Narrator: [00:00:00] Change agents. Living conditions in George Collins senior housing were nothing short of nightmarish. Apartments were infested with vermin, roaches, and bedbugs. But a resident known as Tootsie wasn't having it. With the help of a local alderman and the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, it was time to clean house.
Here's journalist Ari Mejia with When We Organize, We Win.
Voice 1: I am a member here at Jane Addams Senior Caucus.
Voice 2: And I'm a member of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus.
Voice 3: And I'm a member of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus. I'm 75 years old. [00:01:00] And we all here in Chicago, older adults, deserve to survive this pandemic.
Voice 4: We are standing together because we understand that the city of Chicago in this moment has a responsibility to protect seniors.
Voice 2: We also need to look at what is happening in public senior housing. for your time.
Voice 5: Our seniors and our communities are our legacy from the community.
Voice 6: Even though senior stark reality is obvious, the city of Chicago has done very little to protect them.
Voice 7: Why aren't the managers meeting the needs of the seniors?
Voice 5: It's unthinkable. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not a game.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: I am Pastor
Eartha Sutton, and I reside here at Congressman George Collins apartments. And I'm also a very active member of Jane Addams Senior Caucus and [00:02:00] Seniors in Action. And I love, I just love people. So, if I had to really talk talk, My girl here, she's going to need a whole lot more, uh, recordings here and microphones to listen to the tyranny that we go through and the works that we do.
I don't see goals for myself. I see goals for the people. The people are me and I am the people, but my brothers and sisters is where the goal lies. And when I say brothers and sisters, I'm talking about everybody. God made everybody. Why don't we cut out the crap? Everybody!
Ariel Mejia: I didn't know my grandparents very well. But when I saw them, I truly loved seeing them. I loved the thinning skin on their hands, their veins like tiny ropes holding their aging bodies together. My mom's dad would sing to us. My dad's mom made tortillas every single day, by sight and by feel. [00:03:00] My mom's mom was politically active and sharp.
And my dad's dad had the most delicious brown skin. against his sleek silver hair. I really adored them all. And looking back now in my mid thirties, I wish more than anything to be able to ask them about their long lives, full of lessons that could share advice, their wins, losses, struggles, and triumphs.
COVID 19 has severed the connections with our elders. And this includes. Our elders connections to the services they receive in addition to family and friends from doctors visits and receiving medication to even the most basics like groceries and their ability to get to and from the polls for voting safely.
Debetta Brooks: My name is [00:04:00] Debetta Brooks. I'm a senior. I live at George, Congressman George Collins senior apartments and everybody calls me Tootsie. Now, I define myself, I'm Lady T because I'm a DJ too.
Ariel Mejia: Debetta Brooks moved into Congressman George Collins apartments located at 14th and Blue Island in 2012. George Collins is a Housing and Urban Development, also known as HUD, Section 8 apartment building for low income seniors.
It is not owned or managed by the city, but privately by a man named Bruce Steinbaum and managed by Wynn Companies. The area is slightly industrial, but as you travel further south down Blue Island, it quickly winds into the vibrant Latinx Pilsen neighborhood. Mrs. Brooks has lived here for about eight years and Pastor Sutton for about two.[00:05:00]
As we rode the elevator up to Ms. Brooks apartment, she pointed out the carpets along the hallway.
Debetta Brooks: And mine even more so. I was able to move into this low income housing after I got here a couple of months living with my son and was able to procure this, this apartment. When I got here, I was shocked at the building, the way it was managed. The first thing I noticed right away, filth. Can't nice it up any.
Filth. Disarray, mismanagement, disrespect, total disregard for human beings. Conditions here are so bad, it's not like I [00:06:00] go to your house, you go to my house, and we can have coffee, we can play cards or whatever. Why? Because in this building, rodents. vermin, uh, uh, uh, roaches, bedbugs, you don't know. And that's not to say that the people are so bad that they have these things.
