Rewriting Stories, One Family at a Time

When I was 12, my mother received a housing choice voucher that allowed her to move me and my two brothers from our small apartment in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood to a much larger two-flat nearby. I was too young to understand what opportunities that voucher provided. But I did notice that, for the first time, I had a quiet space of my own. 

Even without having the words to describe it, I understood then that the right support at the right moment can profoundly rewrite a family’s story. That voucher and other services from the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA), which provides housing assistance to people and families with low incomes, had rewritten mine. 

A few years after we moved to that two-flat, my mother graduated from CHA’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program, which provides financial coaching, employment resources and other support. It changed what was possible for our family.      

My own drive to work in public service began in the early 2000s at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC), my undergraduate alma mater, where I worked as an education specialist in a program for first-generation college students and students from lower-income backgrounds. I worked with students whose backgrounds mirrored my own, helping them build the confidence and social capital needed to navigate the transition to college. 

While I had a deep commitment to service, I knew that passion alone couldn’t sustain the work. To lead with the same intentionality I brought to serving, I needed a new set of tools. So after UIC, I came to Northwestern’s School of Communication for my master’s in communication. It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. 

In my classes on bargaining and persuasion, I learned how to navigate the psychological stages of resistance. Professor Michael Roloff’s lectures on the reinforcement approach gave me a name for something I had been doing by feel for years: meeting people exactly where they are and then building the trust needed to move forward together. And Professor Irving Rein’s crisis management class forced me to abandon my usual scripts and learn to speak extemporaneously. 

These weren’t abstract academic concepts — they were my tactical manual. I stopped operating on instinct alone and started building relationships with intention. Northwestern gave me the clarity to see that communication is leadership. 

Today I am deputy chief of resident services programs for the CHA. I oversee youth development, educational mobility and economic opportunity for Chicago residents navigating systemic barriers. And I am proud to oversee the LevelUp Program — the same Family Self-Sufficiency Program from which my mother graduated many years ago. 

As I lead initiatives to improve Chicagoans’ quality of life, I see the indelible marks of my time at Northwestern on every decision I make. Managing a $30 million budget and a staff of more than 100 demands the skills I learned in my communication classes. Whether I’m drafting policy or a strategic plan, I’m constantly thinking about how communication can open doors — or accidentally close them. It is high-stakes work, and words have consequences. 

I don’t know exactly what my mother had to go through to get what our family needed. But I know what I want the experience to feel like for the families I serve. 

Ebony Baity Campbell is deputy chief of resident services programs for the Chicago Housing Authority. She lives in Oak Forest, Ill. Campbell works with students through the Northwestern Network Mentorship Program, the Northwestern Externship Program and the Affinity Leaders and Learners Mentorship Program. Last spring she helped pilot the Master of Science in Communication Mentorship Program at the School of Communication.