All Week Long
Nicholas Brown remembers volunteering at a forest preserve when he was in grade school. Then when he got to high school, he joined the environmental club. Those were the experiences he listed on his Student Conservation Association (SCA) application.
SCA wanted to know about his experiences in nature and what he might gain from future ones. It was his environmental club involvement that was pivotal.
“The club made me realize there are a whole lot more people who are excited and involved with the environment,” says Nicholas, 19, a graduate of Chicago’s Northside Prep High School.
At its Nov. 8 meeting, the Forest Preserve Board of directors approved six grants totaling $132,110. With this latest round, the Foundation’s total awards for 2019 comes to nearly half a million dollars. The grants will continue Foundation support for the Conservation Corps/Forest Preserve Experience program and ecological restoration in Cranberry Slough and Cap Sauers Holding Preserve and the volunteer recognition program. Two are first-time grants. They will support restoration work in Schubert’s Woods in southern Cook County and Perkins Woods in Evanston.
“These grants round out our 2019 cycle with funding for our key investment areas: next-generation environmental advocates, climate change mitigation and family recreation in the Forest Preserves of Cook County,” Foundation President and Executive Director Shelley Davis said. “Our grantmaking increased significantly this year, allowing us to extend our impact in ways that make the Forest Preserves more accessible and enjoyable for all.”
Originally published on chicagotribune.com 12/20/2019 | Image: Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune
The flag of the city of Chicago is a thing of beauty. Its elegant, arresting design makes it easy to recognize and hard to forget. Locals fly it from porches, wear it on T-shirts and hats and even tattoo it on their bodies. The North American Vexillological Association ranked it No. 2 of all city flags, behind Washington, D.C., but we feel no compunction in calling it the best by far.
The Cook County flag is ... well, not all that. Most residents couldn’t tell you what it looked like, and if they saw it, they’d be able to identify it only because it says, in red capital letters, “Cook County.” At the center of a white field is a gold map of the county, including township lines, surrounded by two blue circular stripes which enclose 39 stars. It has all the charm of a metal file cabinet.
But that may change. Last week, Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton called for replacing this mediocre emblem. He proposed a competition for high school students to come up with a new version.
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle was receptive to replacing what she called the “pedestrian” flag with something “modernizing our presentation to the world.”And she liked the idea of enlisting young people in the effort.
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