They're in the building. It's infested. CHA, which is Chicago Housing Authority, is different, and they have different guidelines, criterias. And in doing different protocols, totally different from what you find here in buildings that are privately owned and privately managed.
Ariel Mejia: When a building is privately owned, the way that George Collins is, they do not have the oversight that means they must abide by the Chicago Housing Authority guidelines.
It is a scary and dangerous situation for the seniors that live in this building and others like it.
Debetta Brooks: HUD developers or even CHA [00:07:00] developers, they leave it to you to provide the things that they would provide in the building, which is wrong because if an outside vendor comes in and buys up some property, he or she doesn't know what we're supposed to have and don't even care.
They're just making money marketing apartments in a C. H. A. Building with Chicago guidelines. They have service coordinators to help seniors with whatever they need. They have programs to help seniors with the quality of life. They have proper maintenance. The buildings are cleaner. They're more safe.
Therefore we are underscored, undersold, and we're just getting whatever scraps they throw from the tables. Whereas if it was straight, uh, housing and urban development. We would have better things because like I said, I visited other buildings. Uh, my eldest brother who passed away in 2018, [00:08:00] he was in a HUD building that was beautiful.
I've been to a couple of others that even in the suburbs, managed straight by HUD, not bought by any outside vendor. They got everything that they need.
Ariel Mejia: Ms. Brooks apartment is small, but the life inside is so big. Zebra print curtains, art on the walls of different African women. Pattern fabrics adorning the furniture and framed photos of her kids and grandkids look at me while tall, green plants line the window sill. She's got these nice big speakers too for music playing and I can't help but feel this longing for my own grandparents.
I wish I had more time with them and though they've passed away, hearing about the city's blatant neglect of its seniors has me really wishing I could know and care for them. Feeling such a tenderness for Miss Brooks and Pastor Sutton while also enraged at what they're enduring solely because they are [00:09:00] low income elderly black women.
Would you mind introducing yourself? Um,
Your name and who you are, what you do.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: Uh, Byron Ciccio Lopez, Alderman of the 25th Ward.
Debetta Brooks: During the time when they were campaigning, we had five, uh, candidates. And he won out. He personally asked me, what, what needs are you talking about? And I went to telling him, and he said, well, do you have anybody interested?
I said, well, yeah. People, I talk to people all the time. We all got the problems. And what can you do? What are you? He said, I will, I'll work with you.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: The more we organize, the more we collaborate, the more partnerships we have, the better follow ups that we get, the more, the stronger the organizing, the stronger the structure.
So, and I have participated with Jane Addams already, you know, we did it in another senior building. You know, when I was [00:10:00] before I was alderman, so I thought, you know, that's what I thought. Look, you really, because what they're asking me, we're ready to do a tenant association. We're ready, you know, and I do, you know, participate with organizations, but, and that the experience that they have with other organizations is like, they do not understand the needs of seniors.
Seniors are really in a tough position where they need assistance, right, there's really not a lot of services. I mean, they will talk to you about a social worker, for instance, right? And oftentimes they, they lost as well. You don't really need to have, you know, a social worker. You don't need to have a nurse.
You don't, so they do a very much well, where what the very minimum I'd need to do the very minimum that the law mandates the rest is their problem, right? And then you have seniors with disabilities. We have seniors who need assistance and social services. And they unfortunately don't get there.
Debetta Brooks: Bottom line, seniors are hurting.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: I think that to me, that was kind of the reason why I was very eager to, to help them [00:11:00] organize who are scared, you know, right now, especially in a pandemic. They need to be heard. They need to be, and not just to, you know, just, just for the, for the show, but, you know, to really listen to the concerns and the issues solutions.
Kelly Visselman: I'm Kelly Visselman and I am organizing director at Jane Addams Senior Caucus. So we do tenant organizing in different buildings. That's what we would say is our local work. So all over the city, we support seniors and doing building tenant associations or fighting to keep their housing. That's another area that we do.
