Gail Schechter, Neighbor

Gail Schechter has been a leader in housing advocacy, discrimination complaint investigation, tenant and community organizing, community-based education, and public policy research and development since 1984. From1993 to 2016, she served as Executive Director of the Open Communities, a Chicago-area housing, economic and social justice organization that dates back to the Civil Rights Movement.  She has taught public policy for the graduate division of Northwestern University's School of Professional Studies. She also serves in the "affordable housing advocate" seat of the State Housing Appeals Board, which enforces the Affordable Housing Planning and Appeal Act. Originally from New York City, Ms. Schechter was Director of Organizing for a Brooklyn not-for-profit group and later co-founded the Chicago Mutual Housing Network while at the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Ms. Schechter holds a B.A. with Honors in History from Oberlin College and an M.A. in Urban and Environmental Policy from Tufts University. She has two children, lives in Skokie, and plays clarinet as much as she can in her spare time. The views expressed in this blog are purely her own.