Following a national search, the HOPE Fair Housing Center has named Evelyn Sanguinetti as its new executive director. Sanguinetti is the former lieutenant governor of Illinois. HOPE was established in 1968 after the riots that followed Martin Luther King Junior’s assassination, prompting racial unrest and economic instability in all areas.  As the oldest fair housing center in Illinois, HOPE is dedicated to eliminating housing discrimination and segregation in all its forms, serving DuPage, Kane, and portions of Cook County, as well as 28 counties in Northern and North Central Illinois.

As Illinois’ 47th Lieutenant Governor, Sanguinetti focused on helping to improve the lives of all Illinoisans through the delivery of more efficient government, providing health care access to all regions of the state, quality educational opportunities to all residents regardless of income or location, and economic opportunity to small businesses throughout the state. Sanguinetti succeeds Anne Houghtaling, who served as HOPE’s Executive Director from 2011 until earlier this year. Houghtaling has taken the position of Deputy Director of the Thurgood Marshall Institute of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund in Washington, D.C.