You know, a lot of senior owners, senior building owners will try to sell the building and evict people. So those are like, either we're working with people to keep their housing or make it better. The Alderman's office had said that they had also received a lot of complaints. Go to Blue Island and go to the senior building there.
Um, they said [00:12:00] people are being taken advantage of and they're really scared. So I met with tenants, talked to them about what we do. They were really excited to start a tenant association and work with us. And then when Kira started at the caucus, that became one of her buildings. So then I introduced the tenants to Kira.
Debetta Brooks: That's when I met Kira.
Kira Felsenfeld: My name is Kira Felsenfeld. I'm a housing organizer at Jane Addams Senior Caucus, and I help build tenant associations with. Seniors living in affordable housing to make sure that they are getting the things that they need and building power.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: She's great and on board with us. I call her my baby sister.
Cause Keira's a fireball. That girl is an all consuming fire.
Kira Felsenfeld: It started off with like information gathering. What were the things that seniors needed? And like, what's cool is that's always how our campaigns start. start pretty much is like gathering information to make sure that like we have done the research to say like this is what folks want.
Debetta Brooks: When I met her and she [00:13:00] started laying out this a systematic approach, a stepped approach to communicating, to galvanizing, to all of that. Jane Addams brought to me, brought structure, organization and structure and how you do.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: We need this kind of encouragement and this is what Jane Addams presented to anybody that came in there.
They, they were given all this super encouragement to know that nothing is impossible. Not only there was nothing that was too hard for us to do or nothing that was impossible, but that if we had gotten together even more deeper than we are now, We can, we can get more resolve over here and more results.
And we are initiating this power.
Debetta Brooks: Through the work of our residence association with the support of Jane Addams, we were able to manage to have them do an [00:14:00] all unit extermination. And it helped. But it was only through those efforts, the organizing, doing surveys, 75 percent of the residents here had those issues.
And we were able, with the help of Jane Addams, uh, to surmise that, to confirm that. We went door to door, apartment to apartment, asking about do you have these issues. 75 percent of the people here had those issues. And we were able, I don't know about a spreadsheet, I don't know about a spreadsheet. With the help of Jane Adams, the spreadsheet, the survey showed about people's issues.
We found out that people had these things, these bed bugs, that they had mice and roaches and leaping out of their cabinets. They were afraid to talk about it because they were [00:15:00] intimidated.
Ariel Mejia: At a city council meeting back in September of 2019, Pastor Sutton spoke directly to Mayor Lori Lightfoot about this intimidation.
The next speaker is Miss, is Pastor Arthur Sutton.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: Many residents have been forced to accept dehumanizing conditions. Now, because if they speak out, they will be faced with retaliation or be evicted. They're scared and they're just sitting kowtow down.
Kira Felsenfeld: There's a company that manages a lot of affordable housing and they literally tell people like you can't.
Like, don't talk to Jane Addams Senior Caucus. At one point they were spreading lies, like, rumors about us, um, because we, in other buildings that didn't have heat, we had had press conferences with their, with residents, you know. So, it's kind of, it's clearly related.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: In my opinion, what I've seen, Uh, a system in place that, unfortunately, looks at people of color, they look at, um, seniors.[00:16:00]
I think with, uh, with numbers, with, uh, you know, it has, we have a society has really has dehumanized people, right? And, and, uh, we say that and I think you hear from the residents, you know, and the way they're treated or ignored or dismissed.
Kira Felsenfeld: The legal system is not always as much of an option when there are bad conditions to solve the problem.
And organizing, which creates pressure and creates a lot of tension, often does solve the problem. And I think managers know that, and so they don't want tenants to be organized because then that holds them accountable.
Ariel Mejia: With Jane Addams Senior Caucus providing an infrastructure to the organizing, Pastor Sutton, Ms. Brooks, and other residents organized a tenants association. Not only did the seniors have a means to pressure the building management for changing conditions, but the effort brought them closer together as neighbors.
