COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

presence that would produce long-term positive effects in the community. But, in effect,
many of the poor were also dependent on these services to sustain their livelihood. The
services might not really be helping the poor exit poverty; they just provide basic needs,
while masking social dependence on these services. These services, in the form of food
banks, emergency shelters, and food closets also mask larger social reasons why the poor
are poor.
It is argued by some residents that St. HOPE, a non-profit organization created by
elite African-Americans, helped to facilitate the beginning of gentrification in Oak Park.
Although its campaign for economic development was heralded as a positive beginning
for the neighborhood, many residents later viewed the Corporation’s agenda as having
negative effects. They claim its agenda for change only benefited business and the
middle-class, while masking class-based disparities in the community.
This thesis shows that community groups in Oak Park are in conflict with each
other. The Neighborhood Association and neighborhood revitalization projects affect
both the labor association’s agenda to overcome inequality and the women’s group’s
agenda to alleviate poverty. While neighborhood residents and businesses are displaced,
the labor association rallies against revitalization agendas in the city. The women’s
group struggles with trying to create programs that will help the poor in their gentrifying
community. The women’s group does not have the same political representation as does
the Neighborhood Association and they focus their work towards helping women and
children gain social mobility.
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