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Our mission is to preserve, promote, and propel the right of all people to a place where they can live and prosper—a place to call home.

    Mr. Danté

    Content Warnings: None

    Audio Quality Notes: Audio a little tin-y on oral historian’s side and fuzzy on the narrator’s side

    At a Glance

    Public Housing Residency: Garden Valley Neighborhood House, Ohio Metropolitan Housing Authority

    Themes: neighborhood social club, community support, publishing industry, entrepreneurship, positive experience in public housing, community activist

    Content Warnings: None

    Primary time periods: 1961–present

    Primary locations: Kinsman Road, Chicago, New York, Garden Valley Neighborhood House Community Center, East Technical High School

    Keywords: The Jolly Jinx Club, Apple Butter Festival, Cedar Point, Boy Scouts, rowhouses, family trips, lottery, entrepreneurship, weed seller, basketball, camp, public pool, publishing industry, graphic design, calligraphy, scholarship, segregation, government cheese, community activist, junior class president, Miss Roth talent show

    Descriptive Context

    Interview Summary

    Content Warnings: None

    Dante lived in public housing from the time of his birth until the age of 18. He never felt any stigma associated with his home and has very positive memories of the experience. His father organized the neighborhood social club that was a community staple. His family was very tight knit and supportive and enjoyed traveling a lot together. He started his own publishing business while in high school. He attributes his current success as a business owner to the support and resources he had access to growing up via Garden Valley Neighborhood House. He volunteers helping Chicago Housing Authority residents to pay it forward.

     

    About the Narrator

    Narrator Full Name: Mr. Danté

    Narrator pronouns: he/him/his

    Refer to as: Mr. Danté

    Self-identified race and/or ethnicity: Black

    Biographical Context:

    Share one of your dreams, literal or figurative. My dream is to build IWN.Haus, an ultra-modern, 5-story community wealth building center for low-income, current and former public housing residents in Chicago, IL USA. IWN.Haus is inspired by “Garden Valley Neighborhood House” Community Center, which is still located in the Kinsman neighborhood but now serves as a food depository. My goal is to erect it in Fall 2026. I am currently conducting the first stretch of a multi-year crowdfunding campaign called #ParcelToProsperity online at https://Go.IWN.Haus. There is also a 3D version of IWN.Haus that allows you to explore each floor and “walk” through the building as well as floor plans for all 5 floors. This is my dream.

    Life Dates:
    • Birth: 1961
    About the Interview

    Interviewer: Mark Jaeschke

    Date of Interview: 2021-06-16

    Method of Interview: remote

    Location of Interview: Chicago, IL

    Language: English

    Duration: 01:22:58

    Formats Available: .wav, .mp3

    Audio Quality and other notes: Audio a little tin-y on oral historian’s side and fuzzy on the narrator’s side

    Post-Production by: jellystone robinson, Sharon Lanza

    Contextual Information Last Updated: 2024-03-12

    Time-Stamped Index

    No index available for this file.

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    Access Level: public

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    Pegues, Janetta Sue. Interviewed by Francesco De Salvatore. National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL/DOI], recorded June 18, 2018, accessed June 2, 2024: pp. 10-15.

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    [NarratorFullName in Last First Middle order]. Interviewed by [InterviewerFullName in First Middle Last Order]. National Public Housing Museum Oral History Archive, [insert URL], recorded [write out full date of interview], accessed [write out full date of most recent access]: pp. [pages of transcript cited]. 

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