Gail Schechter has been a leader in the housing justice movement since 1984, and serves as the Executive Director of Housing Opportunities and Maintenance for the Elderly (H.O.M.E.) in Chicago. From 1993-2016, she was Executive Director of Open Communities, and while there in 2015, co-founded a grassroots organizing campaign for inclusive and diverse northern suburbs, The Justice Project: The March Continues. Schechter is a contributing author of "The Chicago Freedom Movement: Martin Luther King Jr. and Civil Rights Activism in the North" (University of Kentucky Press, 2016) with a chapter documenting the history of the equal housing movement in the northern suburbs. She is also a certified Kingian nonviolence trainer and co-founder of the Addie Wyatt Center for Nonviolence Training in Chicago. A Skokie resident since 2004, she co-founded and chaired the Skokie Alliance for Electoral Reform through its successful November 2022 referendum champaign, and organized and heads Skokie Neighbors for Housing Justice. In 2025, she was elected At-Large Trustee of the Village of Skokie. The views expressed in this blog are purely her own.
With the turnaround in the economy, our suburbs have an opportunity to put housing developments in place that serve the needs and incomes of residents of all ages as well as the local workforce.
Neighborhood predicts whether a child scores in the 10th or 90th percentile in an achievement test. It is our collective obligation to all children to build supportive communities.
If you are a typical homeowner and feel left behind by federal mortgage reforms, you are not alone. Newly proposed bills in Congress can help you and correct the housing market at the same time.
This is the story of a teacher and a girl. Listen to the call of stories, as Robert Coles writes, and find moral encouragement. These stories of inspiration live on in the people around us.
Governor Quinn, please follow through on the spirit of the state's Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act and meet the human need for housing and community.
While the northern suburbs are increasingly diverse (up from 10% persons of color in 1980 to over 26% in 2010), the Black population in most suburbs is under 1%. Segregation is alive and well.
Every suburb or neigborhood has places where people feel comfortable and unselfconscious. These are the places where community flourishes. What's your favorite "social seam" in the northern suburbs?
In 2007, 8th graders, learning of Dr. King's speech at a 1965 Winnetka housing rally, successfully advocated for a plaque on the Village Green. When education meets activism the experience transforms.
David James, the first African American to purchase a home in Winnetka, in 1967, was also a pioneer in his youth, as a Lieutenant and Tuskegee Airman who flew bombing missions over Germany.
Growing up in a diverse community prepares children for a complex world. We need the political will to invest in our north suburban childrens’ future by endorsing strategies that promote integration.
Each of us is animated by core values. Single-issue thinking is counterintuitive and in the long run, risks marginalizing concerns of global import.