Debetta Brooks: It took Jane Addams helping me to know that. To me, [00:17:00] everybody bringing this Hey, we put our feet underneath, have a banquet. Now I'm realizing that the person that bring the toothpick to the banquet is just as important that the person that brings the turkey.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: We not only want to make a difference. We want to be the difference that's being made.
While we encourage people to understand, there's nothing you can't do.
Ariel Mejia: There is no excuse for Chicago to leave so many forgotten. That because folks are low income, which in this building's case, and for many across our city, means elders of color, that they must fight for something so basic.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: We've had some accomplishments by even fighting so hard that we got that Jane Addams Senior Safety Ordinance in place for all seniors around Chicago, Illinois.
Debetta Brooks: I feel as though the, the, the ordinance was [00:18:00] set forth, uh, established because in dealing in this, uh, Pandemic. This is an emergency.
Ariel Mejia: When COVID 19 hit, Pastor Sutton, Ms. Brooks, and the entirety of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus knew well enough that being the most high risk group didn't inherently mean that the city would step it up to protect them.
They already had experienced the utmost abuse and neglect at the hands of their building management. They would need to make demands that only with the pressure that organizing could promise in order to get that much needed support to stay safe. This birthed the Senior Safety Ordinance. A list of guidelines the seniors of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus drafted up themselves that are meant to be implemented in all senior low income housing buildings across the city.
Kelly Visselman: We worked with Alderwoman Maria Haddon of the 49th Ward, and she sort of, she proposed [00:19:00] the ordinance into City Council. This ordinance was drafted, edited, rewritten, and finalized, um, all in lockstep with Jane Addams Senior Caucus members. It will do this to increase the protections for our most vulnerable residents.
These are the same people living every day with the increased dangers and risks that the coronavirus pandemic has created. Through this ordinance we're establishing measures that senior buildings must adhere to. These include conducting wellness checks. We're going to provide seniors with urgent public health information in their preferred language.
We're going to make sure that they have access to food, medicine, and personal aids, and we'll be enforcing cleaning and safety protocols in these buildings.
Kira Felsenfeld: From there, it went into committee this way, and it was Health and Human Services.
Ariel Mejia: Many seniors gave testimony at the Health and Human Services hearing, including Ms.
Brooks.
Debetta Brooks: Seniors aren't buildings or zip codes. We're people that belong to people. And I feel as though that [00:20:00] it would go a long way to pass this ordinance to help us. for whatever days we had. That was Jane Addams, that letting us know that all of us had to be a part of this, to work this thing. We were given assignments to call.
Calling news stations also. We had different teams set up. Team, just say Team A, they would call at 6 a. m. Team B, they might call again at 9 a. m. We had to keep flushing on them, keep impressing on them. And with me, it comes to, aren't you going to get to be this age one day? Somebody in your house going to need these same services me and her fighting about.
We went in the, in the negotiation. We had to, with the city lawyers.
Kira Felsenfeld: Then there was a lot of negotiating with. The city lawyers to like sort of say, this is what we want. And they would say, no, we're not going to like do wellness checks at all. And we said, [00:21:00] how about four wellness checks? And then the city lawyer said, how about two?
And then so it was like, it's like a weird bargaining system. Like they say it costs money. It's always like, oh, we don't have the money.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: We're met with we don't have money for this. We don't have money for that. But we ended up with a bill that was passed.
Debetta Brooks: It wasn't easy. It took a while. Because it all, all, all demanded, to bring it up to a vote in city council.
Byron Ciccio Lopez: We've created meaningful change, right? I think the ordinance created meaningful change for wellness checkings, to make sure that at least, you know, that we, that we create some more accountability, that that's what the seniors were fighting for. Uh, more checks and balances. They have left a legacy already as a senior.
Say, look, I was part of, uh, of an ordinance, you know? Um, you know, to me it's like, you know, You know, it gives us hope. I think all of us, you know, they, you know, when we organize, we win.
Debetta Brooks: We're all in this. I believe that in my heart, and I would die with [00:22:00] that.
