While perusing a list of our events and petitions in 2024, I was blown away by the quantity and quality of events that we have participated in over the past year. From tense community meetings to lively happy hours atop the Wrigley Building, our members always showed up with a positive attitude and a shared desire to make Chicago and Illinois more welcoming and sustainable. I am grateful to my fellow Leads for helping transform Urban Environmentalists into the well-oiled machine that exists today, and to every volunteer who has championed abundant housing.
If you have met me, you know that I'm a data enthusiast (nerd), so it should come as no surprise that this reflection email is very data-focused. Here are some highlights from 2024:
- We doubled our mailing list subscribers
- We grew our UE membership by 5X (!)
- We published over eight articles in local newspapers
- We hosted or co-hosted fifteen happy hours and members only events in nine different neighborhoods
- We supported thousands of new homes of all shapes and sizes, from non-congregate shelters to West Loop high rises
- We showed up consistently to speak in support of abundant housing and parking reform at City Hall. ZBA hearings, Plan Commission, Zoning Committee, City Council... you name it, we spoke at it (in the case of Zoning Committee, we attended six times!).
- We visited Springfield three times to build relationships with members of the General Assembly
- We partnered with Strong Towns Chicago and Sierra Club Chicago to advocate for four-flats by right throughout Chicago
With Governor Pritzker prioritizing statewide housing reform, I am confident that we'll have more big wins to celebrate soon. Itโs a privilege to be on this journey with all of you, and I canโt wait to see what we achieve together in 2025.
Here's to the year ahead! ๐๐๏ธ๐๏ธ