Campaigns | Community Mapping (GIS) | Coverage - Events - Research

Events: Past | Present

Events: Present

Campaigns | Community Mapping (GIS) | Coverage - Events - Research

Events: Past

Community Mapping Project Update (2005) :

Lorena and Elda have had a great time doing community mapping this summer with the mapping volunteers. Based on other LVEJO project we have changed the pace of our mapping project. The groups are going out and focusing on the assets and problems of each block, i.e. pretty gardens but lots of garbage. Using photo voice the groups are taking pictures of the blocks and hosting discussion to talk about the source of the asset and problems and how we can deal with them. If block residents are out and about the teams will talk with them about the project and try to get a better understanding of the block to include in the mapping description. This fall and winter we will be focusing on business along 26 th & 31 st Street. If you are interested in working on the community mapping team contact Lorena Lopez at LVEJO.

Project Summary:

The Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) in collaboration with its partners: Little Village Academy, Latino National Educational Service Center, Little Village Chamber of Commerce, Little Village Boys & Girls Club, General Woods Boys and Girls Club and University of Illinois at Chicago will carry out a planning and mapping project which integrates an adult and youth leadership program, an Illinois EPA funded visioning program with community mapping and planning.

LVEJO began a Geographic Information System (GIS) program in 1998. For two years neighborhood college and high school youth worked with a geography graduate student to inventory each land parcel in South Lawndale. Adults and youth worked together to then learn how to enter data into our computers using ArcView GIS. 150 blocks of our community were inventoried and mapped. In 2002 LVEJO became the only CBO in the state to be awarded a 2 year Illinois EPA visioning grant. Since 2000 we have developed an information technology (IT) program, which now includes training of youth and adult IT leaders. In 2003 we began our adult and youth leadership program, which has grown to 40 people and includes asset based community development (ABCD) training.

LVEJO and its partners will work with the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) over the next three year to move from our visioning project to our next phase: an on the ground planning and mapping project which integrates IT with neighbors and planners building a sustainable development plan for our community. We will do this by training youth and adult leaders each of our partner sites. The training program will include developing an inventory system for each land parcel and building, including the mapping of existing and potential community assets. Assets include open space, abandoned and underutilized buildings: residential, institutional, commercial and industrial; existing, utilized land and buildings, transportation routes, community based public and private institutions, agencies, commerce, industry, parks and grass-roots organizations. Critical assets to development include individual’s skills and talents and organizations who may not be housed in specific buildings or space like cultural art groups, sports teams, Mexican "home town" organizations, and vocational art circles (cooking, sewing, etc.).

Leaders will be trained in the use of hand held computers/digital cameras with direct access to the internet for downloading and uploading information to both the NIPC and LVEJO web site. Training will also include how to facilitate groups, move toward a consensus in both English and Spanish, various methods of participatory planning, including charetes and various methods of planning and development. The train the trainer program will then move to leaders working in pairs to facilitate groups of youth and adults in each of the partner locations as well as other schools, churches, block clubs and community based organizations and agencies. These groups, working with planners, will answer the question of what we need in Little Village, what we have now, what are our priorities for planning and development and how do we get there?

Our 2004-2005 GIS Objectives:

1. Finish the community survey and geocoding/mapping

2. Have two LVEJO members trained in GIS as part of our leadership Information Technology Program

3. Collaborate with city, state and federal agencies to integrate existing data into CBO's GIS programs

4. Recruit UIC students to work with each CBO, including field placements for graduate students in public health, urban planning, geography, etc.

5. Integrate visual data: text, photos and video into each map

6. Integrate GIS project into the LVEJO website

7. Introduce community members, organizations, institutions, political representatives to the GIS projects through community forums and link it to specific planning projects in the aras of housing, economic development, environmental justice, pollution prevention, parks and recreation.

