By Cassandra West

It’s Our Future, the youth-led sustainability initiative in Oak Park-River Forest, got off to a stellar start after winning the Big Idea Contest in March 2019. Among the notable accomplishments in its first five months: an op-ed published in the Wednesday Journal (October); participation in the Climate Summit in Madrid (December); a presentation on the PlanItGreen Report Card to community leaders (December), and hosting the well-attended “Climate Live” event at L!VE Café and Creative Space (January).

The young climate activists started 2020 by planning a series of podcasts and film screenings, with help from a WBEZ producer and One Earth Film Festival. And, despite no longer being able to meet in person because of the coronavirus pandemic, members continue to work on local climate-related solutions.

Seven Generations Ahead, which designs and leads sustainability programs around the Chicago area, conceived It’s Our Future and pitched it at the Big Idea Contest in March 2019. Entrepreneur Leaders in Philanthropy, a giving group of the Oak Park-River Forest Community Foundation, sponsors the contest. The idea won over the judges, and It’s Our Future beat out four other finalists to win the $50,000 contest prize.

The idea was simple: Equip young people to advocate for solutions to climate change by offering trainings and public engagement opportunities. Later, ELP member Pam Whitehead told the Wednesday Journal, “The winner this year was appealing because the project offered young people the chance to become activists for their own future.”

Recruiting for It’s Our Future began in the summer of 2019, with SGA reaching out to schools and community leaders and organizations in the Oak Park/River Forest area.

In September 2019, at the Oak Park Main Library, It’s Our Future hosted a screening of “Youth Unstoppable,” an award-winning documentary about the youth climate crisis movement. Also in the fall, SGA hosted the first PlanItGreen Young Leaders Core Team meeting, which set the groundwork for a fall forum led by It’s Our Future members and discussion of their role in PlanItGreen’s annual Institutional Leaders Forum.

Charles Roeger, an Oak Park and River Forest High School sophomore who joined the core team said after that meeting: “The climate crisis is the most urgent issue facing our generation and the world. I thought It’s Our Future would be a good way to tackle that issue from the ground up, locally in Oak Park River Forest.”

Also in September, SGA put on a two-day editorial writing workshop for It’s Our Future participants, which resulted in the group written op-ed, “We Want You to Feel Our Fear,” published in the Wednesday Journal. In the op-ed, the writers noted that it was an Oak Park native, the late Wallace Smith Broecker, who is credited with popularizing the term "global warming." They said their goal is “to follow in his footsteps by enacting change and spreading awareness about what is happening and what can be done.”

SGA continues to shepherd It’s Our Future under the guidance of executive director Gary Cuneen and program associate Amy Bartucci along with a team of adult advisers, but the students plan and implement projects.

Oak Park and River Forest High School senior Roz Biele (far left) speaks at the Climate Summit in Madrid, Spain, December 2019.

In December Roz Biele, one of IOF’s leaders, along with her mother, Laura Stamp, and Cuneen traveled to Madrid for the Climate Summit. While there, Roz was asked to speak on a panel with other climate activists. “I really tried to represent the United States,” she said. She also tried to make other attendees aware of environmental racism, explaining how rich and poor people are affected differently by climate change.

Other It’s Our Future activities:

· Nov. 18, 2019: Members attended D200's Dinner and Dialogue with the board during which they brought reusable plates and utensils to set a sustainable example of dining efforts in the cafeteria, which was the main theme of their collective public comment.

· Nov. 20, 2020: Teamed up with the Oak Park River Forest High School Environmental Club for the Climate Reality Project's 24 Hours of Reality: Truth to Action event.

· Dec. 10, 2019: Members presented highlights of PlanItGreen Sustainability Report Card during the PlanItGreen Annual Leaders Forum held at Cheney Mansion.

· Jan. 31, 2020: Hosted a community gathering, “Climate Live,” for their peers at L!VE Café and Creative Space, which drew more than 60 Oak Park and River Forest residents, most of them high school students and about a dozen adult supporters. “We were sold out . . . . and made a big impact on the people who attended," Roz later said.

In mid-January, It’s Our Future members began holding workshops and conducting research for a series of podcasts. Topics they’ve chosen include the history of Earth Day, youth in the climate movement, environmental racism and freeganism. The podcast workshops, now virtual, are continuing.

The group also has a petition on Change.org that is seeking signatures to bring opt-out composting to Oak Park and River Forest. And, with One Earth Film Festival, It’s Our Future will co-host a virtual screening of the film “Fly by Light” on July 30.

The Big Idea that became It’s Our Future continues to “make no small plans,” to borrow a phrase from famed Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. Members, currently about 20, know it’s up to them to shape their futures.

And OPRF student and IOF member Frankie Krystal finds power in that. It’s Our Future “has given me resources, the ability to do something,” she says. “It’s really empowering. I feel like when you’re our age, you kind of get really mad about stuff and you want things to change, but you feel like there’s no way to do that. This [program] definitely has given us the opportunity to say something and do something and influence people.”

High school students interested in joining It’s Our Future can still apply. The program equips young leaders to advocate for climate change solutions and their futures. Current members describe the program as "effective, community-based, proactive, grounding, inspiring and motivational."

Members will continue to meet virtually throughout the summer and plan events and educational experiences for high school students. Find an application form and more info at: sevengenerationsahead.org/its-our-future/