Ariel Mejia: The Senior Safety Ordinance passed in July 2020, thanks to the vigilance of the seniors that organized alongside each other as members of the Jane Addams Senior Caucus, ensuring seniors receive wellness checks, making sure they have their medication, food, and any provisions that meet their basic needs.
Other guidelines of the Ordinance include information is widely distributed and that language is not a barrier for seniors to receive this information, that building access is restricted, that way only people living in the building and management are allowed to enter, as well as all management staff is provided with proper PPE and making sure no large gatherings are happening in common areas are all part of the Senior Safety Ordinance.
If these guidelines are not met, Management is fined.[00:23:00]
Debetta Brooks: What we're doing now in Jane Addams, we can't, they came up with the strategy that we have TAC teams, tenant advocate committees. So like in a building structured like this
is 195 units, 96 units in this building, then we have team members, TAC members that can have a certain section on the floor and those residents refer to them with issues or whatever.
And they bring the issues forward to the core team members. What we can resolve, we resolve. What we can't and need assistance, we pass on to Jane Addams for their assistance. That's a structure. And we're able to encompass this whole building and work to the betterment. So it's a stepped approach.
Pastor Eartha Sutton: I've met a lot of people in this building.
Some of the people came from living under the bad ox. They sure did. This is the [00:24:00] best thing since ice cream. that they ever came to. Me and her haven't been subject to having to live under scrutiny and tyranny. We didn't, we didn't come from that, but that don't make us better, bigger, greater. We the same as the guy who came from under the VADOX, but we do know we're not going to take any mess from people who wants to keep systemic racism or inequality and things of that nature.
We're not going to go for that. That's why we're in this coalition. Jane Adams, senior caucus.
Debetta Brooks: They think that we never took advantage of whatever opportunities that was afforded us. Without giving into account that they did put some stumbling blocks in the way. Because just being a senior in this tan time means that we done went through oppression, we done went through redline, and we done went through discrimination, we done went through.
So we've lived with this stuff all of our life. And then to get this age and say, what have you, you did. [00:25:00] But I'm looked at as You ain't got no money. You ain't got no house. You ain't got no credit. I did what I needed to do. I raised my children to be good. That was my only prayer in life, for me to be able to raise my children to be responsible.
And they did all five.
Ariel Mejia: The organizing at Jane Adams isn't just about creating tenants associations and legislation. It's about making sure seniors are living well. They began organizing a particular type of meeting in the wake of COVID-19. To offer seniors opportunities to connect and talk about the difficulties of this time and more.
Debetta Brooks: They have right now, they established a healing circle.
Kira Felsenfeld: We decided to organize a healing circle, basically just as a space for people to talk about how they're doing and share anything they're feeling.
Debetta Brooks: 75 year old black women don't automatically think about, let me go sit in a circle, [00:26:00] kumbaya, and let me tell you my innermost feelings.
We don't do that. We suck it up and keep on stepping, doing what you got to do. But something told me, go on it. And I did. And it was the best, I guess, All of these years that I never sought out help for what I was feeling and I would just rely on my feelings and God to sort them out, to be able to speak them out amongst other people, not to be validated or invalidated.
Just speaking it out. I had no idea what that would feel like. Now I'm seeing and witnessing and, and realizing, and it helped me to get the voice that I never had. If it wasn't the COVID and we could really meet, it's no telling [00:27:00] what we would be able to accomplish. It's just these hurdles we have to get over working in this pandemic.
And being able to find ways to communicate and, and, and do, but we're doing it.
Ariel Mejia: My name is Ariel Mejia with When We Organize. We win.
Narrator: Thank you for joining Change Agents, produced by Juneteenth Productions, funding support from the Chicago Community Trust and the FieldFound. Please subscribe to our series on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. Do you have a story to share? Join us in the ongoing conversation on Facebook, Twitter, [00:28:00] Instagram.
And our website changeagentsthepodcast. com.