April 20, 2024
April 10, 2024
Action Ridge Meeting Minutes
April 10, 2024
Liz called the meeting to order at 7:05.
History, Purpose and Organizational Structure
Nan and Liz gave a brief overview of the history and founding of Action Ridge in 2017. They shared early goals, past achievements, and the development of our interest areas.
Review Leadership Current Roles and Succession Planning Needs
Liz gave an overview of a meeting that took place on March 7, 2024. Members discussed current roles focusing on the responsibilities Nan has taken on as Chair. The group discussed how to transition some of those responsibilities to other leadership roles.
Nan is doing an incredible job as chair of Action Ridge due to her passion for the role, deep commitment to the purpose of AR and wide range of connections inside and outside of Park Ridge. By reading through the list of duties Nan currently does, it is also clear that she is taking on a lot and that it makes it difficult to find new leaders willing to step into the role as it is right now.
This group will continue to meet with the goal of discussing and determining ways to establish a clear succession plan for future leaders.
Survey Results and Next Steps
A survey was undertaken to get input from the 400+ members who receive our weekly updates. Results were as follows:
How often would you attend Action Ridge meetings?” (29 answers)
Once a month - 40% Every other month 60%
Would you be more likely to attend a Zoom/hybrid meeting format?” (34 answers)
Yes = 56% No = 44%
What do you value most about Action Ridge? You may choose more than one answer.” (35 answers)
80% = Being connected to like-minded people.
65% = Keeping informed
54% = Attending meetings with topics that interest me
23% = Joining committees to dive deep into areas that interest me
Do you have suggestions on how Action Ridge can increase participation in civic involvement and affect change in our community?”
"When Action Ridge started, I remember we focused on the equal rights amendment. I think it might be good to focus on one or two issues, particularly as it is really a small group."
"There are dozens of book clubs garden clubs, church groups. Ask if you can spend 10 min to introduce AR"
"Your questions are binary and don't allow for a gray area ... weather, illness, family issues. Members are mostly older. Where are all the young people in the community?"
"I love it the way it is! I would like to see more folks at our meetings."
'We might seek volunteers to alternate to attend City Council meetings and Committee of the Whole meetings and report back to the group."
"Maybe put-up flyers around the community?"
"You all are doing great! I simply can't attend as often as I would truly like to."
"Personal invitation to attend events, better visibility in the community"
"You're doing a great job now. Maybe more climate change activities to raise awareness, but there are already some groups in Park Ridge addressing that. Getting too involved would dilute your participation and ability to dig deeper into the issues you are already involved in. Maybe
something on election deniers (they exist in Park Ridge!)and attempts to disrupt our democracy. "
"Personally, I may read about an interesting meeting topic and intend to attend but life distracts me. If a friend asks if I am going, I will make it a priority with that simple reminder. One to one (or more) contact!"
Discussion followed and attendees added the following suggestions to increase participation:
Amy Bartucci, founder and Chair of Go Green Park Ridge and Green Drinks shared her experience with becoming overwhelmed in her position. She has come to realize that she took too much on. When she stepped away, she realized that others stepped up and the focus became clearer. She encouraged us to continue our succession planning. She also shared that she feels Action Ridge has a significant presence in the community and we should not be discouraged and focus so much of our attention on our meeting attendance. She feels our weekly updates are very successful and that if members only connect to us in that way, that is alright.
Areas of Interest Updates
Affordable Housing: Kristin Berg presented.
The committee continues to meet monthly. They have been focused on the city of Park Ridge Affordable Housing Plan. City Council recently approved a very general plan. It is unclear how the plan will be implemented and how effective it will be. Kristin encouraged members to write letters to their alderperson asking how the plan will be implemented.
We believe that we have had a very positive impact by attending meetings and sharing our views with city staff and alderpeople.
We plan to expand our focus to include promoting state and national policies that encourage affordable housing.
Discussion Group: Karen Banks-Lubicz presented.
The next book discussion will take place on May 13 at 7:00 PM at Park Ridge Community Church. They will be discussing the book, The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.
Education: Valerie Halsted
School District 64 has been looking at a Master Facilities Plan and through many meetings with staff, community stakeholders, law enforcement, and architects, have identified areas where safety, security, health, critical infrastructure, and, in some cases, classrooms are not meeting current and future needs. The School Board will make a decision later this summer about which path to take forward. To be transparent about the needs, various events are being hosted for the community to learn more. Those can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N2N1n37lgI5j2PMFcWP1NlJB2oABw97G/view
If you plan on attending any event, please RSVP. Additionally, the District has designed a webpage that provides information and resources which can be found at www.d64.or/2024proposal
Environment and Sustainability: Jeanne Wells presented
The One Earth Film Festival will be showing at the Park Ridge Community Church (Thursday, April 18th - doors open at 5:15, program begins at 6:00). If you plan to attend on Thursday - please register RSVP Here This year Go Green is not charging admission - just a good will donation of $8.
Gun Violence Prevention: Nan Parson presented
Nan has been attending the Friday Zoom calls for Safe Illinois. Their focus is on understanding the root causes of gun violence. If anyone else would like to participate, please reach out to Nan.
Policing and Criminal Justice: Alissa Goldwasser presented
Alissa is continuing to refine the deck she presented to Action Ridge in January. She is working on a summary of recommendations and will share them with the group when completed. She has communicated with the Township regarding some of the recommendations presented in January and has received good feedback. She plans to approach the City Council re those suggestions and, when he is ready, will talk to the Police Chief about resuming Coffee with the Chief.
Voting and Elections: Chris Parson and Pat Lofthouse presented.
Action Ridge members, along with Spotlight members have registered over 400 local high school students over the past couple of months. The next focus will be on registering more voters and Getting Out The Vote (GOTV)
Pat shared that she has attended the Alternative Methods of Voting Task Force established by Governor Pritzker. The purpose of the Task Force is to review voting systems and the methods of voting, including ranked-choice voting. The report should be filed by the end of the month.
Other New Business
Nan attended the premiere for the documentary “The Shame of Chicago”. It will air in four parts on WTTW starting on Thursday April 18 at 9:00 PM, The next three episodes will air on subsequent Thursdays. We hope Action Ridge members will tune in. At our next meeting, on May 8th, we will show some portion of the documentary and take part in a guided discussion.
Meeting adjourned at 8:50 PM
Respectfully submitted, Kate Kerin and Nan Parson