congratulations to fotp's 2019 vip (volunteers-in-parks) winners!
placemaking award
dayna calderon
A key element of the recipe of active community ownership of McKinley Park, Dayna Calderon single handedly organizes and facilitates the McKinley Park Summer Concert series in an area of the park that was previously under-utilized: the northwest corner with the McKinley statue. Prior to Dayna’s work, the statue’s base was constantly tagged with graffiti and often filled with litter. Thanks to Dayna’s commitment to sharing the arts with the community, this corner of the park now sparkles and welcomes a crowd of neighbors and visitors who enjoy music concerts almost every Sunday afternoon from June to September. She has put in countless hours to plan, book, and facilitate approximately 60 concerts at McKinley Park over the past four years!
placemaking award
people's music fest
People's Music Fest is the most recent response from a group of neighbors concerned with the lack of community input on plans for Douglas Park and Marshall Blvd. When Riot Fest was dropped onto Douglas Park, residents were told the impact would be minimal and the benefits out-weighed the inconveniences. Having watched the drama that unfolded in Humboldt Park, patrons of Douglas Park were rightfully skeptical. These neighbors kept track of field conditions, traffic impact, and revenue lost by the park due to the fest. Soon after they also learned of plans to privatize a plaza on Marshall Blvd just south of the park along with plans to add permanent sculptures that would reduce the green-space in the community. These neighbors decided to be proactive and redecorate the plaza with colorful benches where they began to host events which helped build good will among neighbors. This built the groundwork for the People's Music Fest which was a gathering of genres that reflected the long-term diversity in the community. The first People’s Music Fest took place this year as a free community alternative on the same weekend as Riot Fest.
"Smoky Sakurada" friend of friends of the parks award
Chicago Parks Consortium
The Chicago Parks Consortium and their 2019 VIP (Volunteers-in-Parks) Award--the "Smoky Sakurada Friends of Friends" Award which recognizes special support of Friends of the Parks' work. We honor the Chicago Parks Consortium for their partnership in standing with us against inequities across Chicago's park system. Various of the players in the Consortium had previously pointed out to us their concern that Chicago was experiencing conditions similar to those that led the US Department of Justice to sue the Chicago Park District for discrimination against minority communities. So at their urging, we set out to collect some data to better understand the conditions across the park district 35 years after the resulting Consent Decree, which has long ago expired. Our State of the Parks report came out in response and lifted up data that confirms the concerns. While it was trashed by the Chicago Park District, the Consortium has stood by our side and has gone even further in organizing PACs to further vet the data, develop additional recommendations, and organize responses from the grass roots. We thank and salute you.
Individual volunteer award
nancy wulkan
Nancy Wulkan had a vision as to what benefits the Little Free library Program would bring to Streeterville and its two parks, Seneca Park/Eli M. Shulman Playground and Lake Shore Park. In a time when the bureaucracy of the City of Chicago and the Park District could overwhelm the most experienced advocate, Nancy won over everyone: namely, Alderman Hopkins, SOAR, the Chicago Parks Foundation, the Chicago Park District and the Advisory Councils for Seneca and Lake Shore. Nancy and her husband, Bill, totally funded the installation of the Little Free Blue Libraries and has maintained and promoted the program, making it a victory and point of pride for all of Streeterville and the Magnificent Mile District (residents, families, visitors and the care givers and families for our patients at Lurie’s Children’s Hospital.) Although there are 70,000 Little Free Libraries nationally, these were the first two in Chicago parks. Now Nancy has created the Neighbor to Neighbor Literacy project to support the proliferation little free library boxes across the city, offering books, bookmarks, literacy activity ideas/supplies, and library tips as needed. She has now initiated and funded boxes in five parks and public spaces and is assisting Park Advisory Councils and other partners across the city. We know this is a great accomplishment as FOTP had previously provided a Seed Grant to a park to install a Little Free Library, and the Chicago Park District bureaucracy stood in the way of getting it done. We thank Nancy for her tenacity and for bringing along so many needed partners to make this work.