"Using Geographic Information Systems as a Tool for Sustainable Development"

Summary Statement:

Sustainable development: "...development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs..." (From the United Nations Rio Declaration, 1992)

In a sustainable community pro-active planning and solutions to problems take into account the links among the economy, environment and social indicators. Development is not unlimited growth of new things brought into a community from the outside, but rather the enhancement of what already exists. The foundation of a sustainable community is the active participation of those who live and work there in the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects. In order to participate in the planning of what will happen to their communities, residents must utilize their skills and technology to negotiate on a level playing field with both public and private parties. To achieve equity in development members of Chicago's communities need to have the tools to plan their future.

One phase in sustainable development is for community residents to be able to "see" their entire community and all its parts. Spatial analysis is a powerful tool that when combined with on-going participatory methods allows for neighborhood members to plan for their future. The various pieces of communities: transportation, commerce, industry, housing, health and educational facilities, parks, open space, areas of environmental toxins and hazards, crime, etc. need to be viewed by communities not just in bits and pieces as is the usual case but in a holistic framework. This comprehensive, holistic framework will complement the community's on-going task of setting priorities by working with real models that can be changed momentarily to see the spatial effect of planning in various areas. While looking at a colorful map with multiple layers of visual information on a computer should not be the initial basis for decision making, it is a critical part of a feedback loop that allows communities to enhance and modify their priorities through seeing how what exists and what is planned is linked to all three indicators of sustainable development: economic, environmental and social. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) have developed to the point where they can now be placed directly in the hands of trained community members and their CBOs.

LVEJO believes that participatory planning means that the broadest possible representation needs to be present in the process. In a sustainable community pro-active planning and solutions to problems take into account the links among the economy, environment and social indicators. Development is not just unlimited growth of new things brought into a community from the outside, but also the enhancement of what already exists. The foundation of a sustainable community is the active participation of those who live and work there in the planning, implementation and evaluation of projects.

We feel that the more representative participation in the process, the more sustainable will be the outcome or product. For that reason we have spent a significant amount of time and resources in developing and adapting methods of participatory planning in our work.

For example, in the design phase of each of the parks and playgrounds that were built, several months of dozens of meetings were held at times and locations chosen by and accessible to neighborhood adults and youth. Different methods were used for different age groups to maintain a high level of interest. In the Boys & Girls Club design phase over 100 neighbors met over 4 months in 10 different meetings to develop a firm consensus on what they wanted. The design phase of the 8 acre campus park took place over 18 months with over 24 public meeting and a total of 1,500 residents and students. Methods included collective drawings, the use of photos and videos, LVEJO guided tours to existing examples of city and suburban housing, educational, commercial, industrial, park and transportation developments.

The proposal to construct a plastics recycling factory in an existing industrial park involved adults and youth doing a walking tour of the property, taking pictures, studying City of Chicago Department of Planning Base Maps, creating drawings, writing up a formal proposal to the City of Chicago Department of Planning, presenting the plan to the Planning Commissioner for Industrial Development and at 8 public meetings where over 2000 community residents were in attendance.

This was accompanied by a proposal done, using the same methods, for the development of an 11 acre publicly owned site into a park. In this case neighbors presented their proposal to a private architect who volunteered to develop a scale drawing of the proposed park and facilities on the 11 acre site.

In 2003 LVEJO and its neighbors worked for six months with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA) to prepare for a Title V Public Hearing on the permit status of two coal burning electrical power plants on Chicago's southwest size. More than 300 people attended the bilingual public hearing in the largest Catholic Church on Chicago's southwest side. There residents heard the views of the plant owners, public interest groups as well as fellow neighbors. Through its leadership program LVEJO worked with adults and youth to prepare bilingual oral and written testimony and documentation to submit to the IEPA.

For general information please email us here.

Other important topics
Clean Air/Lulac Study
Healthy Schools In Latino Communities flyer
"Tips on Base Building" from LVEJO Board Member Carlos Fernandez

El Cilantro Youth Newsletter
[ Volume 2 - Issue: No. 1 | No. 2 | No. 3 | No. 4 | No. 5 | No. 6 | No. 7 | No. 8 | No. 9 ]

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