Video produced by Rudd Resources City planner and community leader Nina Idemudia looks to usher in a new era of innovation towards addressing sustainability and equity as the Center for Neighborhood Technology’s new CEO For almost 50 years, CNT has been a national leader in finding innovative ways to make cities more sustainable, resilient and equitable for all who live there. The CNT board was delighted with Nina’s understanding of how built environments shape the lives of... Read the rest of this entry »

Chicago finally caught a weekend break from torrential thunderstorms and poor air quality coming from Canadian forest fires on Saturday, July 22—making it a great day for the Water Justice Fair that Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) and Center for Neighborhood Technology co-hosted at Las Semillas de Justicia Garden.   The event was one of the first post-pandemic in-person gatherings for our two groups. Las Semillas de Justicia Garden was a... Read the rest of this entry »

“We always think it’s going to be a big movement, a big force, something that’s beyond ourselves that’s going to be our solution when in fact, it’s us– the moms, the grandmoms, the kids,” Lorée Washington, a Riverdale community leader, said during a recent virtual workshop for residents of South Suburban communities where the RainReady project is addressing urban flooding. As we partner with local groups to develop the RainReady Calumet Corridor with support from the Cook County government,... Read the rest of this entry »

In the wake of centuries of top-down urban planning practices, there is a great need to re-think the way cities are planned and invested in. I have always been interested in how cities’ public transportation systems work and how to be part of bottom-up planning practices that emphasize building decision-making power within communities. My studies in UIC’s Urban Planning & Policy graduate program allowed me to engage with transportation planning and civic engagement principles, and I found... Read the rest of this entry »

Climate change impacts are felt by individuals and communities all over the world through intense or frequent storms, floods, and increased exposure to air and water pollutants. Who is most impacted by this? Unfortunately, those who are lower-income and have non-white racial or ethnic identities. Chicago’s Southeast Side is one of these communities. Here, residents experience health inequities from their proximity to industrial pollution, like higher rates of heart disease and respiratory... Read the rest of this entry »

The Climate and Economic Justice Screening tool, or CEJST for short, is a simple map, with big implications. CEJST identifies disadvantaged census tracts for prioritizing federal funding and informing Justice40, which aims to send “40 percent of the overall benefits of certain Federal investments… [to] disadvantaged communities that are marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution. Over the next five years, federal and state agency staff are charged with doling out billions of... Read the rest of this entry »

Transportation is more than the movement of people and goods from place to place. It is a basic need and a vital component of a healthy community. However,  countless urban communities lack access to affordable and sustainable transit infrastructure. Such instances cause adverse impacts on BIPOC, low- and moderate-income households, often in tandem, deepening economic and racial inequities. Growing up in Chicago, I was privileged to live in a transit-rich area. Public transit was more... Read the rest of this entry »

Working toward change is difficult – in ourselves, in our relationships, within organizations, and certainly across institutions and geographies that have a strong hold on our daily lives. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working alongside many communities in a diverse mix of places and contexts, each confronted with unique histories and a shifting landscape of challenges and opportunities. Within those experiences, I’ve consistently seen how exploring communities’ ideas about what... Read the rest of this entry »

Like many college graduates, I was unsure of what to do after graduation. I had a lot of customer service experience from my part time jobs in high school and in college, as well as experience volunteering with organizations such as Planned Parenthood. I fell into a receptionist position where I learned that I liked working on the administration side of an organization. While I enjoyed my previous role at Radio Flyer, I knew I wanted to work in the non-profit field from my experience co-... Read the rest of this entry »

Dear friends and colleagues of CNT, We are writing to share some important news about the future of CNT. In late November 2022, Bob Dean informed the CNT Board that after five years as CNT’s CEO, he wants to take on new challenges in the field of equitable transportation by assuming a different role within CNT. Bob believes that billions of dollars in new federal funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to... Read the rest of this entry »