2020 Annual Report

For starters, we shifted gears when the legislature packed up shop and used that time to do long-term policy and movement building. For months, we held public listening sessions and calls with our affiliates. Our program staff worked to incorporate feedback from those into the most comprehensive policy platform IEC has ever released. As a result, Illinois’ environmental movement leads together with a clearer voice on our most pressing challenges. 

What’s more, our new platform includes a new Allyship plank, charting out guiding principles for IEC’s approach to supporting the work of our community level, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) and environmental justice affiliates so we can be better allies and partners. I invite you to take a look at our robust new platform here. 

Starting in March 2020, when the country went into lockdown, IEC responded by founding our Lunch & Learn series providing a place for our community to gather while also hearing from experts on a range of environmental issues. Since then, we’ve hosted about 50 Lunch & Learn webinars drawing droves of enviros of all stripes. Take a look back at some of the wonderfully diverse topics we covered here.

The last big in-person event we at IEC enjoyed before the pandemic was our Clean Energy Lobby Day– an IEC tradition where we normally bus hundreds of Illinoisans to Springfield to lobby their legislators on top environmental priorities. Then in November, we decided to try a Virtual Clean Energy Lobby Day. We had our largest turnout yet– around 1,000 Illinoisans signed up and we had meetings with over 80 legislators! There were other silver linings too. Holding our Lobby Day virtually made the event far more accessible. We had a much more diverse turnout, with working folks able to pop in on their lunch breaks, students between classes, and more. 

Lobby Day was not the only bright spot; Team IEC grew. We added capacity to our policy team and were even able to help our partners at volunteer-led Clean Power Lake County hire two new team members through our pilot fiscal sponsorship program. Moreover, IEC could take all of this on because we were fortunate enough to have another strong year fiscally. During 2020, we were able to secure the funding needed to close 2020 on firm financial footing, putting us in the perfect position to continue growing our movement even more.

In 2020, we also saw our country continue to reckon with the centuries-old epidemic of racism. As an environmental organization with historically white leadership, IEC contemplated our role within the environmental and racial justice movements and how best to support anti-racist work as an umbrella organization for over 100 diverse groups. At the same time, we also saw environmental justice communities’ health and well-being bartered away by industry-friendly decision makers. 

At the very start of the pandemic, Chicago’s Little Village was cloaked in dust from the demolition of a retired coal plant, which would later be replaced by a warehouse stocked with diesel polluting trucks. Around this same time, one government agency after another approved permits to move serial polluter, General Iron, from the white and wealthy Lincoln Park to the working-class, Black & Brown 10th ward. And beyond Chicago, the downstate town of Centreville has been struggling with sewage system backs up, leaving residents’ yards flooded with sewage. This disinvestment has caused unsafe living conditions and potentially compromised the drinking water of an entire community. Supporting the work of our community-based partners in combating environmental racism is a priority. 

It’s an important time for IEC and the environmental community in Illinois, and we are cautiously optimistic. 2020 challenged us all. We saw many of our partners step up, be it in fighting environmental racism or in helping their community access food and resources during the lockdown. While there was no shortage of obstacles, our community showed up for one another during this unprecedented time, and we couldn’t be prouder to have such resilient members in our movement. We remain hopeful and will continue to push for Illinois’ environment and communities always.

As IEC grows stronger, so too does our community. If you have joined us by taking action, donating, attending a lobby day or volunteering in some way, please know how much we appreciate you.

In community,

Jennifer Walling