LVEJO Quarterly E-Newsletter - March 2019
Alderperson Elections in the 12 th & 22 nd Wards on Environmental Justice
What are we up against?
LVEJO’s civic engagement initiative, Vota Con Ganas, provided an environmental justice focused platform for over 200 people in the 12 th and 22 nd Ward this February. It was great to see community residents from all ages come together and engage on issues that will greatly impact our community. These alderperson candidate forums also served to further highlight the great need for voter education and making it accessible to the community. Talk is cheap and we must continue to hold elected officials accountable for the future of Little Village. We’d like to take the time to thank all the candidates who showed up to our forums, people really took note of who was there and who wasn’t. Most importantly, we’d like to thank our forum committees and volunteers for helping make the forums a success. Shout out to Neighbors for Environmental Justice !

So what now? If you attended our forums we invite you for an election results conversation on Thursday, March 28 th 5:30pm-7:30pm , location TBA. Follow @VotaConGanas on facebook for updates.
#NoDieselLV Campaign Update:
LVEJO hosted a community meeting on Saturday March 9, 2019 to present on the concerns of diesel emissions affecting 1,000 Zapata Academy students. Unilever is a multi-billionaire corporation which is located on Kilbourn and 28 th has been producing Hellman’s Mayonnaise for over 100 years in Little Village. They expanded right next to the new Zapata Academy annex, located on Kostner and 27 th . This project received full support from our ex- Alderman Ricardo Muñoz.
Get Involved!
1) Host a stationary air monitor outside your home: This applies to community members who live in an area that is considered a "dirty diesel corridor," or a place that is heavily trafficked by diesel trucks. The monitors require access to wifi and an outlet.

2) Join our outreach team and volunteer to flyer for future community meetings!

If you are interested in either one of those opportunities please reach out to Nancy Meza at nmeza@lvejo.org or call our office at 773.762.6991
This expansion increased Unilever’s fleet to 500 - 900 diesel trucks a day, which would be traveling in and out of the site, along Kostner and 26th. During the meeting we presented the findings of a report carried out by students at Infinity High School, one of the four schools in the LVLHS, who in partnership with LVEJO conducted truck counting. Students analyzed 53 videos each about 10 minutes long, shot on the intersection of Kostner and 26th, and counted approximately 354 diesel trucks with a rate of 0.67 trucks per minute, or approximately 1 truck per minute. Community members were alarmed by these numbers and expressed their concern about the health impacts of diesel pollution in an already burdened environmental justice community.

For solutions to those concerns, there are 3 key demands for Unilever 1) Unilever should pay for adequate air filtration system in Zapata that will filter out particulate matter 2.5 (pm 2.5 i s the particle most harmful to a person's respiratory system), 2) Unilever should put filters on their diesel trucks with a long term goal to retrofit their fleet to electrical, and finally, 3) Unilever should conduct fence-line air monitoring on their site and have publicly accessible data . Community members at the meeting were also curious to see where our new Alderman elect, Mike Rodriguez stands on these issues. LVEJO has yet to reach out to Ald. Mike Rodriguez for comments.
Diesel Truck Count Report

This school year, LVEJO partnered once again with Infinity Math & Science High School out of the Little Village Lawndale High School Campus (LVLHS). Students collected both qualitative and quantitative data around the increasing number of Diesel Trucks around their school and in the neighborhood, in general. The students have created a report showing all of their findings.
 
Huge thank you to Mr. Venegas and his AP Stats class for working with us on our #NoDieselLV campaign this year! We look forward to working together on future projects!
LVEJO's Policy Director Juliana Pino announced the Clean Energy Jobs Act on February 28.

The result of 67 community dialogues across Illinois, CEJA includes environmental justice and economic justice as central pillars of the legislation, mentioning "environmental justice" at least 30 times. The bill creates opportunities for energy sovereignty, deals a blow to pollution, builds family-sustaining careers, lowers electric bills, and more. 

LVEJO's work on Clean Energy Jobs Act in the news:

Learn more about the Clean Energy Jobs Act:    https://ilcleanjobs.org

Chicago Food Policy Action Council's (CFPAC) 14th Annual Chicago Food Policy Summit .

A panel discussion about the historical, current, and future barriers around Indigenous, Black, and Brown Food Sovereignty in Chicago. This will then be followed by group discussion where attendees will form groups to identify existing barriers and opportunities to connect and collaborate related to work they are currently doing in Chicago around Food Sovereignty.

The panel was being moderated by Vivi Moreno and Taryn Randle, two fierce Food Justice Organizers in Chicago.

