Race + Housing Resource Page
We invite you to learn more about the intersection of Race + Housing with our curated list of books, videos, and other media. Click on each category for a dropdown list of recommendations.
Amber S. Hendley is an accomplished researcher and policy advocate, known for her work in and publications on fair lending, wealth creation, and financial systems reform, particularly focusing on low- and moderate-income households and communities of color.
As the Director of Research for Woodstock Institute, she spearheads research initiatives aimed at promoting financial security and equity. Hendley’s academic background includes an M.A. in Analytical and Political Economy from Duke University and a B.S. in Applied and Computational Mathematics from Florida State University.
Read her research in Reframing the Racial Wealth Gap and her collaboration on unBlocked Chicago as a research consultant.
Commissioner Lissette Castañeda comes to the role of Department of Housing Commissioner with two decades of experience in affordable housing development, housing services, and organizational leadership.
She served as LUCHA’s Executive Director for five years, and prior to LUCHA, Castañeda was the Interim Executive Director and the Director of Community Engagement for the Center for Changing Lives, where she worked to expand economic opportunities and revitalize neighborhoods across Chicago.
Shenita Muse has been serving as the Executive Director of the Hope Center Foundation since 2019, where she successfully revitalized the organization after a four-year period of dormancy.
Shenita leads a team committed to tackling the root causes of poverty, violence, and trauma through initiatives such as entrepreneurship, homeownership, financial literacy, and workforce development in the Roseland, Pullman, and West Pullman communities.
LaToya Spann-Martin has over 25 years of experience in lending with a passion for community empowerment. Focused on underserved and underrepresented communities, she champions financial literacy initiatives, bridges the gap between financial access and knowledge, and actively engages in community impact projects.
Inspired by her mother’s journey to break the cycle of poverty, she works to make homeownership possible regardless of background or budget.
Explore mortgage resources with Key Mortgage Services.
Books (click to expand)
- Making Mexican Chicago: From Postwar Settlement to the Age of Gentrification by Mike Amezcua
- High-Risers: Cabrini-Green and the Fate of American Public Housing* by Ben Austen
- Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the America City by Matthew Desmond
- The Battle of Lincoln Park: Urban Renewal and Gentrification in Chicago* by Daniel Kay Hertz
- The South Side: A Portrait of Chicago and American Segregation* by Natalie Y. Moore
- Know Your Price by Andre M. Perry
- The World Is Always Coming to an End: Pulling Together and Apart in a Chicago Neighborhood* by Carlo Rotella
- The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein
- Just Action: How to Challenge Segregation Enacted Under the Color of Law by Richard and Leah Rothstein
- Family Properties: How the Struggle Over Race and Real Estate Transformed Chicago and Urban America* by Beryl Satter
- Chicago's Block Clubs: How Neighbors Shape the City* by Amanda I. Seligman
- Great American City: Chicago and the Enduring Neighborhood Effect* by Robert J. Sampson
- Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor
Podcasts (click to expand)
- 'We Know Promises Were Broken': Cabrini-Green After Demolition by City Cast Chicago
- Scouring records of Chicago segregation by Crain's Daily Gist
- Legally Stolen Series by National Public Housing Museum
- Department of Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara; Moving Chicago Forward by Straight Up Chicago Investor
Research (click to expand)
- The Plunder of Black Wealth in Chicago: New Findings on the Lasting Toll of Predatory Housing Contracts by the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity at Duke University
- Chicago Housing Overview: Preserving Affordability and Expanding Accessibility by the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University
- The Cost of Segregation by the Metropolitan Planning Council
- Maps of Inequality: From Redlining to Urban Decay and the Black Exodus by Cook County Treasurer, Maria Pappas
Have recommendations? Email us.
