Gale Cincotta

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Gale Cincotta
Born
Aglaia Angelos

December 28, 1929
National People's Action
SpouseRoy Cincotta

Gale Cincotta (December 28, 1929 – August 15, 2001), a community activist from the

National People's Action
in Chicago, a coalition of some 300 community organizations throughout the United States, and served as its executive director and chairperson from 1973 until her death in 2001.

Background

Cincotta was born Aglaia Angelos on December 28, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, an only child.

Parent-Teacher Association to work to improve conditions in the school and in the city.[8]

Activism

In

National People's Action (NPA).[1] Also in the early 1970s, Cincotta took a position with the Metropolitan Area Housing Alliance. This job allowed Cincotta to support her family after her husband died in 1976.[13]

Cincotta became known for her community organizing style. As the director of NPA, in addition to using formal channels of communication to reach politicians and bureaucrats, she organized "hits." "Hits" were confrontational protests outside of the offices, headquarters, and sometimes private residences of those in conflict with NPA.[14][15] According to a statement by the NTIC, "At protests, Ms. Cincotta would alternately schmooze and threaten her targets, until they conceded the meetings she demanded."[15] NPA led the national push for the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), which Cincotta and Trapp helped draft.[16] According to Senator William Proxmire, HMDA "would never have become a law but for the research and local organizing activity undertaken by NPA."[17] The culmination of Cincotta's activism was the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. Through her roles with the NTIC and NPA, Cincotta pushed for the passage of the CRA, and earned the appellation "Mother of the CRA."[11]

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed Cincotta to the National Commission on Neighborhoods. In the late 1980s, she served on Housing and Urban Development Secretary Jack Kemp’'s National Commission on Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.[18] Of Cincotta, Kemp said she was "one of the most substantive and knowledgeable leaders in low- and moderate-income housing that I have met in the country."[14] In 1994, Cincotta became a member of Fannie Mae’'s Housing Impact Advisory Council, and in Chicago, she was on the Community Investment Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank.[18]

Cincotta is well known for her flamboyant activism. In 1970, to protest inadequate pest control in Austin, Cincotta led a group of 100 protesters to nail a rat to the ward alderman's office door.[19] In 1980, Cincotta was responsible for placing Saturday Night Live's Land Shark above the entrance to the Federal Reserve Bank (to imply the bankers were loan sharks), and red tape strung around the building (to symbolize redlining).[20] This move prompted the bank chairman Paul Volcker to meet with Cincotta.[18]

DePaul University Special Collections and Archives holds a collection of notes, research, and publications about Gale Cincotta. The collection was created by Michael Westgate and Ann Vick-Westgate while writing Gale Force: Gale Cincotta, the Battles for Disclosure and Community Investment, about Cincotta and her activism in Chicago.[11]

Awards

In 1985, Cincotta received the Chicago Commission on Human Rights Award,[11] and Cincotta was named one of the Ms. Foundation Women of the Year.[2][21] Cincotta also won the first Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Neighborhood Partnership Award.[11]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Martin, Douglas (2001-08-17). "Gale Cincotta, 72, Opponent Of Biased Banking Policies". NYT. p. A19. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
  2. ^
    OCLC 708579366
    .
  3. ^ a b Westgate, p. 5.
  4. ^ a b c Westgate, p. 6-7.
  5. ISSN 0190-8286
    . Retrieved 2017-05-18.
  6. ^ Westgate, p. 1.
  7. ^ Westgate, p. 8.
  8. ^ a b Westgate, p. 9.
  9. ^ Coffey, Raymond R. (November 13, 1997). "Neighborhood leader finds power in unity". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved May 23, 2017 – via Newsbank.
  10. ^ a b c Swanson, Stevenson O. (March 18, 1982). "She arose from grass roots to shake the tallest oaks". Chicago Tribune – via Proquest.
  11. ^ a b c d e f Gale Cincotta collection, DePaul University Special Collections and Archives. Accessed May 22, 2017.
  12. ^ Westgate, p. 11.
  13. ^ Westgate, p. 14-15.
  14. ^ a b Lehman, H. Jane (April 21, 1991). "Chicago-based coalition proves a 'hit' in D.C.". Chicago Tribune – via Proquest.
  15. ^ a b Patel, Julie (August 16, 2001). "Gale Cincotta, 72, longtime community activist". Chicago Sun-Times – via Newsbank.
  16. .
  17. ^ Pitcoff, Winton. "Industry News". www.nhi.org. Retrieved 2017-05-31.
  18. ^ a b c "Powerful Fair-Housing Advocate, Gale Cincotta, 72, Dies in Chicago". American Banker. Retrieved 2017-05-23.
  19. ^ "Gale Cincotta 1929 -- 2001". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  20. ^ Westgate, p. 389.
  21. ^ "Women of the YearUPI LifeStyle". UPI. Retrieved 2017-06-01.

Further reading

  • Douglas Martin, "Gale Cincotta, 72, Opponent of Biased Banking Policies," Obituaries, New York Times, August 12, 2001, p. A19.
  • Julie Patel, "Gale Cincotta, 72, Longtime Community Activist," Obituaries, Chicago Sun-Times, August 16, 2001.
  • Jeff Bailey, "Unlikely Activist Gets Chicago Banks to Give Loans in Poor Sections," Wall Street Journal, August 21, 1985, pp. A1, 16.
  • Anne Witte Garland, "Gale Cincotta, 'We Found the Enemy,'" in Women Activists: Challenging the Abuse of Power (New York: The Feminist Press, 1988), pp. 38–55.
  • Patrick Berry, "Gale Cincotta and Heather Booth," in After Alinsky: Community Organizing in Illinois, edited by Peg Knoepfle (Springfield: Sangamon State University, 1990), pp. 54–60.
  • Gale Cincotta, "The Fight Against Redlining: Remembering the First 'Bank-In,'" The Workbook, Vol. 19, N0. 2 (Summer 1994). pp. 66–67.
  • Michael Westgate, Gale Force: Gale Cincotta: The Battles for Disclosure and Community Reinvestment, 2nd ed. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Bookstore, 2011)
  • Rebecca K. Marchiel, After Redlining: The Urban Reinvestment Movement in the Era of Financial Deregulation (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020)