Finding Hope in Unlikely Places

CSC News & Reflections
Spring 2004

Just a few miles from the glitz of downtown Chicago, Liz Fallon arrived in a neighborhood that would probably inspire the average traveler to lock their car doors from the inside and begin making plans to get back on the highway.

Fallon’s trip, as part of the “Organizing, Power, and Hope,” is the beginning of her journey to explore strategies to effect change among the homeless and those on the margins in America’s cities.

Over the next five days, she and seven other students met with community organizers, ranging from local development organizations to church groups, to learn the ways that people are building community in poverty-ridden neighborhoods.

After doing a Summer Service Project, I wanted to explore how we can begin to address issues of homelessness and poverty that only seem to intensify over time,” said Fallon, a senior Anthropology major and resident assistant of Pasquerilla East. “I wanted to spend time with the homeless and find out what the homeless need.”

The seminar was organized four years ago by Jay Caponigro, director of the Robinson Community Learning Center, because he saw a need for socially aware students to have road map for community organizing.

“ Notre Dame is home to so many people who care deeply about their faith and who want to help others, but I found that organizing was something that most students were not exposed to,” said Caponigro.

Thus, Caponigro set out to develop a seminar that would highlight the importance of faith-based community organizations, allow students to make connections and find hope in unlikely places. “I wanted students to know the rich history of organizing and to experience its many joys, complexities and sorrows.”

Fallon was especially drawn to this seminar because it gave her a chance to see the ways that service can be taken a step further to community building. Fallon said, “I thought this was the perfect chance.”

At the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH), the students spoke with the standing director and a worker who used to be homeless. The CCH organizes and advocates to prevent and end homelessness based on the belief that housing is a human right in a just society.

Their current campaign, “It Takes a Home to Raise a Child” is committed to ensuring affordable housing for families. They labor to combine direct service through homeless shelters, with advocacy in the form of law, and organizing through empowerment campaigns.

Yet, CCH was only one of many important sites students visited. At each meeting, they learned of the challenges and complexities faced by these organizations, and were inspired by the level of commitment shown by those working in the different agencies.

In the end, Fallon found some answers to her questions about homelessness, but she was also left with new questions.

For Fallon, the economically poor neighborhoods in Chicago, once just landmarks on the road to the shopping and cultural centers of the city, have become beacons of hope with people working against the odds for survival and justice.

“Amidst the signs of injustice, apathy, indifference, and decay,” said Caponigro, “it is so important that we see the signs of hope that are abundant – people working in churches and neighborhoods for peace and justice so that their children might have a better future.”