Ask other people to get involved. They can share the work with you to follow the steps in this Playbook. 

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They can also help get the City’s attention on your EJ issue by reporting it to the 311 system every time it affects them. The more people reporting the issue, the more it will get the City’s attention. 

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People you recruit can be members of your block club, neighborhood friends, ward meeting attendees, or any other person or group who can help. 

With multiple people involved, consider using a shared log file like a Google sheet that can be accessible to all involved to track 311 contacts, phone calls to the City and other governmental parties, and other actions taken to address the EJ issue.  Such a log file can be used to highlight to City officials how many people are being affected by the issue, and how much effort those people are willing to put forth to get the problem solved. If recruiting additional people does not get the problem solved, continue to the next step.  

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Also, write letters to editors of local papers, contact a local TV news organization and see if they would be interested in reporting on the situation caused by the EJ issue, speak up at City Council meetings during the time allocated for public comment, and meet directly with the offending party to try to come to an acceptable solution to the Environmental Justice issue.

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Well-known papers that have covered CAE efforts in the past include the Evanston Roundtable and the Daily Northwestern. Events to organize the community can also be held at community centers like the Robert Crown Community Center on Main St. and the Ecology Center on McCormick Blvd.

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