UIS Speaker Series looks at the impact of community organizing in Chicago’s Little Village

WHAT: The University of Illinois Springfield Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series welcomes Kim Wasserman, executive director of Chicago’s Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, who will speak about “Community-based Environmental Justice and Beyond.” This event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2019

WHERE: UIS Brookens Auditorium, located on the lower level of Brookens Library

DETAILS: For 20 years Kim Wasserman’s group, Chicago’s Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, has turned anger into positive energy in a series of grass-roots campaigns addressing issues including safe schools, public transportation, youth empowerment, community gardens, superfund site remediation, open space and the closure of two polluting coal fired power plants.

Wasserman’s work addresses crucial questions for society, including “what does it mean to organize within communities,” and “how can communities support each other?”

Wasserman also serves as the chair of the Illinois Commission on Environmental Justice and was the 2013 winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize for North America.

This event is cosponsored by the UIS Department of Environmental Studies, UIS Students Allied for a Green Earth (SAGE) and the UIS Campus Senate Committee on Sustainability.

Individuals with disabilities who anticipate the need for accommodations should contact the UIS Speaker Series Office at 217-206-8507 or speakerseries@uis.edu in advance. For a list of other upcoming ECCE Speaker Series events, visit uis.edu/speakerseries/.