South Chicago, the East Side and Hegewisch are home to multi-generational, tight-knit working class communities where steel mills and other industries attracted and built a tremendous workforce. Yet today’s Southeast Side residents are surrounded by industry – much of it toxic, in the form of sewage treatment plants, garbage incinerators, landfills, chemical and food processing facilities, asphalt and natural gas production, trucking and shipping yards.

According to several studies, Southeast Side residents have some of the highest rates of coronary heart disease, asthma and some cancers than any other part of Chicago. As a result, residents are organizing and mobilizing for environmental justice.

Join us for this informative and important program, as we look at not only the history of the Southeast Side, but how current development plans have renewed resolve for environmental activism. From industries being relocated due to the North Side’s Lincoln Yards development, to the proposed move to the Southeast Side of the General Iron metal-shredding facility, residents have protested through demonstrations and even hunger strikes.