On Sunday, homes across the nation will wake up to an expansive New York Times Magazine cover story about the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign. Shadowing housing rights activist J.R. Fleming, the article paints a haunting picture of the neighborhoods that have been devastated by foreclosure, divestment, unemployment, the demolition of public housing, violence and now the impact of mass school closings.The work of the Chicago Anti-Eviction Campaign is not new to Crossroads Fund. We were their first foundation funder, a role we have played with many emerging activist organizations in our 30+ year history. Crossroads Fund was willing to take the chance to fund a new group of South Side activists using direct action tactics to prevent evictions and foreclosures, rehabbing vacant homes them to provide free housing to formerly homeless families.Crossroads Fund is willing to take a chance and invest in new strategies and tactics, funding coalitions and new and emerging organizations. We also support movement building: En 2007, when J.R. was working with the Coalition to Protect Public Housing, we gave them a grant to travel to the US Social Forum, where they met with other members of the Right to the City Coalition, and strategized about building national and international movements to protect housing and public services for poor people and people of color being pushed out of revitalizing cities.Sadly Chicago grows more divided every day, and communities on the South and West Side are often left out of the conversations about the future of our city. Crossroads Fund is proud to support grassroots groups like the Chicago Anti Eviction Campaign and so many others: Homegrown groups that are led by community members as they work for racial, social and economic justice.Check out the full article on the New York Times website.
