Momentum: 35 Years of Housing Action

35 Years of Housing Action
taking the
pulse
LAURIE PETERSON
Retired, formerly with PNC
Housing Action Illinois Board Member from 2007–2017
Since our beginning, Housing Action Illinois has traveled around our state
for what we call our Outreach Caravan to visit with members, host regional
gatherings, and identify trends in housing issues across Illinois.
Laurie (seventh from left) with 2016 Board of Directors
“It is amazing how the simple act of
visiting a community in need can put in
motion the preservation and creation of
decent, affordable, accessible housing for
our neighbors throughout Illinois.”
OUR QUEST:
How do you provide support and promote housing development
for regions you don’t know? Maybe have never been to?
What are the housing needs in each pocket of Illinois and how
can Housing Action Illinois help the local stakeholders to
attain them?
From little burgs like Cache (pop. 2,826) to Rockford (pop.
147,070). From East St. Louis (pop. 26,543) to West Union (pop.
288). 58,000 square miles. Housing Action’s mission makes us
responsible for every community.
So throughout the years, Housing Action Illinois staff and Board
have taken to the road to visit communities throughout Illinois,
hoping to take the pulse of housing needs in different areas. This
is the Caravan.
Caravan stop in southern Illinois in the early 2000s
As a Board Member, I attended several of these Caravans in the
2000s. Most of us had never been to these towns and villages,
but using our printed MapQuest directions (ha!), we all managed.
Sometimes the group moved like a parade from place to place
each day. Often, our group morphed depending on who could
make it where. You know. We all had day jobs, too!
A PICTURE IS WORTH 1,000 WORDS, RIGHT?
SO PICTURE THIS:
A car or two or three. At least one van. So that’s our Housing
Action Illinois Caravan. Actually, there were more vehicles, but
you get the idea. Here we were, Board members from across the
58,000 square miles of Illinois and Housing Action Illinois staff
traveling from the Chicago area. Visiting multiple local nonprofits,
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