When water enters your basement, the consequences are personal. It can mean ruined belongings, expensive repairs, and the worry that the next storm will bring it all back. But the decisions that shape that risk often happen outside of the neighborhood, through infrastructure plans, agency budgets, and public processes that can be difficult to follow.

Residents know what is happening on their blocks, but community power only grows when they have the information, relationships, and resources to help determine what happens next. That connection is central to CNT’s coalition work. Through coalitions like Transportation Equity Network (TEN), Elevated Chicago, and the Flooding & Sewage Coalition, we work alongside community organizations to bring neighborhood priorities into decisions about transportation, development, and infrastructure. Our partners bring lived experience, local leadership, and relationships built over decades. CNT contributes research, data tools, technical support, and connections with public agencies to help those priorities move toward solutions.

For communities experiencing repeated flooding, that work begins with listening.

Between May and September, CNT worked with neighborhood partners to host six community engagement events around Chicago’s Flood Sensor Pilot, a CNT project in partnership with Verizon and HyFi to determine if the installation of sensors across Chicago can give us a better understanding of how water moves through a neighborhood and where are people most vulnerable. These events drew 159 attendees. Of those attendees, 110, nearly 70%, reported having experienced flooding. For many people in the room, the discussion was about something they had already lived through.

The events connected residents with information about flood sensors, practical preparedness resources, and organizations working on solutions. More than 91% of attendees reported learning something new about urban flooding. Their responses reveal how information can change someone’s understanding of their own ability to contribute.

One resident wrote:

“Learning that the 311 calls are actually providing info & being collected. I report all the time but it seemed useless.”

That feeling matters. When a resident repeatedly reports a problem without seeing a response, it can become harder to believe that participating will make a difference. Understanding that those reports contribute to a record of neighborhood conditions can give everyday action new purpose. The next step is helping communities connect that evidence to the decisions that determine where investment goes.

CNT’s upcoming Flooding & Sewage Vulnerability Index will support that connection by helping identify where flooding risks overlap with other environmental and social burdens. Together with residents’ experiences and sensor data, it can provide a fuller picture of needs that might otherwise be considered separately or overlooked.

One place this knowledge can matter is Chicago’s Capital Improvement Plan, which guides infrastructure investment. The updated public consideration process creates greater visibility and opportunities for community participation. But an opportunity is only useful if people understand how to use it.

CNT is working to make that opening meaningful for communities facing flooding. We are sharing information about the process and opportunities to participate, while urging the City to take an equitable approach to infrastructure planning and public engagement. Through our Flooding & Sewage Coalition work, we are connecting community knowledge with data and public education that can help residents explain both what they are experiencing and why their neighborhoods need attention.

For someone watching the forecast and wondering whether their basement will flood again, the stakes are immediate. Our goal is to help ensure that their experience reaches the people planning the investments that could change it.