Engaging Chicago’s Diverse Communities in the Chicago Climate Action Plan COMMUNITY #5: WEST RIDGE’S SOUTH ASIAN COMMUNITY Research Report Submitted by: Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo), a Division of Science at The Field Museum To: The City of Chicago Department of Environment City of Chicago Richard M. Daley, Mayor Department of Environment 1 PROJECT OVERVIEW 19 COMMUNICATION AND DISSEMINATION 4 COMMUNITY OVERVIEW 20 CREATIVE MODELS FOR 6 STAKEHOLDERS, PARTNERSHIPS, COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND RELATIONSHIP-BUILDING 21 CONCLUSION 8 AWARENESS OF CLIMATE CONTENTS CHANGE AND INTEREST IN 22 COMMUNITY ASSET MAP ADDRESSING IT 23 REGIONAL ASSET MAP OF 11 COMMUNITY CONCERNS: SPRINGBOARDS FOR CLIMATE 24 OUR TEAM ACTION BIBLIOGRAPHY 16 ENVIRONMENTALLY-FRIENDLY LIST OF PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS PRACTICES, VALUES, AND TABLE TRADITIONS This research was commissioned by the Visit our Web site to download the Community and Regional City of Chicago Department of Environment. Asset Maps, and reports about other communities: http://fieldmuseum.org/climateaction Research was conducted by: Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo), a Division of Science at The Field Museum with our partners: Sponsored by City of Chicago Department of Environment Chicago Cultural Alliance Indo-American Center Indo-American Heritage Museum May 2011 PROJECT OVERVIEW Engaging Chicago Communities in the Chicago Climate Action Plan—Community #5: The South Asian Community of West Ridge is RESEARCH AREA the fifth community study commissioned by the City of Chicago Department of Environment (DOE) to identify strategies for effectively engaging diverse communities throughout the city in the implementation of the Chicago Climate Action Plan (CCAP). This report presents the results from one site of a two- sited mini study that also included the Mexican community of Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. West Ridge Our first two studies had a geographic focus, one on South Chicago––a working class, racially diverse area on Chicago’s far South Side––and the other on North Kenwood-Oakland/Bronzeville, an economically diverse, African- American area of the city situated just three miles south of Chicago’s downtown. The third study was the first to focus on an ethnic group––Chicago’s Polish community––and was concentrated in three Chicago regions with large Polish populations. The West Ridge and Pilsen studies are the first to be delineated by both neighborhood geography and ethnicity, and they are also the first to Located just off of Devon Avenue where the Indian-Pakistani business district incorporate community-led storytelling as a data gathering technique. defines the character of the area, the Indo-American Heritage Museum is a relatively new organization that was formed by board members of the Indo- All of our studies are participatory action research projects that have been American Center (IAC), a center that serves hundreds of South Asian clients conducted by a team including The Field Museum anthropologists, staff from daily through classes in ESL, civics, computers, immigration assistance, as well the Chicago Department of Environment, and leaders of community-based as senior and youth programs. The Indo-American Heritage Museum offers organizations in the research communities. In this study, our research was cultural programs that promote understanding of the diversity, history, and designed and conducted collaboratively, in English, Urdu and Hindi, by a team culture of Indian Americans in the Chicago area. IAHM is currently located including anthropologists from The Field Museum’s division of Environment, at the Indo-American Center on California and Devon, where they offer Culture, and Conservation (ECCo), the Chicago Cultural Alliance (CCA), educational programs and display a modest collection that represents life in and leaders from the Indo-American Heritage Museum (IAHM), a cultural members’ homelands and their Chicago diaspora. IAHM’s programs include organization in West Ridge. While the anthropologist from CCA collected cultural performances, inter-ethnic dialogues, tours of Devon Avenue, and qualitative data through traditional ethnographic methods, the anthropologists workshops about the Indian American immigration story for educators and the from The Field Museum trained leaders from IAHM in story collecting general public. While they expand their space and build their collection, IAHM techniques and worked with them to facilitate focus groups throughout the has launched a “virtual museum” where website visitors can explore Chicago’s study. Indo-American culture and community members can share personal stories on selected themes. Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo) • The Field Museum • Research Report 1 PROJECT OVERVIEW This research project combined traditional ethnographic methods, such as and strengthening organizing skills will help our community partners to create interviewing and participant observation, with the innovative technique of programs and services which better address community concerns including community-led story collecting. Through workshops, sharing research tools, environmental issues and climate change. and personal mentoring ethnographers at The Field Museum worked closely with staff members at Indo-American Heritage Museum to develop their skills as Field research for this project lasted four months, from May through August story collectors. This collaborative approach allowed us to pair complementary 2010. During this time, The Field Museum researchers and community methods of gathering data. While the project ethnographer was working to partners conducted interviews, gathered stories, and held focus groups to complete a rapid inventory of both the West Ridge and Pilsen neighborhoods, better understand research participants’ beliefs and practices related to the our community partners were busy collecting stories from their clients and peers. environment and climate change. Because these study communities are Touching base regularly along the way, the ethnographer and local leaders defined by participants’ ethnic identity as well as their geographic location, we supported one another’s work through the exchange of contacts, leads, ideas, recruited participants who fall into one of three main categories. Our primary and tools. For the duration of the fieldwork season, both the ethnographer focus was South Asian residents of the West Ridge neighborhood. Secondarily, and local partners used a variety of creative tools developed by ECCo to learn we spoke with a number of Chicago-area South Asians who work, shop, or about how residents relate to the environment and climate change, such as use services in West Ridge but who reside elsewhere. Thirdly, we spoke with using objects and photos to prompt discussion. neighbors, workers, and community leaders who live or work in West Ridge, but who are not of South Asian origin. This recruitment strategy recognizes that Incorporating the methods of story collecting has enhanced both the research our target populations do not live in any single urban area, but are socially product and the resources and knowledge of our community partners. Story integrated into Chicago’s multi-cultural metropolitan region. It also allows us collecting techniques enriched the study by contributing narrative stories to gain perspectives from local residents and leaders that helped to deepen our to semi-structured interview data gathered by the ethnographer. This has awareness of neighborhood dynamics. provided a more nuanced and holistic understanding of community dynamics and has broadened the contribution of community members and leaders One of our goals in studying ethnic communities is to better understand the in the research process. In addition, learning and applying story collecting ways in which cultural values and traditions in communities of origin might techniques strengthened the social capital of our community partners, who facilitate or hamper participation in climate action strategies in Chicago. said that gathering stories has improved their understanding of community Another goal is to understand how ethnic heritage intersects with community concerns and resources. Modhurima Mukherjee of IAHM told us that she has a activities and creates patterns of interaction that reach from Devon Avenue to deeper understanding of the community as a result of her experience collecting Delhi. As a result of having both an ethnic and a geographic focus, this study stories. Just as importantly, she says, the merchants and residents whom she also highlights the social networks that connect urban immigrants with Chicago talked with are now more aware of the resources and events offered by IAHM. communities. Ultimately, the experience of collecting stories, identifying community assets, The majority of this research was ethnographic, with the goal of gaining an understanding of people’s behaviors and attitudes by studying them in the context of their everyday lives. Like most research, ethnographic research aims to identify patterns and linkages between issues; but it is also based on the notion that people are experts on their own lives and, as such, aims to highlight local knowledge and practices as the building blocks for creating more sustainable communities. 2 Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo) • The Field Museum • Research Report PROJECT OVERVIEW In total, we directly engaged approximately 135 people through interviews, focus groups, surveys, and story collecting that included