Green Infrastructure Vision
How can communities reconnect families with nature? In Chicago, one group is developing a national model to save “green infrastructure”—and urge the community to get out and enjoy it.
Across the Chicago region, nearly 360,000 acres of natural areas—spanning Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Michigan—form a green infrastructure that provides natural beauty, quality of life and places where residents can enjoy the outdoors.
Chicago Wilderness is a regional alliance representing more than 230 organizations that collectively work to protect this infrastructure. The group’s “Green Infrastructure Vision” is an action plan that identifies natural areas to protect and restore, while offering creative ways to bring nature back to daily life, such as greening schoolyards, incorporating open space into developing communities and more.
To bring the Green Infrastructure Vision to reality, Chicago Wilderness is reaching out to key local and regional decisionmakers, coordinating the efforts of diverse organizations and ramping up a public awareness campaign to get people back outdoors. The group’s efforts include its “Leave No Child Inside” initiative, which seeks to get kids outside in nature, to benefit their health and foster a lifelong commitment to the environment. As part of the Leave No Child Inside initiative, Chicago Wilderness is partnering with the Global Alliance of Artists, who will manage the Art & Nature youth program to foster creativity and appreciation for the environment throughout the region.
With this two-step strategy—saving natural areas and encouraging people to enjoy them—Chicago Wilderness is building a new model for communities everywhere.
To Learn More
Melinda Pruett-Jones, Executive Director, Chicago Wilderness
melinda.pruett-jones@chicagowilderness.org
8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 900,
Chicago, IL, 60603
312.580.2156
www.chicagowilderness.org
