Welcome to Little Village Land Organization!
We are headquartered in the predominantly Mexican-American neighborhood of Little Village, Chicago. Little Village Land Organization works for a real voice in building democracy, including if, how, when and where any development of our communities takes place, as the basis for environmental, economic and social justice. Our environment is where we live, work, study, pray and play.
We work with, not against our Mother Earth and Nature to once again make our air healthy to breath, our water safe to drink, and to free our earth from poisons to grow healthy foods. As the dangerous, highly toxic remnants of the old Honeywell - Celotex facility are being abated and the city has finally agreed to provide a Green Space for the lacking community. Can you guess where they wish our children to play, our families to have picnics, or the community to gather and appreciate our Mother Earth ? On top of the Celotex remains which were only minimally abated to facilitate development and marginalize the damage done by Honeywell.
| Celebrating Open Space Milestones, Little Village Unveils Plans for Urban Farm & Park
Park-poor community’s first new green spaces in 80 years advance local solutions to obesity, climate change One will host soccer fields and walking trails. The other will host organic beans and tomatoes. Both are former contaminated sites that comprise the first new green spaces in more than 80 years in a community that ranks second-worst in Chicago in available open space. And both are poised to be catalysts for local anti-obesity and climate change mitigation efforts. In the next phase of Little Village’s decade-long effort to transform these brownfields to greenfields, the nonprofit Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) unveiled plans today for the two adjacent sites, which total more than 24 acres. Featured guests at the event were 12th Ward Alderman George Cardenas, representatives of the City of Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Angelic Organics Learning Center, LVEJO and local residents. Download PDFs: Troy | Celotex Download Word Doc: Press Release Community’s first large-scale community garden Designed for gardening, learning, and gathering, the half-acre parcel at 2727 S. Troy will be a place residents can celebrate their gardening heritage. A central plaza, children’s garden, and gardening prep area, will complement raised planting beds where gardeners can grow vegetables. Plaza amenities will include a cooking oven, pergolas for shade, benches, and places for growing pumpkins or other vines. A community plaza will be a place for gardeners to showcase their produce. Special educational signage will interpret the garden. The completed concept plan was commissioned by the City of Chicago as part of its effort to facilitate urban agriculture on city-owned sites. The plan was created by Chicago-based WRD Environmental with significant input by Little Village residents. Initially acquired by the city through a tax sale, the property has since been remediated. The city will convey the site to NeighborSpace, a nonprofit land trust that helps community groups protect and secure community gardens and parks. With the drawings in hand, LVEJO can begin fundraising to build Little Village’s first large-scale community garden. New 24-acre park Next to the garden at 2800 S. Sacramento is the 24-acre former Celotex Superfund site. In the culmination of a decade-long effort by LVEJO to remediate the site and turn it into much-needed green space, the City of Chicago acquired the property last month with intent to develop it with the Chicago Park District. LVEJO and local residents have gotten a head start on the planning. Over the past three years, the organization has held several meetings with residents to enlist their input on the park’s layout and amenities. With the help of The School of the Art Institute, it has documented their vision in a preliminary concept plan, which will be a starting point when residents begin working with the Chicago Park District landscape architect. Technology will play a significant role in the next phase of the park’s planning. MiParque, a new award-winning bilingual participatory web and Smartphone application developed specifically for this site, will help residents share their ideas for the park. Fighting obesity and climate change Both the park and community garden will play a central role in LVEJO’s local initiatives to curb obesity and climate change. By being able to grow and sell their own organic produce, Little Village residents will have access to no- and low-cost to healthy food choices. They will also reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions resulting from shipping produce cross country, an average distance of 1,300 miles. The park will offer opportunities for active recreation, while being a local model of recycling rainwater, reducing storm-water runoff, providing wildlife habitat and other critical conservation measures. Download PDFs: Troy | Celotex Download Word Doc: Press Release High-resolution digital images of community garden concept plans available. Contact Selene Gonzalez, openspace@lvejo.org, 773-762-6991, 630-217-4431 (cell) |
Little Village Parks Organization seeks environmental and social justice for this and all Green Habitats! If this is to be our Green Space, then it must be safe for our families and the children of working class citizens for generations to come.
Elvia Garcia displays her award
The Little Village Land Organization campaigns not only against pollution, but for clean power, park facilities, urban agriculture, and restoring public transit.
Persistent grass-roots lobbying over the course of ten years for the conversion of the Celotex clean-up site into a much-needed park has kept the issue front-and-center for local politicians and residents alike. Little Village Land Organization’s staff and volunteers make significant outreach and education efforts.
Interested in Little Village Land issues?
Call: 773-762-6991 | info@littlevillageland.org
