DuPage United celebrates recent achievements at annual assembly

Affordable housing and a vitally important traffic signal are coming to DuPage County thanks to the tireless efforts of DuPage United, an inclusive, nonprofit, fiercely nonpartisan organization made up of churches, mosques, synagogues and other not-for-profit agencies and associations.

On Sunday afternoon, many members of those organizations congregated at Trinity Episcopal Church in Wheaton for DuPage United’s annual action assembly to celebrate those two achievements and remind folks that change is possible when you’re united within the community rather than divided.

“V’ahavta L’reacha Kamocha,” exclaimed Rabbi Steven Bob, the longtime senior rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim in Lombard. “For those of you who don’t speak Hebrew, I’ll translate it: You shall love your neighbors as yourselves.”

He explained you cannot love your neighbor if you don’t know them.

“If we stay within the walls of our own institutions, we won’t know anybody,” Bob said. “We have to open the door and walk across the street. We have to extend our hands and open our hearts to introduce ourselves to strangers. We want to transform strangers into neighbors. Working together as part of DuPage United has provided us with the opportunity to get to know our neighbors. As we continue to organize that circle, relational power continues to grow. Our strength builds.”

And that strength builds buildings such as the redevelopment of a former motel site in Glen Ellyn. Ground is expected to be broken in 2025 that will turn the site into 42 affordable apartments.

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, flew in from Washington, D.C., to attend the assembly. Ramirez, the first Latina elected to Congress in Illinois as well as the Midwest, successfully appropriated the needed gap funding of $750,000 for the demolition necessary for the affordable housing project.

“I know some people get uncomfortable in conversations about power, but I don’t,” Ramirez said. “I understand that organized people and organized money or resources is how we move things and transform from problems to solutions and so does DuPage United. It is why I am so grateful to be here with you. It was good to meet with you. And I knew of you even before you knew of me. I’ve been in faith-based organizing. I ran a social service agency for a very long time. And then I had the opportunity to go serve in the state legislature.”

Kim Reed, a member of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Glen Ellyn, said that by simply listening to families she learned that many were lacking the security and stability that affordable and accessible housing can provide.

“And because of our efforts, in February of this year the village board of Glen Ellyn approved the sale of hotel properties on Roosevelt (Road) to Full Circle Communities to build affordable housing,” Reed said. “And now we are so close, only a few meetings away to realizing 42 affordable, accessible and supportive housing units in Glen Ellyn.”

Reed is asking people to save the Dec. 12 date for the development’s public hearing.

Debbie Suggs, resident leader for Mercy Housing’s Marian Park apartments in Wheaton, would’ve been remiss if she didn’t share a bit of her own story.

Suggs has lived in her Marian Park apartment for more than 50 years.

“I’ve been in Marian for many years. It has stabilized me,” Suggs said. “I’m standing here tonight because living at Marian Park affordable housing has allowed me stability, my children stability, my grandchildren stability. I’ve been able to do so many things that otherwise I would probably never have had the opportunity. It was there for me when I lost my job. I don’t know where I would’ve gone. It was there for me when I needed a place to live that I could afford to live. Yes, affordable housing is a much needed and a critical issue.”

Advocating for change such as a lifesaving traffic signal and protected pedestrian crosswalk is one of the things that Suggs never would’ve been able to do without the affordable housing she’s in today.

She also needed power. The kind of power that’s behind DuPage United with members such as Pastor Seth Carey of the First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn.

“Historically, churches provide charitable service but our work with DuPage United strives for justice and for building the power that we need to get it,” Carey said. “And our work with Ms. Suggs reminds us that we can all be partners in building power to create the kind of change that benefits everyone here in our local community in DuPage County.”

Initially, Carey was distraught with how Suggs and her neighbors were being ignored despite having brought the safety issue to the city’s attention as well as securing a $250,000 appropriation in the Illinois state budget.

“When we met with the mayor, we showed our power,” he said. “Across the table saw Debbie (Suggs) and others from Marian Park. We spoke and (Mayor Phil Suess) listened and a half hour later we found ourselves with a new working relationship with the city of Wheaton. The mayor understood, I believe, that what these residents were asking for was not only a stoplight, they were asking for recognition and respect and a place at the table.

“And by working together and building relationships and organizing and leveraging the influence of our clergy and faith communities, we found ourselves at that table. Not protesting outside of City Hall waving signs and yelling and being ignored or escorted out by the police, but inside the building, at the table, getting things done.”

Nader Hamdan, civic engagement director and program lead for the Mecca Center in Willowbrook, said the successes of DuPage United are an example of the power of the community and the power of relationships. It’s the direct result of listening to those within the communities of DuPage County and of community members doing the work. But it’s work that’s never fully done.

“One of the most important principles of organizing is don’t do for others what they can do for themselves,” Hamdan said. “The results you heard today are a direct product of that principle. We’re asking that when you see the evil and injustice around that you change it with your hands. How can you do that? Through relationship building. It’s through community and it’s through working with each other and not for each other.”

Next on the agenda for DuPage United is to see these projects through to completion. While there certainly is excitement being shared, construction has not begun.

DuPage United hopes to build five more affordable housing apartment communities, one for each county board district. DuPage United is trying to find land for those developments.

Meanwhile, a six-month listening campaign is kicking off within DuPage United’s member institutions to identify the most pressing issues facing its members and to guide future initiatives. DuPage United is continuing to build relationships by reaching out to new institutions. Those interested in getting involved can visit dupageunited.org.