30 Years of Sustainability: A Timeline of CNT
- 1977
- First organizational meeting; mission adopted.
- 1978
- The Neighborhood Works (TNW), an information resource about alternative strategies for developing local economies and neighborhoods, begins 20-year publication run.
- 1978
- TARP Impact Project discloses costs, impacts and community-based alternatives to Deep Tunnel, resulting in scaled-back project that saves taxpayers $8 billion.
- 1980
- Fourth solar greenhouse built in low-income Chicago neighborhood.
- 1982
- Public debate about proposed Chicago World’s Fair begins via The Neighborhood Works and Chicago 1992 Committee, leading to Fair’s abandonment in 1985.
- 1983
- Neighborhood Nonprofit Energy Program, a $7 million energy conservation program funded by Amoco Foundation, begins work that yields combined yearly savings of over $1 million to 170 non-profit facilities.
- 1983
- Chicago Energy Commission, a project of CNT and Business and Professional People for the Public Interest, releases far-reaching plan to reduce citywide energy costs by 25% and boost local economy.
- 1984
- Chicago Energy Savers Fund starts financing $17 million in energy conservation loans for 12,000 units of multi- and single-family housing.
- 1984
- Housing Abandonment Task Force issues 30+ recommendations for conserving Chicago’s affordable housing, yielding programs and organizations that address equity financing, energy conservation financing, housing cooperatives and public access to housing information.
- 1985
- Industrial Development Project first analyzes job retention in the food processing and metal finishing industries, the works with small manufacturers to secure environmental compliance, earning award from National Metal Finishers Industry.
- 1986
- Working Neighborhoods: Taking Charge of Your Local Economy wins Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club.
- 1986
- Chicago Electric Options Campaign opens public debate about the future of electricity in Chicago and later organizes referenda in wards across city calling for choice in electricity providers.
- 1986
- Coalition for Appropriate Waste Disposal wins first ban on landfill expansions in Chicago, still in effect today, and later secures passage of Chicago’s first recycling ordinance; evolves into the Chicago Recycling Coalition.
- 1987
- Former weaving factory rehabbed into CNT office space, becoming Illinois’ first intentionally non-toxic, energy-efficient building.
- 1988
- Neighborhood Early Warning System (NEWS) makes housing data on Chicago properties, and later Cook County, widely accessible using indicators of potential abandonment.
- 1990
- Lake Calumet Airport Network elevates public debate about a proposed airport for Chicago’s Southeast Side, leading to its demise.
- 1990
- Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP), today’s premiere national transportation coalition, co-founded by CNT, and in 1991 turns pending federal highway bill into comprehensive transportation bill. The Center for Neighborhood Technology, located on Chicago’s West Side
- 1990
- Campaign for Responsible Ownership amends Illinois Constitution to end slum landlord abuse of property tax system.
- 1991
- Amoco Fund for Neighborhood Economies makes $2.3 million in grants and loans to eighty-four grassroots organizations in Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, Houston, and Northwest Indiana.
- 1992
- Sustainable Manufacturing Program receives Environmental Achievement Award from Renew America.
- 1993
- Chicago Mutual Housing Network spins off to promote resident-controlled and managed housing and has preserved over 2,000 units of housing to date.
- 1995
- Chicagoland Transportation and Air Quality Commission (CTAQC), over 180 organizational members strong today, completes first Citizen Transportation Plan as blueprint for regional transportation investments.
- 1995
- The Greener Cleaner, an environmentally-friendly “dry” cleaner, opens shop in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood using CNT-evaluated “wet” cleaning technology.
- 1996
- Interreligious Sustainability Project, now an independent non-profit, Faith in Place, engages diverse Chicagoland religious traditions around environmental sustainability; publishes One Creation, One People, One Place.
- 1997
- The Metropolitan Initiative holds forums in 12 regions around the country to spark creative federal-regional partnerships; evolves into pilot programs in Denver, Chicago, Atlanta and Bay Area.
- 1998
- UPASS Program with Chicago Transit Authority offers nation’s first multi-college unlimited-ride transit pass to students of 23 local colleges and universities.
- 1999
- Location Efficient Mortgage®, developed with STPP and Natural Resources Defense Council, converts transportation savings from living in transit-rich areas into increased home buying power.
- 1999
- Using the Hidden Assets of America’s Communities and Regions offers new framework for thinking about urban areas.
- 2000
- LEGInfo.org, with sixteen civic partners, tracks state legislation on Internet.
- 2000
- Connections for Community Ownership, a minority entrepreneurship program targeted at transit-friendly neighborhoods, opens first of 11 franchise businesses.
- 2000
- Community Energy Cooperative, in partnership with ComEd, enrolls 7,000 members to test community-based strategies to reduce energy costs and peak demand.
- 2000
- Driven to Spend: The Impact of Sprawl on Household Transportation Expenses shows how sprawl eats away at family budgets, jointly published with STPP.
- 2000
- Environmental justice case studies completed for Federal Highway Administration.
- 2000
- Developing Stories: Homegrown Innovations on Growth provides local examples of smart growth principles.
- 2001
- CNT’s headquarters begins second innovative green renovation.
- 2002
- I-GO imports non-profit car sharing model from Europe to Chicago.
- 2002
- A second regional citizen transportation planning process produces Changing Direction: Transportation Choices for 2030 and tools for local planning.
- 2002
- TravelMatters.org provides nation’s first Internet-based scorecard on emissions resulting from different transportation choices.
- 2003
- The New Transit Town, a 2003 Island Press publication, results from national research by CNT and the Great American Station Foundation on barriers to transit-oriented development.
- 2004
- The Energy-Smart Pricing Plan, a unique real-time electricity rate plan launched by the Community Energy Cooperative in 2003, receives the first annual Inspiring Energy Efficiency Award from the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance and is hailed as a national model for electricity demand reduction by Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith.
- 2005
- A consolidated land use/transportation regional planning agency, an idea championed for more than a decade by CNT’s Chicagoland Transportation and Air Quality Commission, is signed into law by Governor Blagojevich.
- 2005
- CNT’s renovated headquarters is certified by the U.S. Green Building Council as “Platinum,” the highest certification attainable.
- 2006
- The H+T Affordability Index, a new measure for housing affordability that takes into account the combined costs of housing and transportation, is launched. CNT co-authored a Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program brief about the Index with the Center for Transit Oriented Development.
- 2006
- CNT and its affiliate the Community Energy Cooperative received a 2006 Chicago Innovation Awards for introducing the Energy-Smart Pricing Plan℠ (ESPP), an innovative hourly electricity pricing program for residential customers.
- 2006
- Paved Over: Surface Parking Lots or Opportunities for Tax-Generating, Sustainable Development compared the economic and social costs of surface parking lots near rail transit stations with potential economic and social benefits if they were developed into mixed-use, pedestrian friendly, transit-oriented developments in suburban Cook County.
- 2007
- I-GO car sharing grows to 6,000 members and 160 cars, serving residents and businesses in Chicago, Evanston, and Oak Park
- 2007
- Nobel Laureate Dr. Wangari Maathai presides over dedication of a native garden that was created and planted in her name by Al Raby School for Community and Environment students and community members, in partnership with CNT.
- 2007
- CNT is working with The Clinton Foundation to build a web-based tool that the 40 largest cities in the world will use to compute their carbon footprint, as well as providing the research for the City of Chicago’s Climate Action Plan.
