Join Us for an Open Communities’ Awards Luncheon

April is Fair Housing Month! Join us to celebrate awardees who are making an impact throughout the North and Northwest Suburbs. Come network with our elected officials and other leaders from the real estate, lending, legal, and property management fields.

“We must learn to live together as brothers, or we will all perish together as fools.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., July 25, 1965, Winnetka Village Green

Where:

Chicago Botanic Garden

When:

April 23, 2020

12:00pm - 2:30pm

Address:

1000 Lake Cook Road
Glencoe, IL 60022

WHO WE ARE

Open Communities’ mission is to educate, advocate and organize to promote just and inclusive communities in north suburban Chicago.  We seek to eradicate housing discrimination, in all of its forms and against all persons, because of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, disability, familial status, or source of income.  Quality housing is a human right; fair housing is the law.

WHY FAIR HOUSING MATTERS

Fair Housing, in the most simple sense,  is the right to choose housing free from unlawful discrimination. This is not the reality for thousands of people living in the north and northwest suburbs of Chicago. People are turned away for being black, gay, Jewish, undocumented or for having children.

In its monumental study, released in 2017, the Metropolitan Planning Council concluded that the Chicago area is one of the most segregated areas in the country, noting, “Living such separate lives leads to billions in lost wages, young people without the education they need to fulfill their potential, and hundreds of lives cut short by violence. Economic and racial segregation has strangled opportunities for millions of people...Lack of diversity also hurts affluent communities, where limited housing options often mean that young people cannot afford to return when starting their own families, retirees cannot afford to stay and valued employees are priced out. Add it up, and it’s clear that segregation holds back the entire region’s economy and potential—and whether we realize it or not, it’s costing all of us. Our social fabric and our economy will be stronger if we all have more opportunities to live, work and go to school with one another.”

WHAT WE DO

Where you live matters. Open Communities knows that where a person lives determines everything; access to high performing schools, jobs, health, transportation, recreation and green space. To that end, all communities, especially communities rich in resources and opportunities should be accessible for all people. In order to increase accessibility, systemic housing discrimination needs to be dismantled on every level. Specifically, Open Communities engages in activities that encourage fair housing practices including landlord-tenant and foreclosure counseling services and community education to make our communities welcoming for everyone.

THE AWARDS

Rayna & Marvin Miller Community Justice Award

The award honors an individual/organization who chose to speak to the inequities in the housing community and demanded we could do more. This individual/organization made a mark in the industry and our area and amplifies community justice.

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Jean R. Cleland Social Action Award

Recognizing an individual/organization on the front line of social justice, fighting for everyone to have a “seat at the table” and setting the example of how to properly represent social justice through a fair housing lens.

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Spirit of Open Communities Award

Honoring the person or organization who has demonstrated that fair housing is a human right. They best exemplify our organization’s commitment to social justice, racial, religious and equity for all in the northern suburbs.

JOIN IN ON OUR CELEBRATION

Celebrate awardees who are making an impact throughout the North and Northwest Suburbs.

NETWORK | AWARDS | LUNCH

PRICE $100

CONTACT

Questions or comments? Send us a message and we’ll get back to you ASAP

990 Grove St. Suite 500
Evanston, IL 60201

Tel: 847-501-5760

Mail: