, so they can attack these problems with some chance of success.
The only way these intractable problems can be met is with collective effort. Rather than form a whole new organization, let’s find ways to work with existing organizations. Those existing organizations have to be willing to look outside their own zip code for talent and expertise, and yes, leadership.
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