The Chicago Association of REALTORS®, the “Voice for Real Estate” in Chicago since 1883, represents 16,000+ members from all real estate specialties including commercial sales, development, property management, appraisal, auctions and residential sales.
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Chicago’s neighborhoods each have a story to tell, rooted in a complex history of community power and the ongoing journey toward equity.
Join us at the Obama Presidential Center for a morning of meaningful conversation as we unpack how the city’s housing history has shaped neighborhood investment, homeownership opportunities and the equity landscape we navigate today.
Through a series of insightful presentations, you will:
Get an inside look at current and upcoming development initiatives across the city.
Explore the vital role REALTORS® play in Chicago’s evolving housing ecosystem.
Walk away with the perspective to lead with integrity in your business and your community.
Over breakfast, connect with fellow real estate professionals and community advocates who are committed to fair housing, informed leadership and thriving neighborhoods. This work is strengthened by shared knowledge, trusted relationships and a collective commitment to building a more equitable Chicago.
Cassandra “Ms. Cass” Sneed | Vice-President of Community Engagement, EXIT Strategy Realty
Click here to learn more about Cassandra Sneed
Cassandra “Ms. Cass” Sneed is a Chicago-based REALTOR®, community advocate, and real estate strategist known for blending deep neighborhood knowledge with practical wealth-building guidance. She serves as Vice President of Community Engagement at EXIT Strategy Realty and Chair of The 77 Diversity Committee at the Chicago Association of REALTORS®. With prior experience at the City of Chicago’s Department of Housing and as a graduate of the Real Estate Mentorship Cohort Program with C3 and Dajuan Robinson (DNA Construction), Cassandra is recognized as a deal maker, opportunity finder, and trusted voice in real estate. While her primary focus is the South Side of Chicago and surrounding suburbs, her work now extends internationally through her affiliation with Seso Global, connecting opportunities in Nigeria, Ghana, and Liberia.
Affectionately known as “Ms. Cass,” she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her work. She is a proud wife, mother, daughter, and grandmother — lovingly called “Yaya” — who is personally navigating caregiving alongside her sister for their 80-year-old mother living with dementia. This personal journey deepens her commitment to housing stability, legacy, and generational impact. Whether speaking on homeownership, investment strategy, or community-driven development, her message is clear: real estate is not simply a transaction — it is a pathway to security, opportunity, and long-term wealth.
Decades of Disinvestment: Redlining, Segregation & Current Lending Patterns
The color-coded maps federal officials used from the 1930s through the 1960s still closely align with mortgages and where economic opportunity flows today. Over the past four decades, neighborhoods labeled “hazardous” more than 80 years ago received about 3,000 fewer mortgages than neighborhoods graded “best,” with lending declining step-by-step across every lower grade decade after decade. Even after accounting for differences in housing stock, vacancy and owner-occupancy, these gaps persist alongside today’s racial wealth disparities, where Black households hold roughly $15 in wealth for every $100 held by White households.
Presenter:
Bruce C. Mitchell | Principal Researcher, National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC)
Click here to learn more about Bruce C. Mitchell
Bruce C. Mitchell, PhD, is Principal Researcher at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), where he investigates how place determines economic opportunity in America. As an urban geographer, he traces the long arc of segregation, redlining, urban renewal, and gentrification – forces that still shape neighborhood investment, homeownership, and wealth in U.S. cities, Chicago among them. His most recent research, pairing archival evidence on redlining with mortgage data across 118 metropolitan areas, shows that neighborhoods graded “hazardous” by federal agents in the 1930s still receive significantly fewer home-purchase loans today, with the deepest disparities in historically Black communities. His broader work examines gentrification, environmental justice, and disparities in access to financial services. Bruce holds a PhD in Geography and Environmental Science and Policy from the University of South Florida
Fear as Infrastructure: The Socialization of Disinvestment
2025 MacArthur Fellow and Chicago-based artist Tonika Lewis Johnson examines how segregation and disinvestment are reinforced not only through policy and economics, but also through inherited fear, social conditioning and everyday narratives about place. Through her Don’t Go project and broader body of work, this presentation explores how perceptions of neighborhoods become normalized across generations — shaping housing patterns, investment decisions and public understanding of community value — while considering how storytelling and intentional engagement can help interrupt those cycles.
Presenter:
Tonika Johnson | Artist & Founder, Folded Map Project, NFP
Click here to learn more about Tonika Johnson
Tonika Lewis Johnson is a Chicago-based artist, researcher, and storyteller whose work examines segregation, housing inequity, and spatial justice. A 2025 MacArthur Fellow, she creates projects that use art as a tool for public understanding and community repair.
Her Folded Map Project pairs residents living at the same street address on Chicago’s North and South Sides—“map twins”—to explore segregation through portraits and conversations across difference. Inequity for Sale is a data-driven public art project that marks homes impacted by predatory land sale contracts, exposing how Black wealth was extracted through discriminatory housing practices. Through UnBlocked Englewood, she moves from storytelling to action by repairing homes, reclaiming land, and supporting block-level revitalization in Englewood.
She is the CEO of Folded Map Project, NFP and co-founder of the Englewood Arts Collective. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including at major cultural institutions in Chicago and beyond. Johnson holds a BA from Columbia College Chicago and an MBA from National-Louis University.
Space is limited. Please click here for more information on the Chicago Association of REALTORS® event attendance and cancellation policy. Advance registration is strongly encouraged. If space permits, a limited number of on-site registrations may be available.
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Professional recordings intended for commercial purposes without prior written authorization from association leadership are strictly prohibited. Learn more about the association’s Professional Recording Policy.
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