Public transportation is a climate solution, and CNT’s recent report for the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) shows what an important role it plays in controlling emissions nationwide. Public transit in the U.S. saved 63 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMT CO2e) emissions in 2018—the equivalent of taking 16 coal power plants offline for a year. The new report, TCRP Research Report 226: An Update on Public Transportation's Impacts on Greenhouse Gas... Continue reading »

Coming in the door, I thought the work done by the Center for Neighborhood Technology was outside the spaces I’d worked in over the last decade of my career.  For the most part, my work has focused on providing resources to minority and women owned business owners in marginalized communities.  I’ve always considered myself to be an aware and ethnocentric person and my previous jobs reflected that to some degree. The term “marginalized” doesn’t just speak to the economic resources... Continue reading »

It was raining – great for the new rain garden, but not so great for a community gardening day. Would anyone come? Hopeful, we set up the tents and laid out the sandwiches, and parents and youth started arriving a little after noon.   "We were so thrilled that families and volunteers showed up, despite the morning rain! It was truly a great opportunity to bond with the community organizations that supported these efforts and the tenants and community members that will... Continue reading »

On May 7th, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a decision to delay a decision on a permit that would allow General Iron to move to Chicago’s Southeast side, a predominantly Latinx and Black community, until further environmental analysis can be completed by the Chicago Department of Public Health. Environmental justice advocates, who engaged in a month-long hunger strike to stop General Iron’s relocation, are asking for a full denial of the permit. General Iron, a scrap metal shredder... Continue reading »

Growing up I never knew I could make a career out of fighting for equity. I had no idea that there would be organizations dedicated to making transportation equitable, communities more resilient, and policies more purposeful for the people they are supposed to serve. In my 22 years of living in and loving the city of Chicago I have been privileged to work with non-profits like Thresholds and The YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago. I have been honored to lead the work of training tens of thousands of... Continue reading »

Today is Day 12 of a hunger strike led by activists on Chicago’s Southeast side to call attention to the relocation of a major industrial polluter to their community. General Iron, a scrap metal shredder that was repeatedly fined for environmental violations in its former home in Lincoln Park, is awaiting a final permit from the Chicago Department of Public Health to allow it to move its operations to the Southeast side. CNT strongly supports the campaign to stop General Iron, and we urge the... Continue reading »

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted communities around the world. However, Latinx, Black, Indigenous, and other communities of color have been disproportionately impacted due to existing social, environmental, and economic factors that make individuals more likely to have worsened COVID-19 outcomes.  The Link between Land Use, Air, and COVID-19 Racialized land use and lending practices, such as redlining, have disproportionately located heavy industrial development near Black and... Continue reading »

Summary Two related crises are afflicting US households: increasing housing costs and increasing incidence of eviction. One often overlooked component of these crises is transportation and its costs. This article explores some eviction and transportation data and argues that transportation costs play an integral part in the eviction crisis that affects so many families.   The US is experiencing a housing crisis The current US housing crisis began in the run-up to the Great... Continue reading »

You may not know it, but CNT has a small San Francisco outpost. As I sat on conference calls discussing how to make housing more resilient to climate change and the greenhouse gas benefits of transit in communities last week it all felt extra urgent, because the sky outside my window looked like this: Wildfire smoke from up and down the west coast has been affecting San Francisco for weeks, but when it combined with our fog to blot out the sun and cast an eerie orange glow so dark that... Continue reading »

When Overton Elementary School, located in Chicago’s Washington Park neighborhood, was closed in 2013, the future use of the campus was unknown. Many of the 43 schools that were shuttered in 2013 are still vacant today despite early promises that the school campuses would be transformed into community amenities. Overton was purchased by Washington Park Development Group, helmed by Ghian Foreman in 2015, and he has worked in partnership with Borderless Studio, founded and managed... Continue reading »