Check out CFPAC's facebook page for more coverage of the forum!
Multi-billion Dollar Company, Hilco, wants a pass on paying taxes at the Crawford Site.

Ricardo Muñoz, sellout alderman of the 22nd Ward, sponsored a resolution for Hilco to save at least $19 million in taxes. The Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development passed the resolution and will now be before City Council on 3/13, despite opposition from Alderman Milly Santiago (31st), Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) , Ald.  Ameya Pawar (47th).
LVLHS Youth for Environmental Justice Club

This school year, students were determined to begin a club to continue to work on Environmental Justice issues in the Little Village Lawndale High School Campus. They are interested in community organizing, food justice, skill shares, taking field trips and much more!

We meet every Tuesday from 3:30pm-4:30pm and it is open to students of all four schools on the LVLHS campus! 

Huge thank you to Ms. Nelson, Ms. Levingston and Ms. DiVittorio for helping establish this beautiful club!
Semillas de Justicia Gardeners had their First Meeting!
We're getting ready for the next gardening season! Gardeners convened for the first time in March of 2019. We're excited to have yet another successful harvest, and build with more community members. We will begin hosting our free community potluck dinners the last Wednesday of May, so be sure to follow our facebook page for updates!
The Little Village Industrial Corridor Modernization Process (ICMP).

The Department of Planning and Development (DPD) released their framework draft plan for the Little Village ICMP in January. Their plan does not prioritize our health and environment, but instead prioritizes the best interests of industry. The plan also does not address existing industries that are currently polluting the neighborhood. DPD’s plan includes major boundary changes, that will have a significant impact on the future affordability of the community. We are collecting public comments on their draft plan until they no longer accept them. They were initially set to present this plan to the Chicago Plan Commission on February 21st, but after a lot of community pushback, they decided not to until more community engagement is done.

To submit public comments: https://bit.ly/2RVp4vi

The Little Village ICMP is a separate process from other DPD projects such as the “ El Paseo ” trail, and the Affordable Requirements Ordinance (ARO) Pilsen and Little Village pilot program . However, they are connected due to the impacts that the developments will have long term. Discussions about the ARO were never included in the ICMP process, and the DPD mislead the community to believe that it would not be voted on until there was more community input, but they pushed it through the Chicago Plan Commission the very next week without any notice. We will keep you updated on these developments going forward.   

You can also reach out to Jose Acosta, Environmental Planning and Research Organizer, for more information: jacosta@lvejo.org
LVEJO to Present at ASPA Conference.

LVEJO Policy Associate, Jeremiah Muhammad, will present his paper “Environmental Health and Equity in US Land Use Policies,” at the  American Society for Public Administration’s 80th Annual Conference  in Washington, DC. Jeremiah will be presenting on the panel entitled  “Defining “Publics” Through Environmental Administration in New Areas: Through a Glass, Darkly.”  The panel is scheduled for Monday, March 11 (12:45 PM - 2:00 PM). 
Jeremiah, a Chicago native, co-leads LVEJO's Lead in Water Campaign and supports the Industrial Corridor Modernization Plan (ICMP) Organizer's land-use efforts. Previously, he  has worked for Coming Clean Inc. where he provided coordination and research support to the Environmental Justice Health Alliance (EJHA) on the Safe Communities, Safe Water campaign on above-ground chemical storage tanks, the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Center for Science and Democracy program where he supported their outreach and legislative efforts as well as gaining the opportunity to develop his own gun violence research campaign from the ground up, and several Congressional internships. He graduated in 2013 from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville with a B.A. in Communication Studies and minors in Political Science and Journalism & Electronic Media. Jeremiah will be graduating this Spring with his Masters in Public Administration from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Stuart School of Business.
Events Coming Up!
Join Black, Latinx farmers and community members in a conversation with Leah Penniman, author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land , on Sunday March 17th, 2019, in Chicago IL. Connect with individuals doing land justice work, environmental justice work, and social justice work across the Chicagoland area.

Date : Sunday March 17th. 2019
Place : 1100 E. Hyde Park Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60615
Time : 12 PM - 3 PM


See you there!

Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer, author, and food justice activist who has been tending the soil for twenty years and organizing for an anti-racist food system for fifteen years. She currently serves as founding co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York, a people-of-color led project that works to dismantle racism in the food system. She has been recognized by the Soros Equality Fellowship, NYSHealth Emerging Innovator Awards, and Fulbright Distinguished Awards, among others. Her new book is Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land (Chelsea Green Publishing, November 2018). Find out more about Leah’s work at www.soulfirefarm.org and follow her @soulfirefarm on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.


This event is wheelchair accessible.
Please let us know if you will be needing childcare or spanish translation.

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