In 1997, Helen Shiller met with three Chicago Public School teachers who had grown up in the 46th Ward, had come back to teach at public schools in the 46th Ward, and could no longer afford to live in the community.  In each case, these teachers were just married or about to be married, and were all looking for a home of their own to raise their nascent families.  These three families became the inspiration for what was to become the CPAN program.

Shiller and Mayor Daley announce CPAN units on Malden in 2001

"The other problem was that all of the city's first-time homebuyer programs presumed that a family's first home would be a single family home," explained Shiller in 2001.  "There was no program that created opportunities for purchasing a condominium.  In the 46th Ward and many wards along the north lakefront there was simply no economically viable way to make the existing programs work."

Helen Shiller created an innovative program that including the collaboration of both city and state government, private developers and local nonprofits to create the program that would later be called CPAN (Chicago Partnership for Affordable Neighborhoods) and would eventually be implemented citywide.

Supporters of Alderman Shiller's CPAN program join the press conference

In many ways CPAN is the model for the set-aside ordinance that has been debated for the last several years and is likely to pass in some format next year.  CPAN strengthens both families and communities.  CPAN allows moderate income working families to buy their homes in rapidly developing areas where they otherwise could not afford to live and to take advantage of the public and private resources that those rapidly developing areas offer.  CPAN also ensures that public servants, such as the three teachers that inspired the program, can continue to live in areas where they serve.