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) of 1975 and the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) of 1977. 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 with Shel Trapp 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. Background Cincotta was born Aglaia Angelos on December 28, 1929 in Chicago, Illinois, an only child. Her father was Greek and her mother was Latvian, and they ran Greek restaurants. Her parents were Socialists, and Cincotta grew up around political talk in her father's restaurant. She grew up in Garfield Park, and stayed on Chicago's West Side. In school, although she was punished for it, Cincotta described herself as ethnically American. Cincotta left school after tenth grade, and married a gas station owner. At age 16, she moved to Austin, Chicago with her new husband, Roy Cincotta. Cincotta had her first child at seventeen, and had six sons total. In 1952, Cincotta made the decision to send her children to Chicago Public Schools, and as they matriculated, she became increasingly displeased with the quality of their education. Her sons were not learning to read, classrooms were overcrowded, and textbooks were worn and outdated. Cincotta learned that the school system was spending $250 per student per year in Austin, compared with $650 per student in other schools. She joined the Parent-Teacher Association to work to improve conditions in the school and in the city. Activism In Austin, Chicago in the 1960s, real estate agents, colloquially called "panic peddlers," encouraged white homeowners to sell before their property values fell, or before banks stopped lending to homeowners in the area, a practice called redlining. Cincotta became aware that the quality of the schools was tied to the real estate values in the area. Her activism branched from direct involvement with her children's schools to local movements for fairer financial practices. She led protests against unfair landlords and saw results. Through her community organizing work in the mid-1960s, Cincotta