Welcome to the conversation!


Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

This blog will expand the reach of these community conversations to the online audience. Add your posts and comments to keep the conversation going! Commit to action by clicking HERE to stay up to date on Salon and social justice news.

For updates on Stowe Center programs and events, sign up for our enews at http://harrietbeecherstowe.org/email.

Thursday, April 17, 2014

Affordable housing in Chicago

Last week, we hosted “Thinking Regionally: Shared Challenges, Shared Prosperity,” a Salon predicated on discussions of issues facing the Greater Hartford region and ways both urban and suburban areas can collaborate to enact change.  Of the many topics discussed, particular interest was paid to issues of affordable housing as well as the notion that other American cities face similar challenges as the Greater Hartford region.  One such city, Chicago, has proposed a creative solution to address both the lack of affordable rental -units and numerous vacancies.     

In “Loan fund targets small rental buildings,” Mary Ellen Podmolik of the Chicago Tribune describes the proposed project.  The Community Investment Corp. and numerous lenders in the Chicago area have funded a $26 million loan pool designed to entice local investors to buy rental buildings to be used as affordable housing units.   The $26 million is expected to fund 200 buildings in the Chicago area.     


Do you think a solution like this could work in the Greater Hartford area?  What are the potential positive and negative consequences of the bill?  Do you have any similar ideas regarding housing, urban and suburban relationships, or regionalism?  Share below!

Duane Ehresman stands by two buildings in Chicago's Austin neighborhood 

No comments: