Creating Brand New Beginnings: One Story of Women’s Organizing

T he Women’s Empowerment Project (WEP) was created by the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (CCH). Its goal is to empower women who are homeless to advocate for their right to decent and affordable housing, child care, and livable wage jobs. Critical to these efforts was the acquisition and development of an abandoned building on Chicago’s South Side: the Brand New Beginnings Project (BNB)1, a 24-unit, subsidized rental building for low-income women and children. The Brand New Beginnings Project was developed by women involved in WEP and by organizers at CCH. In the course of my fieldwork in 1999, I conducted face-to-face interviews with 28 people, did two phone interviews, and compiled my own observations from coalition meetings, dinners, shelters, and appointments with the Brand New Beginnings lawyer and developer. All names and identifying characteristics (except those at the CCH) have been changed to ensure the confidentiality of participants.