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LVEJO's Geographic Information System (G.I.S.) Campaign

Comments regarding LVEJO

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Supporting Open Space Campaign July 2005

LVEJO began a Geographic Information System (GIS) program in 1998. For two years neighborhood college and high school youth worked with a geography graduate student to inventory each land parcel in South Lawndale. Adults and youth worked together to then learn how to enter data into our computers using ArcView GIS. 150 blocks of our community were inventoried and mapped. In 2002 LVEJO became the only CBO in the state to be awarded a 2 year Illinois EPA visioning grant. Since 2000 we have developed an information technology (IT) program, which now includes training of youth and adult IT leaders. In 2003 we began our adult and youth leadership program, which has grown to 40 people and includes asset based community development training.

LVEJO and its partners worked with the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) over the next three year to move from our visioning project to the next phase: an on the ground planning and mapping project which integrates IT with neighbors and planners building a sustainable development plan for our community. We will do this by training youth and adult leaders each of our partner sites. The training program will include developing an inventory system for each land parcel and building, including the mapping of existing and potential community assets. Assets include open space, abandoned and underutilized buildings: residential, institutional, commercial and industrial; existing, utilized land and buildings, transportation routes, community based public and private institutions, agencies, commerce, industry, parks and grass-roots organizations. Critical assets to development include individual’s skills and talents and organizations who may not be housed in specific buildings or space like cultural art groups, sports teams, Mexican "home town" organizations, and vocational art circles (cooking, sewing, etc.).

Leaders were trained in the use of hand held computers/digital cameras with direct access to the internet for downloading and uploading information to the NIPC web site. These groups, working with planners, will answer the question of what we need in Little Village, what we have now, what are our priorities for planning and development and how do we get there?