Gale Cincotta

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) and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).^[1] 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 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.

Notes

References

• 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 Cincotta--The Fights for Disclosure and Community Reinvestment, 404 pages, published by Harvard Bookstore, 2011