Eithne McMenamin leaves CCH to head up Chicago Cottages, a ‘tiny homes’ project

Eithne McMenamin              (Photo by Claire Sloss)

By Eithne McMenamin

Associate Director of Policy

As my time at CCH draws to a close, I’m feeling a mixture of emotions. I’m excited for my new venture as well as nervous as to what the future holds, and also a little sad that I’m leaving such a great organization. I’m as proud to be associated with this organization after 12 years as I was on my first day back in 2005.

I’m humbled to have been able to be a part of so many great campaigns: It Takes a Home to Raise a Child, the capital budget campaign, Sweet Home Chicago, and our current HomeWorks family homelessness campaign. As well, I’ve had the tremendous good fortune to have worked with countless amazing people both inside and outside of CCH. The people I’ve met and worked with are what have inspired and energized me every day of my time here.

My first campaign was to get the state to increase funding for its homeless prevention program, which CCH was instrumental in establishing. We succeeded in getting the funds doubled from $2.5 million to $5 million a year. Sweet Home Chicago was a joy to work on. We built a strong coalition and were able to create a map for how to engage in successful, impactful city-level advocacy. And in our current HomeWorks campaign we’ve done a lot of good work in a relatively short period of time. I’m excited to see all they will continue to do in the coming months and years.

I’m lucky also that my work at CCH has led me to my next adventure. I will be heading up the work of Chicago Cottages: A Tiny Home Task Force, a project of Pride Action Tank. We are working to bring new housing choices to those seeking additional solutions to the housing crisis. There is a tremendous amount of energy in the tiny homes movement right now — I’m excited to be coordinating and directing that energy to get tiny homes built in and around Chicago. Follow our work on our Facebook page and feel free to reach out if you’d like a tour or would like to talk about our work.

For the time being I can be reached at my personal email, eithnemc72@gmail.com