COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

Pertinent to the Neighborhood Association’s success is support of ideological
discourses of “revitalization.” They promote an “image of redevelopment” with plans for
redevelopment and smart growth. At the center of these agendas are newly arrived
middle-class residents, new urban dwellers who celebrate leisure, affluence, and ‘quality
of life’ (Gilfoyle 1998:190) and want to improve their community while sustaining a
quality of life for themselves in their neighborhoods. But, Deutsche (1986:68) states of
revitalization projects, that “no matter how objective their language, they are by virtue of
their selective focuses, boundaries, and exclusions, also ideological statements about the
problems of and solutions for their sites.”
Women’s Group
In contrast, women involved in a Women’s Group focused on improving the
social condition of the poor by creating projects oriented towards assisting women and
children in the neighborhood because they believed change could be facilitated from the
“ground up,” by helping residents achieve social mobility through grassroots programs.
These members took a more moderate stance toward poverty and believed programs for
the poor were needed to offer them support while they tried to overcome poverty. Most
believed the poor could not break out of poverty because they lacked cultural capital,
family support, and the other resources that provided them access to education, jobs, and
resources necessary for social mobility. Thus, members created projects such as
bookmobiles and after-school programs to attract youth. The Women’s Group also
helped further the image of Oak Park as being a “real” and healthy community composed
of smiling women and children.
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