Last spring, Tonika Lewis Johnson supported MPC and the Chicago Community Trust as a series co-designer, presenter, and facilitator for the Trust’s Advancing Equity Program. This three-part series explores the homeownership gap, and serves as an ideas exchange that brought together various stakeholders to take deeper dives into topics connected to the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
Over three exchanges, the series sought to explore the systemic issues causing the homeownership gap in the Chicago region; understand current obstacles Black and Latino homeowners face in purchasing and maintaining their homes; and uplift cross-sectoral solutions.
In the first exchange, Tonika Lewis Johnson was joined by Dr. Maria Krysan, Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois Chicago. The two presented on the root causes and history of the homeownership hap. Tonika Lewis Johnson also facilitated an exercise with participants in which they mapped out where they lived across the city in order to illustrate the differences between various communities, and foster both reflection and conversation. Learn more about the project here.
