Woodlawn Summit hones in on climate change

Climate change took center stage at this year’s Woodlawn Summit, an annual convening of elected officials, businesses and community members to chart a course for the neighborhood’s future. 

Over the past 15 years, the summit has hosted elected officials, businesses and hundreds of community members for discussions primarily focused on economic development, public safety and homeownership. But as Chicago cruises into spring after its warmest winter on record, Saturday’s summit widened its focus to bring the local effects of climate change into the picture. 

"The world is warming up," said Congressman Jonathan Jackson (D-1st), a keynote speaker. "It has rained more in February in Chicago than it has snowed."

Jackson, a member of the House Committee on Agriculture, went on to warn of rising food prices in the near future as a result of climate change, which will hit food deserts, as many South Side neighborhoods are, especially hard.

Jackson also spoke of another local problem exacerbated by climate change: migration. 

As the world heats up, ocean levels rise and climate catastrophes worsen, tens of millions of people will leave their homes for cooler and more stable regions of the world; they join millions more who are leaving their countries due to things like war, violence and economic instability. 

In Chicago, more than 36,000 people seeking asylum have arrived in the city since August 2022, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbot began busing people crossing the country’s southern border to sanctuary cities in protest of federal immigration law. As of mid-March, more than 11,000 people still live in city-run shelters, including in a repurposed elementary school building in Woodlawn, the source of some tension in the neighborhood.

"No one really wants to come here,” said Jackson. “Crossing the river, not speaking the language, with no money in their pocket, with a baby on their shoulder, crawling beneath barbed wire." 

Christina Negri, director of Community Research on Climate and Urban Science (CROCUS) at Argonne National Laboratory, used her keynote address to detail the ways in which Woodlawn has already been hit hard by climate change. 

During the 1995 Chicago heat wave, which killed more than 700 people, Negri said that Woodlawn suffered some of the city’s highest death tolls directly related to the heat.

This year, CROCUS, which helps prepare a community to be resilient to climate change, will hone in on several Chicago neighborhoods including Woodlawn.   

"We are going to deepen our conversation with the community," said Negri, noting the little climate data CROCUS has for the neighborhood.

Woodlawn’s past, present and future

In spite of climate anxiety, the summit was a celebratory as it marked its 15the year. Its founding members and sponsors were honored with plaques and speeches, and community and business leaders looked at the neighborhood’s future with optimism.

The plenary session, “Our Community: Past, Present and Future,” was both a retrospective on developments in the neighborhood over the past 15 years and a discussion about what's to be done over the next five years.

Noting that the neighborhood’s population has grown while poverty has also increased, Dorri McWhorter, president of Chicago's YMCA system, advocated for a multi-pronged approach to community development.  

“We do need to focus on housing; we do need to focus on income; we do need to focus on safety; we do need to focus on migration; we need to focus on climate," McWhorter said. "The speed of change is so significant that if we don't really lean into these things now it will almost be irreversible."

Asked about common misconceptions people outside the neighborhood have about Woodlawn, Joel Hamernick, of Coach House Solutions Group blasted Chicago media’s frequently negative portrayal of the neighborhood. 

"I'll never forget the day that Miss Jeane Clark schooled me," said Hamernick, referring to a longtime West Woodlawn activist. "She said to me, 'Joe, when I grew up here, we went barefoot to the park on the weekends and rode horses’ … That is a truer story of the nature of this community than many of the things that we often hear."

Panelists also talked about their mistakes. For Chef Tiffany Williams, owner of Exquisite Catering, this included opening a restaurant during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

"Not a good idea," she opined. Exquisite 501, her restaurant on 61st Street, has since closed.

Despite this, Williams’ business is still going strong. She recently returned from a gig as the chef for Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour. She works closely with Woodlawn Diversity in Action providing meals for seniors and during the neighborhood’s Black Wall Street event doing cooking demonstrations.

For Naomi Davis, president of the environmental advocacy organization Blacks in Green, the future looks bright for environmental justice in Woodlawn. This year, Blacks in Green was selected as a site for one of 15 regional EPA Environmental Justice Thriving Communities Technical Assistance Centers (TCTAC). These sites, according to the EPA, “provide training and other assistance to build capacity for navigating federal grant application systems, developing strong grant proposals, and effectively managing grant funding.”

“(It’s) kinda like Roosevelt in the New Deal, but not intentionally discriminating against Black people," Davis said.