North River Commission
Below is a transcript of the interview with NRC.
Q: Can you tell me about the North River Commission? What is the organization’s mission and what kind of work do you do in the community?
A: The North River Commission is a nonprofit community and economic development organization that serves the neighborhoods of Irving Park, Albany Park, and North Park. We've been around for just about 60 years, and in that time, we've really worked on a broad swath of issues that I'll speak to, quality of life for residents in the community. So that's everything from acting as the Albany Park Chamber of Commerce and managing a special surface area, an economic development organization, to supporting and participating in affordable housing development, supporting public educations, and all of the CPS schools in our service area, supporting a robust network of arts and culture organizations and opportunities, public art events, all those things that go towards building a good network of arts and culture, as well as supporting environmental initiatives, environmental improvement, and environmental quality, for public health and for economic prosperity in the community.
Q: What has your experience as an organizer in this community been like?
A: So we really serve as a bridge or a clearinghouse of information between the community and processes that are happening at the city, state, or federal level. And so making sure that our civic organizations are informed, park advisory councils, which are groups of regular residents who help to support their park, support programing or capital improvements to their park. And again, other community-based organizations who may be doing, you know, social service, maybe it's a community center or a church or it's a mental health clinic. Those folks are all very integral to the fabric of the community, but they don't have community development on their plate. So we try to bring them into the process as well as, you know, ordinary everyday residents and organizations. So that's really what organizing looks like on the ground. But we have to make really intentional effort to make sure that it's not just sort of like the grasstops people that are engaged, but also people on the streets. So events are really helpful, right, to host an event. Music, food. Just talk to people one on one, meet people where they're at is helpful to bring as many people into the process as possible.
Q: Do you live on the Northwest side or in Albany Park? What is your favorite thing about living/working in this community?
A: So I live in Logan Square, which is on the northwest side, two or three neighborhoods south of Albany Park. But I've been working in the neighborhood for almost two and a half years for the North River Commission. I do think that the parks are one of the best qualities of the neighborhood. River Park, where we're standing today is I think, one of the best riverfront parts in the city, Horner Park, Legion Park, Gompers Park, and Eugene Field are all these amazing riverfront parks that give you a perspective that you really can't find anywhere else.
Q: What are the biggest environmental justice issues facing Albany Park? How do these affect the community?
A: Being a riverfront community, there's been significant flooding pressure in the neighborhood for decades. We're standing today at the confluence between the North Shore Channel and the north branch of the Chicago River. And in past years, the north branch of the Chicago River has overflowed its banks and flooded people's homes, basements, streets. Flooding damage can cause a really high financial burden on families. And there's just a significant public health aspect of flooding. Thankfully, there have been significant improvements to the Chicago River in the last decade or so, including the creation of the diversion tunnel that runs from about Eugene Field Park to right back here. So when the north branch overflows its banks, it actually flows into this diversion tunnel and comes down the river rather than flooding into the neighborhood. The former dam that was here on site has been removed, which creates environmental benefits going up the north branch of the river for wildlife. And there's also been restoration of the streambank and of the river itself that helped to improve the environmental quality and reduce flooding pressure in the neighborhood.
Q: The environmental advocacy that NRC does seems to have had a significant and positive impact on the surrounding communities. Can you speak to some accomplishments or current initiatives that you’re most proud of?
A: Being a longtime organization in the community like I said, we're here for almost 60 years. Having that permanency is super helpful because we can continuously advocate over time, regardless of who's in office or, you know, who sits in a certain role in government. We're not going anywhere. So those people might change, but we're here in the community and we know what's been done before. We know what the community wants to see. And so we can play that role of just continuously advocating. And part of that has been advocating for the riverfront and the river to become really a community asset. Recently, we've been really lucky that the city and the park district allocated just over seven and a half million dollars to more improvements to the riverfront. The Army Corps did a great job, you know, restoring the river back to a more natural state, and then these funds are going to be used, like I said, to add community access points, walkways, boat launches, you know, smaller improvements that help to bring the community closer to the river. So we're really excited that that work is happening. There's more work to be done, but we're super excited that more resources are coming into the community.
Q: What hopes do you have for NRC in the next five to ten years?
A: I hope that we are able to facilitate equitable growth in the community and ensure that everybody who wants to live in North River Commission has an affordable place to do it, that they have a place to shop. Enjoy community, that we have a walkable community that we have a community that's full of green space recreation opportunities, and education for people to enjoy.