Six Questions for Rev. Laura Sumner Truax

Tell us about LaSalle Street Church. LaSalle is on the north side of the downtown area. Built in the late 1800s, it was a church-plant of the Moody Church. As the Italians later moved out of Cabrini-Green (the large public housing complex in the neighborhood) and poor black people moved in, Moody Church wanted to close the church down. The pastor at the time, however, believed we had to stay. It was a brave move by that congregation.

What does the neighborhood look like today? Today, gentrification has hit the near-north side like any other area of desirable real estate. We don’t face just monolithic housing complexes for the very poor—we face a real variety, from two-wage families, displaced poor people, subsidized units, and market-rate units.