Park advisory council leadership
Bronwyn Nichols Lodato
Bronwyn serves as president of the Midway Plaisance Advisory Council, a key role in a very controversial space in the midst of many debates about the Obama Presidential Center (OPC). In the vein of our “Parks as Democracy?” Conference, we celebrate her leadership which focuses on bringing diverse voices together to ensure their concerns are heard along with solutions that the community brings forth—modeling to other PACs the importance of allowing for different points of view while standing on truth. She has advocated to maintain the Midway as a valuable public asset for all. One of her more notable achievements helped keep the area free from an OPC parking garage that would have caused many issues for residents. After the parking garage plan was squashed, she cast a vision for a broadly inclusive process for a refresh of the Midway Framework Plan--this in response to outreach from the Obama Foundation about devising a plan for the east end of the Midway, though the Obama Foundation didn’t follow through. She pushes for accountability and transparency for park planning in relation to the impact of the Obama Presidential Center and the Jackson Park/South Shore Golf Course.
park advisory council leadership
danielle richards
Danielle Richards leads the Bessemer Park Advisory Council on the Southeast Side. She is an energetic park booster and ushers in lots of activities to engage more neighbors in the park and also to improve the broader community. The relationships she develops with community members are also integral to her impact. In both her PAC president role and her professional role at the Alliance for the Southeast, she has helped shepherd important conversations with community stakeholders regarding the confined disposal facility (CDF), a pollution dumping site surrounded by Calumet Park, Lake Michigan, and the Calumet River. When the Army Corps of Engineers proposed earlier this year to extend their ability to dump contaminated dredged material from the bottom of the Calumet River onto the site for another couple of decades rather than shut the site down, cap it, and turn it over to the Chicago Park District as previously planned, Danielle has been a leader in fostering conversations among neighbors and other community stakeholders about the issues related to that site.
outstanding Chicago Park district staff
sonica ruiz
We could never pull off Earth Day in Humboldt Park without Sonica Ruiz. A program specialist based at the Chicago Park District Central Region’s office at Garfield Park, she not only serves that park but plays a huge role every year in coordinating efforts to ensure the success of the Humboldt Park hub site for FOTP’s annual Earth Day Celebration and Clean-up. Working with the long-time Humboldt Park site captain, a large group of committed individual and institutional volunteers from the community, FOTP staff and other park district staff, Sonica centers much of the coordination effort and hold years of institutional memory on how the team together pulls off an event that draws at least 500 volunteers each year—including trash pick-up, tree planting, and mulching culminating in a community fair with food, performances by local musicians and dancers, and community and kid-friendly activities and information focused on health. On top of everything, she always has a cheerful demeanor and helpful attitude! And this year, she made sure we had a terrific celebration of the 30th anniversary of Friends of the Parks’ Earth Day event and 85th anniversary of the Chicago Park District as a part of our makeshift indoor activities in light of Earth Day snow! (Sonica Ruiz pictured above far left)
community group award
The Montrose Lakefront Coalition and the Piping Plovers Monitors
The Montrose Lakefront Coalition and the Piping Plovers Monitors, some of whom were present at our "Parks as Democracy?" Conference to receive the award! The Montrose Lakefront Coalition is the first line of defense against inappropriate encroachment on the Montrose area parks and beaches. This group of natural area stewards, dog beach organizers, small businesses, and advocates meets monthly to compare notes and keep an eye out for the best interests of the Montrose Lakefront, despite potentially different underlying self-interests. FOTP has been pleased to be welcomed to this table as a stakeholder carrying out our Nature Along the Lake field trips based at this location, but not the leaders of the group. The Montrose Lakefront Coalition sounded the alarm this summer when JAM Productions announced with little notice or community input that Mamby on the Beach would be moved to Montrose. The group’s outreach to the alderman, the Chicago Park District, and the concert promoter to demand more vetting was boosted by the nesting of endangered piping plovers. The birds became the symbol of the fight and, ultimately, the key to keep Mamby off the beach. But the coalition’s advocacy was key to bringing to light the fight over appropriate process and uses regarding the beach in the first place.
As the plight and importance of Montrose Beach’s piping plovers became apparent to all this summer, Piping Plovers Monitors organizers and volunteers of the Chicago Audubon Society, Tamima Itani, Carl Giometti, Matt Igleski came together on short notice to lead a two-month effort to ensure the safety of these endangered birds with the help of 100 volunteers. This steadfast trio put in work everyday to set schedules, communicate with participants, engage various levels of government while making these adorable shorebirds a cause for celebration, which resulted in moving a festival in order to give room for nest building. This was the first time since 1955 that Piping Plovers had nested here and the result was two chicks to fledge. Now a documentary about the effort has been created and will premiere on November 18, declared by Governor Pritzker as Piping Plover Day.
