ICA E-News – October 2019

In this issue:
—Fourth Annual Uptown Garden Walk Explores Climate and Community
—Bronzeville Bike Ride Connects Culture and History through Local Gardens
—Sustainability Meeting Seeks Synergy Among Working Groups
—Clean Energy Conversation Centers on Bringing Solar Jobs to South Shore
—Accelerating Climate Action in Denver, One Neighborhood at a Time
—Upcoming Events

Latest from ICA

Fourth Annual Uptown Garden Walk Explores Climate and Community

Each year, the Uptown Garden Walk grows. In 2016, a garden hub day at ICA planted the seed that would blossom into the first Garden Walk. The next year, the second Garden Walk aligned with the Out and About Uptown’s Coast series to explore connections between present day gardens and the history of Uptown’s coast. During the third Garden Walk, stewards from local gardens greeted participants who opted to guide themselves. On September 7th of this year, the Fourth Annual Uptown Garden Walk featured yoga, a garden workday, educational tours, and a social gathering.

Bronzeville Bike Ride Connects Culture and History through Local Gardens

“Bronzeville is an extraordinary community filled with precious cultural artifacts and historic locations where many of our community’s best and brightest have walked, talked, laughed, and cried,” read the program guide created by Bronzeville Alliance for the second event in this year’s Nourish (comm)Unity series. On the afternoon of September 21st, participants on the FRESH Bronzeville environmental tour not only walked, talked, and laughed: they also biked.

Sustainability Meeting Seeks Synergy Among Working Groups

“What brought you here tonight?” asked ICA Program Manager Caitlin Sarro of the group that gathered near the dusk of September 26th at the Gold Dome Fieldhouse in Garfield Park. This simple question carries the powerful assumption that each person has their own reason for coming to a Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network (CSLN) meeting. Beyond those reasons are deeper values and motivations, the interaction of which has helped CSLN remain a dynamic, emergent network for nearly six years.

Clean Energy Conversation Centers on Bringing Solar Jobs to South Shore

The Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) aims to dramatically increase investment in clean energy across Illinois, driving equitable economic development, fossil fuel divestment, and energy efficiency. CEJA is not the only energy legislation proposed in the Illinois General Assembly this fall, but it is unique in building upon a “grassroots movement of ideas from everyday people across Illinois."

Accelerating Climate Action in Denver, One Neighborhood at a Time

The Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action (ANCA) program in Denver is based on an assumption that each household and family can, by changing lifestyle behaviors, lower their own carbon footprint as well as that of their neighborhood, thus creating a healthier future for all residents. Since 2016, ANCA has been using inclusive strategies, including our Technology of Participation (ToP) methods to host Climate Action Forums that cultivate climate action block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood throughout the city.

Upcoming Events

Environmental Sustainability Webinar | Session 3

Human-caused climate change is a defining issue of our time. Join us to expand your thinking on environmental sustainability, learn more from specific examples and case stories about engaging communities in climate change initiatives; and exchange with practitioners in the field. This webinar will explore Cool Campus Challenge, Climate of Hope Book Study, and Accelerate Neighborhood Climate Action (ANCA) Denver.

Global Archives Fall Sojourn

The Global Archives is a robust, volunteer-driven project working to connect our past with future generations. Join us in transforming more than 50 years of programs, projects, and methods by staff and volunteers into an ICA Archives website that will be accessible to anyone in the world.

Tragic Investment: A Book Talk with R. James Addington

ICA is proud to present a book talk on Tragic Investment: How Race Sabotages Communities and Jeopardizes America’s Future—and What We Can Do About It with author R. James Addington. 

Addington has been an antiracism organizer and trainer for the past 27 years and is a training consultant with Crossroads Antiracism Organizing and Training, an organization dedicated to building racial justice in institutions. He has lived and worked in eight different nations as a training and development consultant and served on the staff of ICA for 25 years.

Monty and Rose: ICA GreenRise Uptown Screening

ICA is proud to present a free screening of Monty and Rose. Join us for a Q&A with filmmaker Bob Dolgan and a reflective conversation with the rest of the audience. 

Monty and Rose tells the story of a pair of endangered piping plovers that successfully nested at Chicago’s Montrose Beach in the summer of 2019, the first of the species to nest in Chicago in 64 years. The short, independent documentary chronicles these special birds and an unpredictable series of events included a proposed music festival that propelled the birds to national headlines.

Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network December Meeting

Close out the year with Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network and the Field Museum! CSLN connects grassroots leaders from communities across Chicago to collaborate, share resources, support each other’s work, build a stronger collective voice, and nurture equitable and impactful relationships with policy makers. Our work depends on participation and collaboration from a diverse cohort of dedicated Chicagoans, so please come out and share your work and ideas!

ToP Network Annual Gathering

The ToP Network Annual Gathering is a great opportunity for facilitators and change-makers from to cultivate rich connections with diverse practitioners, discover new tools and techniques through interactive sessions led by experienced facilitators, and see how the Technology of Participation is being used to transform communities and organizations.

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