ICA E-News – June 2020

Helping Facilitate a Clean Energy Transition for Illinois

“Folks in this group wear a lot of hats—community leaders, community organizers, parents, pastors. When you come into those different roles you bring different skills and focuses and things that you’re trying to do with a group, and facilitation is no different,” said ICA staffer Samantha Sainsbury to a group of organizers leading efforts to expand clean energy opportunities to Illinoisans.

Funded by a grant through the Energy Foundation and Illinois Environmental Council, ICA partnered with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) to offer a training series in our Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methods to fellow grantees engaged in the Listen. Lead. Share. (LLS) campaign.

Sustainability and Community Focus Earn Major Grant for GreenRise

We’re honored to announce that ICA GreenRise has received a major State Capital Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to invest in renovating key building features. The $150,000 award will support upgrades to the building’s fire safety system, part of a roster of capital improvements planned as part of the GreenRise Renovation Project (GRRP). 

Board Spotlight: Toni Anderson

"​[ICA] methods challenge the internal narrative that a person is holding that they may have to inspect to become available to a greater good or a collective movement, and it's rare that those two things get challenged in the same way."

Toni Anderson is Founder and Executive Director of Sacred Keepers Sustainability Lab, a Chicago-based non-profit dedicated to teaching youth to inherit the earth through environmental STEM education, sustainable service learning initiatives, and youth-driven social philanthropy. She has been a member of Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network since it formed in 2013, is working toward certification in our Technology of Participation Methods, and joined our board in June, 2020.

Upcoming Events

Fifth City Revisited Virtual Platform

Fifth City Revisited is a project by Meida Teresa McNeal that tells the story of a radical Black-centered community movement from the 1960s-1990s on the Westside of Chicago. Part memoir, part history lesson, and part urban planning critique, Fifth City Revisited explores how we create healthy communities while also considering the scale at which we must do this work in order to grow and sustain it.

This Summer and Fall 2020, the Fifth City Revisited project will launch a virtual platform that includes a digital exhibit, a neighborhood response salon, and a collection of stories from folks committed to a healthy, well resourced, and revitalized Westside. The live performance will be staged again in Spring 2021.

Support Our Mission