As the plight and importance of Montrose Beach’s piping plovers became apparent to all this summer, Piping Plovers Monitors organizers and volunteers of the Chicago Audubon Society, Tamima Itani, Carl Giometti, Matt Igleski came together on short notice to lead a two-month effort to ensure the safety of these endangered birds with the help of 100 volunteers. This steadfast trio put in work everyday to set schedules, communicate with participants, engage various levels of government while making these adorable shorebirds a cause for celebration, which resulted in moving a festival in order to give room for nest building. This was the first time since 1955 that Piping Plovers had nested here and the result was two chicks to fledge. Now a documentary about the effort has been created and will premiere on November 18, declared by Governor Pritzker as Piping Plover Day.
stewardship award
South Shore Nature Sanctuary Stewards
It was recently in the news that 5th Ward Alderman Leslie Hairston declared the South Shore Nature Sanctuary dead. But we know well the hard work done on a regular basis by the volunteer South Shore Nature Sanctuary Stewards to tend to that very-alive space that many neighborhood residents consider precious. And many of them activated to respond to the alderman’s off-base comments with tweets that included pictures of the flora and fauna that fill that lakefront sanctuary. A diverse group of stakeholders--with ties to various local park advisory councils, neighborhood groups, and differing opinions about the Obama Presidential Center and the attendant proposal to convert to the Jackson Park and South Shore golf courses into one PGA-level course at the expense of the current sanctuary-- they gather monthly to work the land. And different ones of them often raise their voices to speak into policy proposals about the heart-felt and environmental value of this particular site as well as about the value of natural areas generally in the face of climate-change related erosion and storm water management issues. Keep hope alive!
advocacy award
North Branch Park and Preserve Advocates
A big thank you to 2019 VIP (Volunteers-in-Parks) Advocacy Award winners North Branch Park and Preserves advocates, many of whom have also been participating in both the Lincoln Yards and The 78 TIF REIA processes!
The call came out to Friends of the Parks from the community—a variety of neighborhood associations and immediate neighbors who were concerned that the proposed Lincoln Yards development would not include adequate parkland. The western end of the Lincoln Park neighborhood is already park poor with the current density, and other neighborhood parks further east are often busy with privatized leagues that take up recreational space that neighbors might otherwise use. And Sterling Bay’s proposal for green space at Lincoln Yards includes insufficient density and privately-owned parkland that they and Mayor Emanuel have tried to pass of as public parks. At last year’s “Parks as Democracy?” plenary panel about the future of public land featuring the North Branch Park and Preserve public park solution brought forth by local neighbors, alderman, and thought partners for FOTP to also support, many of our south side and west side constituents balked at the idea of organizational energy going to a development for more affluent Chicagoans. Our response has been to say “both/and” and to focus much of our energy on ensuring that the green space at the Lincoln Yards development be truly public and designed and programmed with all of Chicago in mind, not just immediate neighbors. We have tied our work on this issue into our call for park equity alongside other equity advocates across the city, and these assorted North Branch Park and Preserve advocates have stood with us—in concert with the #DelaytheTIF organizing strategy, at our State of the Parks report launch event, and through the Lincoln Yards TIF Racial Equity Impact Assessment—despite differing opinions on tactics. As we often say, democracy is messy; but it takes all of us to advocate for a healthy, equitable park system, and we appreciate these neighbors for struggling through the process with us and all of Chicago.
The call came out to Friends of the Parks from the community—a variety of neighborhood associations and immediate neighbors who were concerned that the proposed Lincoln Yards development would not include adequate parkland. The western end of the Lincoln Park neighborhood is already park poor with the current density, and other neighborhood parks further east are often busy with privatized leagues that take up recreational space that neighbors might otherwise use. And Sterling Bay’s proposal for green space at Lincoln Yards includes insufficient density and privately-owned parkland that they and Mayor Emanuel have tried to pass of as public parks. At last year’s “Parks as Democracy?” plenary panel about the future of public land featuring the North Branch Park and Preserve public park solution brought forth by local neighbors, alderman, and thought partners for FOTP to also support, many of our south side and west side constituents balked at the idea of organizational energy going to a development for more affluent Chicagoans. Our response has been to say “both/and” and to focus much of our energy on ensuring that the green space at the Lincoln Yards development be truly public and designed and programmed with all of Chicago in mind, not just immediate neighbors. We have tied our work on this issue into our call for park equity alongside other equity advocates across the city, and these assorted North Branch Park and Preserve advocates have stood with us—in concert with the #DelaytheTIF organizing strategy, at our State of the Parks report launch event, and through the Lincoln Yards TIF Racial Equity Impact Assessment—despite differing opinions on tactics. As we often say, democracy is messy; but it takes all of us to advocate for a healthy, equitable park system, and we appreciate these neighbors for struggling through the process with us and all of Chicago.