A Plan for America's Largest Urban Park: Millennium Reserve Initiative in Calumet Region
The largest open space project in the country is coming to the South Side of Chicago.
The project aims to transform 140,000 acres of brownfields and other under-utilized land in the Calumet region into the Millennium Reserve — a public recreation hub teeming with plants, wildlife, trains and parks. The effort draws from President Barack Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors Initiative and state resources.
Thinking Outside the Loop: The Blue Island Community Health Monitoring Project
The Community Development Department and its partners in Blue Island’s Community Health Monitoring Project (CHM) are pleased to announce that the City of Blue Island will be represented at 2 exciting upcoming conferences.
3rd Annual Minority Health in the Midwest Conference
The 3rd Annual Minority Health in the Midwest Conference will be held at the UIC School of Public Health on Friday, February 25, 2011. Gita Rampersad, BICDD’s Outreach and Communications Coordinator and Dr. Laurel Berman of the ATSDR were selected to present on the topic, Thinking Outside the Loop: The Blue Island Community Health Monitoring Project.
This year’s conference theme is entitled, The Promise of Health Equity: Advancing the Discussion to Eliminate Disparities in the 21st Century. Submissions that focus on issues pertinent to Midwestern communities and minority, underserved and special needs populations were selected.
2011 National Brownfields Conference
In April, BICDD staff will attend the 2011 National Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia, PA, sponsored by the US EPA. Brownfields 2011 will include a roster of plenary speakers, including Lisa P. Jackson, Administrator, US EPA, who will challenge perceptions of redevelopment and discuss the priorities of the current administration. BICDD staff will present elements of Blue Island’s CHM project at 2 Environmental Justice (EJ) and Public Health education sessions:
- Environmental Justice Initiatives: Your Voice Counts. A roundtable that will review the multiple resources available to communities regarding environmental justice; Blue Island, among others will share their experiences and lessons learned on environmental justice issues;
- Taking Action: Community Health and Brownfields. Blue Island, and othersusing the action model, will describe how it has been used to address environmental justice, exposures to contaminated sites, and other issues in their communities
