Gale Cincotta collection

Gale Cincotta was born on December 28th, 1929. She was a resident of the Austin neighborhood of Chicago and became a community organizer and activist in the 1970s. As a mother of six boys, she wanted to improve her children’s overcrowded schools. She learned that the quality of the public schools was closely tied to the value of the neighborhood real estate. This meant that a deteriorating neighborhood would have deteriorating schools. Moreover, the various organizations that gave loans and insured property redlined or refused to provide services to these areas based on ethnic makeup and lower income. In reaction to these practices, Cincotta co-founded the National Training and Information Center (NTIC) with Shel Trapp and Anne-Marie Douglas in 1972 in Chicago. The group was established to provide technical assistance and training for community organizers and neighborhood leaders. NTIC’s primary objective was to help community residents build grassroots leadership in order to strengthen communities. In the same year, Cincotta also created National People’s Action (NPA), a coalition of grassroots neighborhood organizations founded to represent neighborhood interests with federal banking and housing agencies. Through her work at the NPA, Cincotta attacked the government’s role as a “lender of last resort” and organized groups against redlining based on racial and economic makeup. One of Cincotta’s most notable achievements was her support for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977 of which won her the name, Mother of the CRA. The CRA helped low-income Americans access decent affordable housing. Cincotta received several awards throughout her 30-year career as a community organizer and activist. She received the Chicago Commission on Human Rights Award in 1985, the Ms. Foundation Woman of the Year Award in 1986, and the first Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Neighborhood Partnership Award. Cincotta was active in community work until her death on August 15, 2001.