Center for Neighborhood Technology

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It’s Gonna Rain documents ‘community-led prioritization’ of green stormwater infrastructure investment

“Calumet City was incorporated in 1893, and the infrastructure was put in place somewhere in the 1920s,” city consultant Valencia Williams says in the mini-documentary produced for us last fall by Toledo-based nonprofit Mid-Story. “It’s pretty much the same infrastructure that we’ve patched along the way, [so Rain Ready and] partnerships with organizations like Center for Neighborhood Technology means the world to us.”

We reflected on lessons learned from multiple meetings in six towns with more than 100 engaged community residents as well as municipal leaders and other groups. Greenprint Partners, the firm assisting on our Cook County Government-funded $6 million Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) construction work coined the phrase “community-led prioritization process” to describe the work—and it captures the research, debate and decisions that determined where to spend the money in each town.

It’s Gonna Rain tells the story of the work we have been doing since 2017 in the south suburbs to center community voices in urban flooding adaptation — and just as importantly, why we do it: “We’re not just coming in and saying these are the solutions, we are engaging the community directly to get insight on how to go about responding,” our former staff member Brandon Evans sums up this work in the mini-documentary. Note: Brandon Evans was one of the staff laid off during a round of cuts due to federal rescissions in March 2025. The project continues with construction on multiple projects now getting under way.

Supporting local initiatives from ETOD to EVs; ‘They got it from the start’

Coffee meetings about development in North Lawndale that used to happen downtown can now take place at 16th and Kimball, over a cup of Monday Coffee in The Starling. The community center and coffeeshop is the first building designed and built by Duo Development, the brainchild of three siblings who immigrated from Mexico, grew up in Palatine, and have been working in community for nearly a decade.

They credit Elevated Works, the technical assistance and coaching cohort Center for Neighborhood Technology created and staffs with IFF, Metropolitan Planning Council, and Rudd Resources for helping them get the building done. Persuading decision-makers that North Kimball needed a building like The Starling was a hard sell, says Carlos Robles of Duo Development:

Visit the Chicago Truck Data Portal

Lived experience is a data source, too: Counting trucks in locations across Chicago started with observations of students, families, asthma sufferers and others in Little Village and on Chicago’s Southeast Side.

Insights from the lived experience of students, asthma sufferers and others in the community inspired this project. What we found by counting trucks at key Chicago transportation points highlighted diesel pollution in communities that already suffer from a disparate impact of other environmental risk factors. The results continue to help shape policy discussions about a just transition to electric vehicles or other solutions to pollution in our supply chains.

Paulina Vaca presents the Chicago Truck Data Portal at Southeast Environmental Task Force (SETF)

“[T]oday’s rapid shipping methods can take over neighborhoods and damage public health…. According to a new study from the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, during a 24-hour period on May 16 of last year, 5,159 18-wheelers, delivery trucks and buses passed through the intersection of 41st and Pulaski. During the peak hour of 11 a.m., that meant a truck or bus every 8.3 seconds,” reporter John Lippert wrote in an April 1, 2024 Chicago Tribune article.

From 2020-2023, we worked with Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and Fish Transportation Group to devise a method at key Chicago transportation points. The project culminated in March 2024 with publication of our Chicago Truck Count Data Portal.

Online tools drew 93,000 users

Google Analytics showed that for calendar year 2024, 93,000 active users visited our website and tools, from the new Truck Data Portal to longtime platforms such as the H+T Index and AllTransit, more than 150,000 times.

We turned our office into a space for networking and sharing ideas, marked a founder’s passing, and were honored with recognitions for our organization and staff

Panelists speak at one of CNT's Visionary Voices events.

Visionary Voices

In July, our first Visionary Voices event focused on finding power in identity. The intersection of water and housing justice and innovation were other topics; the gatherings, plus an event co-hosted with Chicago’s Environmentalists of Color drew 200 people to our office in Chicago’s Loop.

Recognition for our work

Nina Idemudia and Jacky Grimshaw participate in an American Planning Assocation podcast.

In September, the Illinois Chapter of American Planning Association recognized Civic Innovation Hub, providing south suburban residents stormwater management and community organizing knowledge, as a best practice: “The Civic Innovation Hub uses a radical approach because it identifies people with an interest in the topic but who don’t have technical expertise” APA judges noted. “This promoted capacity building, allowing the community to take ownership of the process.”

Award ceremony at LVEJO’s 30th anniversary dinner

In August, Little Village Environmental Justice Organization honored Center for Neighborhood Technology with the group’s Making Waves Award during LVEJO’s 30th anniversary dinner. In May, Friends of the Chicago River gave a Green Ribbon Award to a Green Stormwater Infrastructure project in Calumet Park that received support from RainReady Calumet.

Staff honors

Chief Executive Officer Nina Idemudia, AICP, was recognized as one of Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40” Chicago leaders. Senior Director for Transportation and Policy Jacky Grimshaw received the Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award in February. Jacky was also profiled in TR News, a publication of the National Academies of Science.

Remembering Lew Kreinberg

Thom Clark, Lew Kreinberg, Kathy Tholin & Scott Bernstein posing with newspaper showing world's fair canceled in front of Chicago skyline. Photo courtesy Kathy Tholin

In May, U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia spoke at a memorial service for Center for Neighborhood Technology co-founder Lew Kreinberg, who died in January. Among other contributions, Lew researched and served as ringleader on work to stop a Chicago World’s Fair that would have condemned much of Pilsen and other communities. He was 87.

We also regretfully share the loss since our last annual report of former CNT staff members Ron Shimizu and Richard Kotzmacher.