June will mark the end of the development phase and the beginning of the implementation phase of the PlanItGreen Sustainability plan for Oak Park and River Forest. The plan has been developed over the last 8 months with input from over 1,000 residents and community stakeholders. PlanItGreen is part of the OPRF Community Foundation’s Communityworks initiative, which was designed to engage community residents and stakeholder organizations in realizing a vision for a sustainable Oak Park and River Forest.
Plan to join with others committed to building a resilient and sustainable community for the release of the Oak Park-River Forest Sustainability Plan, on Thursday, June 23rd, 4-6pm. The event includes an Open House with light refreshments and and a walk-about featuring the primary topic areas of the plan, and an official presentation of the plan starting at 5pm. Location: Pleasant Home, 217 Home Avenue in Oak Park.
The plan development included the following steps:
- Phase One baseline metrics were compiled and reported on community resource use, initially including data on KwH and Therm usage, water consumption, waste diversion, transportation-related emissions, air quality, and overall CO2 emissions equivalencies.
- Phase Two (July-Dec 2010) engaged community residents, youth, institutional stakeholders, and community leaders in designing a draft of the sustainability plan. This was done through a community-wide survey, a community input forum, topic area working groups, school-based vision activities, and additional community institution engagement activities. Input was solicited on strategies across a broad range of sustainability areas, including energy, community development, transportation, waste, food, water, procurement, economic development, open space/conservation, and education.
- Phase Three (Jan-May 2011) incorporated further revision from the boards and staff of key community institutions, and incorporated additional feedback on the draft plan from the community via a draft plan feedback survey.
- Phase Four (June 2011-Ongoing)The plan release event will mark the formal presentation of the final plan and will also launch the implementation phase.
The PlanItGreen sustainability planning process has been facilitated by Seven Generations Ahead and the Delta Institute. For more information check out SGA's web site, PlanItGreen.
