Morris Reed is CEO of Westside Health Authority. The 501c3 non-profit is celebrating it’s 30th year in 2018 and is the service provider for this very website.
When you’re in his office you notice several awards along with a framed Tribune article spotlighting the Coalition to Save Community Banking.
Instead of mourning the regulatory shutdown of a local Park National Bank, this group of freedom fighters negotiated a deal for no-interest loans to buy and renovate foreclosed homes on Chicago’s West Side. In the process of this sixteen-month negotiation, the coalition created a model of how a community establishes a relationship with a big bank.
Inspired by that story and a University of Chicago feature on WHA President – Jacqueline Reed, we sat down with Morris at his offices near Mandela Road. Topics ranged from the current Austin Renaissance to why investing in your neighborhood is one of the most important things a leader can do.
Today WHA organizes into five key components:
- Youth Development
- Reentry/ Employment
- Violence Prevention
- Community Organizing
- Economic Development
Their style of community development is rooted in exploring how to work from with within to create the capacity needed to participate in investments. Here are some excerpts from our conversation.
AV72 Nik
Can you tell me about the projects that led to the current structure of Westside Health Authority?
WHA Morris
One of the first developments was a health and wellness center. Cook County declared that our only health care center was inadequate and going forward if you wanted to access those services you would have to leave the community to do so.
We wanted to maintain health services within Austin and this was unfair. There was a facility in the neighborhood. At the time our interest was to maintain services for poor people in Austin. We saw how money invested into a building created construction jobs and building tenant opportunities.
We saw the benefits that it offered a land developer once the building was completed. Those benefits came in the form of rent payments, developer fees and wealth equity because you own the building you providing the services in.
Our annual budget went from of $500k to $5 Million mostly due to our real estate investments and the ability to own where we operate. It’s simple concept but most black businesses don’t have that mentality, because to own you have to have confidence in your future.
AV72 Nik
There is also an opportunity to leverage the skill set of the neighborhood when you take that approach. But still, the prospect of ownership may seem risky to some.
WHA Morris
We need to start having a long-term plan. In most cultures you plan with the idea that you’ll live until about 80 yrs. old. Habits in our culture suggest that we have more immediate needs and we don’t worry about that far in advance.
AV72 Nik
When it comes to Austin there are many options when choosing a house of worship. What church do you attend growing up?
WHA Morris
I come from a very religious family. We have a strong Christian faith. Living in the south it was Baptist. We became Lutheran after we moved to Chicago because that was my father’s family church (Bethel New Life). A health center eventually spawned out of that Lutheran church. After that we went to Trinity Baptist Church over here on Division and Waller. We stayed there from the time I was 14yrs old until about 25 when the pastor died. Now I’m apart of a megachurch, New Life Covenant. We are building a new home and currently operate out of UIC.
AV72 Nik
What are your thoughts on the notion that churches have become territorial and don’t have the best interest of the neighborhood in mind?
WHA Morris
There’s a lot of truth to that. The church is going through a transition period from the civil rights movement era. The church back then was pivotal in the politics, service and leadership of those communities. They helped navigate us through understanding our voting power and supported development in these areas.
I think over time as those neighborhoods changed, we began to see churches made up of people not from that community. It causes some confusion as you to who are you really leading. How are you playing a role in this neighborhood when the citizens living here are not your constituency?
AV72 Nik
I’ve always wondered how churches measure success. Or how you decide that you need to start a church?
WHA Morris
In some cases it’s a conflict of interest. You start a church with a mission to preach the word of God and get people saved. You shouldn’t have a business side of a church but you have to. Churches worry about membership, keeping the doors open, supporting themselves through offers, donations and tithes.
There are so many churches that they can’t sustain themselves. Sometimes pastors have to a find part time job to support his pastoral responsibilities. These actions limit the number of days a church can be open to give the area the presence that is needed.
This brings the reason for starting a church in question. Why are you even starting a church when you can only be there on weekends because you work Monday – Friday.
But my response is that they wouldn’t be in that space if we could put a business there. I don’t mind churches occupying space; it’s better than it being vacant.
AV72 Nik
That’s a great point.
WHA Morris
I’m a landlord and we rent to two churches. Sure we want them to have more of a presence, but it’s still an economic investment back into our area. I think as we continue the transition, churches need more outreach to residents.
AV72 Nik
The growth of community-based organizations seems to parallel the shift in the traditional church presence. Is that fair to say?
WHA Morris
Community based organizations have said we will form these groups and takeover the role of a non-biased voice. The church also plays that role but since they are in the neighborhood but not apart of its membership base it can be confusing.
AV72 Nik
What are some of the projects currently in flight at WHA?
