The gathering didn’t get much attention–no reporters were present–but on November 20 Mayor Daley met with about 3,000 black residents at a church on the far south side. To rousing cheers and amens, he pledged to make money available for health programs and day-care facilities.
Parts of these communities, which include Roseland and Pullman, remain vibrant–home to thousands of teachers and CTA and federal employees. But there’s no escaping the toll of a decade of economic decline. Many residents lost their jobs when nearby steel mills closed. The foreclosure rate in Roseland is among the highest in the city. Even federal and city employees worry about job security as government budgets are slashed.
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However, with the exception of the Woodlawn Organization, few Alinsky-style groups have taken root in all- black neighborhoods. One reason, Owens and others speculate, is that black churches tend to be much more independent. And organizing for the project was made more challenging by several high-profile and dynamic church leaders, including Love and the reverends Albert Shears of Maple Park United Methodist Church and James T. Meeks of the Salem Baptist Church.
In the fall Repel met with project leaders, who outlined their communities’ needs. At the head of the list were day care and improved health facilities. “We also felt the need for more job training, particularly in the area of engineering,” says Augustine. “What good would an airport be if our residents were not trained to work there? We needed the skills before we could get the jobs.”
The activists realized that private commitments are not as enforceable as public ones. So they invited Daley to appear before their November convention. “We wanted Daley to say publicly what he told us in private,” says Love. “I said, “Mr. Mayor, we have a tradition in the church to say amen, so we say amen to jobs and amen to economic development and amen to health. And when Daley got up to speak he said amen. He reaffirmed his promise for the day-care slots and the training and the health facility. And the whole time we were taping his speech on film.”
