| Board of Directors |
| SETF is governed by dedicated
leaders who are active in and around the region.
Read more about
our board members. |
| Staff
and Volunteers |
| During this transitional period, SETF staff wil be led by
our Education Director Jessica Canas, with direction from the Executive Committee.
We have opportunities for student interns to work on initiatives
and learn about the Calumet region.
Volunteers are also key to our success. There
are many opportunities for you to get involved. |
| Our Founder |
| Marian Byrnes is known as the "Conscience
of the Calumet." Instrumental in bringing the environmental
movement to the region, she has served the Southeast Side
of Chicago in many other ways. Read about her in Chicago
Wilderness Magazine.
Click here for more
about Marian Byrnes.
|
| Mission and Vision |
SETF exists in order to:
- Empower residents and students in the Southeast Side and
south suburbs of Chicago to improve their local environment;
- Promote pollution prevention and progressive business
practices
in Calumet region facilities; and,
- Promote preservation, restoration, and enhancement of
the region's
natural areas, and sustainable development of the region's
industrial lands.
So that one day:
- Educated and empowered residents are able to contribute
to sustained
growth and respond to all environmental threats;
- All businesses are utilizing the most energy efficient
processes, generating
the least possible pollution and waste, and hiring local
residents; and,
- All open spaces and vacant lands are restored to create
community vitality, maintain biodiversity, and sustain economic
growth through tourism and industry, — making
the Calumet region of Greater Chicago a model
for the nation and world to emulate.
|
| History |
SETF was founded in 1989
as an arm of Illinois State Representative Clem Balanoff's
office. The Task Force's first undertaking was to organize
two-dozen community groups to stop a garbage incinerator from
being built in the area. SETF continued to
function on a voluntary basis to fight environmentally destructive
land use proposals including the Lake Calumet Airport.
In 1994 SETF incorporated, and has since
become a lead organizer to
accomplish the following:
• stop various landfill expansions
and waste facility proposals;
• promote restoration of
degraded wetlands;
• promote ecologically sustainable
brownfield redevelopment;
• drive pollution reduction
investments in industries adjacent to
communities and waterways.
The Southeast Environmental Task Force attained
501(c)(3) status in 1999, and hired its first paid staff in
2002. It serves the Illinois Calumet Region, which includes
the Southeast Side of Chicago and adjacent south suburbs.
|
| Partnerships |
Our work, as with many environmental efforts,
can only happen with the support of like-minded groups and individuals.
Working out of the Calumet Initiative office,
SETF
has taken an active role in the following regional partnerships:
|
|
Community-based partners: |
- Calumet
Ecological Park Association - CEPA
- East Side Chamber of Commerce
- East Side Pride
- Economic Youth Organization
- Healthy South Chicago
- Hegewisch Chamber of Commerce
- Hegewisch Community Committee
- Perch America
- Pullman Civic Organization
- South Chicago Chamber of Commerce
- South Deering Crime Watch
- South Deering Empowerment Association
- Southeast
Historical Museum
- Southeast Chicago Development Commission
- Southeast Sportsmen's Club
- Veterans Park Improvement Association
|
City-wide and regional organizations and partnerships: |
|
Funders |
The Task Force is funded by membership dues,
individual donations, charitable foundations and government
grants.
Our Major Funders in 2005-06 (giving
$5,000 or more): |
- BP America Foundation
- The Field Foundation of Illinois
- Chicago Wilderness/Illinois
Conservation Foundation
- Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation
- Grand Victoria Foundation
- Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission
- Prince Charitable Trusts
- Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust
- U.S. EPA Region
5
SETF would like thank all of our donors
who make our work possible. |
Join Us! |
| Let us know how you would like to get involved!
|