WHA Morris
One of our major efforts is the Good Neighbor Campaign – violence prevention, crisis intervention effort. Building capacity within the neighborhood to resolve issues. Giving neighbors power instead of bringing in a car jacking unit or crisis team from the city. Why have all those resources go to an external group when we can support those who live on that block everyday? Why can’t we give them the skills to resolve issues as they happen? They are in tune changes in real time and know how to direct a resolution to real issues immediately.
When there is a shooting you should call 911, but their needs to be another step as well. We need to be at a point where neighbors are communicating about crime if they see something brewing before we call 911.
AV72 Nik
I’m envious that there was no Good Neighbor system when I lived in South Shore. It’s a great area very close to the lake but crime ridden when compared Hyde Park, which borders it.
WHA Morris
At one point the house next to me was uncontrollable with drugs and parties. I didn’t feel comfortable having my young children outside there. But there’s no Block Club and you don’t want to go into that situation alone. The only thing you can do is call the police.
Wouldn’t you love to have an alternative group assess that situation for you?
AV72 Nik
Would it make sense for these citizens to dress in uniforms and drive marked cars?
WHA Morris
No, No, No we want them to look like a good neighbor interested in making the block safer. Most times if you’re in a large enough group and you confront people about how what they are doing is negatively affecting the block, eventually they will stop doing it. We don’t want to arrest anyone. We see a need for our blocks to be more civically engaged.
AV72 Nik
The Austin Renaissance is upon. With major projects like the LED street lighting initiative, the new CPD Training Academy nearby, and an influx of new businesses the area is under a transformation. Can you recall a time in Austin as exciting right now?
WHA Morris
Well Austin never needed it before. It’s a relatively young black community; we’re talking maybe the last 40 years. Black families moved here in the 70’s, by the 80’s it was a middle class black neighborhood. By the end of that decade it was an area in need of support and services. In the 90’s you saw an increase in crime and a decline in homeowners.
The baby boomers that bought their house in the late 70’s were becoming seniors by the 90’s When the foreclosure crisis of the 2000’s hit those homes were vacated. Home ownership dropped from 60% to 30% over that time. Transients began to move in and out of the area, schools started closing.
For 30 years were hit with these setbacks, it was a bad cocktail and there was no bailout. You’re starting to see Austin finally come out of that.
AV72 Nik
What is your focus when it comes to real estate?
WHA Morris
We need to create an attractive, clean and safe environment. You can’t do you that without focusing on both residential and commercial properties.
We advocate for better streets, schools and cleaner parks because at the end of the day our goal is to increase home ownership. Lack of home ownership leads to unwanted elements. Voting, education and marriages are important in communities.
AV72 Nik
Understanding how to buy and sell property sounds like an important life skill.
WHA Morris
If you own something you control it’s value. This is the simplest way to gain wealth. When you buy something you can finance or you can sell it. Either way you control how wealth is leveraged. We aren’t selling any of our commercial properties; we will invest more and watch the value of the area go up.
You’ve got to own something! It could be an insurance policy or a stock option but something that appreciates over time.
AV72 Nik
What are the goals for Special Service Area 72? The Chicago Ave corridor received that designation for the first time in 2017. This allows for city-endorsed improvements to the area utilizing tax dollars.
WHA Morris
AV72 is all about creating an environment that inspires people to be more energetic. Hope catches on quick. Things can happen if we maintain hope regardless of statistics.
Our biggest challenge is the flight of African Americans from Chicago to another region because they lost faith in these neighborhoods. They don’t see any value so they are leaving.
Can we pool our resources to avoid people giving up? Gary McCarthy, former Chief of Police said, “ Those African Americans that could have made a difference have fled the city and left behind the weak who have become shooters.”
Integration ruined these areas just as much as systematic racism. We had Black Wall Street because we were forced to live with each other. Integration gave us an option to leave.
The youth are angry because the elite have abandoned them. They don’t have anybody protecting them from the police. No mentoring or role models, it all leads to aggression. Those who can must share knowledge of sciences and must come back. Westside Health Authority wants to promote the spirit of giving back.
AV72 Nik
The synergy around giving cannot be denied. It changes the way people think.
WHA Morris
There’s a story of a young man that got out of jail. We helped him enter an apprentice program with the CTA. He was a smart guy who designed a system of cleaning EL trains. He removed graffiti so efficiently that CTA promoted him to manager. Now he’s a director with salary north of 100K$. He went from prison to director of a CTA department within three years.
This is a guy who came looking for a handout, now he comes back with a donations and mentors people who were in his situation… it’s really powerful.
—Nkosi
Other Notes:
Cheers to Morris Reed for taking time to chat. In a perfect world I would have explored what it was like for him to be elected as CEO, succeeding his mother and WHA founder, Jacqueline Reed. But this was a great exchange nonetheless.
