Club women successfully met these challenges by becoming social and political agents of reform and community uplift. Through volunteerism and fundraising they combatted the homelessness, unemployment, illiteracy, high mortality, and inadequate health care that plagued African Americans. They opened kindergartens, day nurseries, orphanages, settlement houses, homes for the elderly, recreation centers, and medical care facilities. They also demonstrated their political prowess by developing suffrage clubs, entering public debates on major issues, and voicing their opinions on the importance of holding politicians accountable. The Illinois club women also played a primary role in the election of Oscar Stanton DePriest as the first black alderman in Chicago.