Gale Cincotta (December 28, 1929 – August 15, 2001), a community activist from the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, led the national fight for the US federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) of 1975 and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. The CRA requires banks and savings and loans to offer credit throughout their entire market areas and prohibits them from targeting only wealthier neighborhoods with their lending and services, a practice known as redlining. She was a co-founder with Shel Trapp of 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. Her father was Greek and her mother was Latvian, and they ran Greek restaurants. Her parents were Socialists, and Cincotta grew up around political talk in her father's restaurant. She grew up in Garfield Park, In school, although she was punished for it, Cincotta described herself as ethnically American. and married a gas station owner. In 1952, Cincotta made the decision to send her children to Chicago Public Schools, and as they matriculated, she became increasingly displeased with the quality of their education. Cincotta learned that the school system was spending $250 per student per year in Austin, compared with $650 per student in other schools. She joined the Parent-Teacher Association to work to improve conditions in the school and in the city.
Activism
In Austin, Chicago in the 1960s, real estate agents, colloquially called "panic peddlers," encouraged white homeowners to sell before their property values fell, or before banks stopped lending to homeowners in the area, a practice called redlining. She led protests against unfair landlords and saw results. In 1972, Cincotta, Trapp, and Anne-Marie Douglas founded the National Training and Information Center (NTIC),
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. 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." According to Senator William Proxmire, HMDA "would never have become a law but for the research and local organizing activity undertaken by NPA." 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." In 1994, Cincotta became a member of Fannie Maes Housing Impact Advisory Council, and in Chicago, she was on the Community Investment Advisory Council of the Federal Home Loan Bank.
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. 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). This move prompted the bank chairman Paul Volcker to meet with Cincotta. Cincotta also won the first Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago Neighborhood Partnership Award.