This July, Elevated Chicago celebrated its second birthday with an event hosted by the Foundation for Homan Square on the top floor of Nichols Tower. Elevated Chicago was initially organized in response to the Strong, Prosperous, And Resilient Communities Challenge (SPARCC), and it uses collaborative, community-led solutions to fight neighborhood displacement and inequities around seven CTA stations. CNT has been part of this collaboration since its birth in 2017.

Elevated applies equitable transit-oriented development, or eTOD, strategies to build a global, inclusive city where all residents can thrive and where a neighborhood’s health and resiliency indicators no longer depend on race. CNT’s Jacky Grimshaw serves as a member of the Elevated Chicago Steering Committee and co-chairs the Systems Change Working Group, which successfully helped City Hall amend Chicago’s TOD ordinance earlier this year to both include high frequency bus lanes and mandate the adoption of an eTOD Policy Implementation Plan.

CNT has also been an ally to organizations pursuing environmental resilience strategies in each of the Elevated communities. These strategies include climate and cultural resilience and EcoDistricts. In the first case, CNT helps organizations build green infrastructure projects that reduce urban flooding in combination with local public art projects, and in the second, we help them plan for networked green solutions that create community benefits.