Ijeoma Nwatu’s Post

My reflection on year one of my heritage-focused public engagement project with Ralph Wilson Park Conservancy is up! To end the year, I dove into the purpose of this project, the value of using the lens of heritage, and the challenges to a three time frame approach where past, present, and future can create synergy around a community space. https://lnkd.in/gMnCYX-4

Great discussion, Matt. I also noted with interest that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Left Behind Neighbourhoods published a Report this week entitled A Neighbourhood Strategy for National Renewal, and their recommendations are remarkably similar to those policies embedded in the Strategy launched 25 years ago. Although society has moved on immensely, many of the drivers for neighbourhood renewal remain the same, and many of the recommended approaches still apply. However, it is with frustration that both the APPG Report and the session with Baroness Armstrong seem to understate a key benefit that was revealed from previous programmes of neighbourhood renewal - that of reducing the potential for these areas to be ‘sink-holes’ for the Exchequer and the UK taxpayer.  Don’t get me wrong, I am a big believer in neighbourhood renewal per se. If delivered and organised in the right way, it can certainly address the challenges of our ‘left behind’ areas, and it can deliver a range of social, economic, health, education, community safety and environmental outcomes, thereby improving quality of life conditions and the satisfaction of local people. Evidence from academia and the UK Government itself confirms that neighbourhood renewal over the last 20 years has ensured significant improvements to many disadvantaged areas. Indeed, Sheffield Hallam University’s Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research produced the main NDC evaluation which concluded that it was an overwhelming success. But, more importantly, the evaluation also compared NDC areas with similar non-NDC areas, and found that without the NDC investment and the neighbourhood renewal approach, many of these comparable areas became ‘left behind’. Moreover, the evaluation revealed that most non-NDC areas had a significantly higher net cost to the Exchequer than its comparable NDC area, with increased costs to the benefit system, lower tax revenues generated, and increased costs linked to higher crime rates and poor health. Although not identified as a key conclusion in the evaluation, it is my belief that even taking into consideration the significant NDC investment over its 10-year period, many NDC’s actually saved the Exchequer money. In effect, what I am saying is that neighbourhood renewal is not just an important way of improving people’s quality of life, it also makes financial sense for the UK Government. Turning around the downward spiral of decline can lead to less public funds being invested in those ‘left behind’ areas in the longer-term. Given this argument, I am perplexed as to why the All-Party Parliamentary Group has not stressed this point further. My previous of experience of the UK Government is that you may convince the relevant Secretary of State of a change in policy or funding, but at the end of the day the Treasury holds the purse strings.

Happy World Water Day! It's a great time to reflect on your relationship with water: where does your water come from? How do you connect with your local waterways - rivers, wetlands, lakes, aquifers, oceans? What are your obligations to water? And if you're in Colorado Springs next week, come and join me for a chat about rivers as living entities, and what this can mean for our relationship with them. https://lnkd.in/g2BsWnAp

So important to protect this valuable ag preserve and the people who care for it.

How will we prepare for a future with less water and more people in the West? How do we protect our local food systems, farmers and farmland, and our rivers and streams, as cities grow? The Palmer Land Conservancy is working on this challenge in Pueblo County, Colorado, and the plan they've developed with the community there is promising. Learn more here in this story from Jacob Lebsack: https://lnkd.in/gyi5cnWW Pictured: The city of Pueblo, looking west.

As Native American Heritage Month comes to a close, I wanted to highlight Redbud Resource Groups' Going Beyond Land Acknowledgements training program to encourage us all to intentionally uplift Indigenous communities. Here is a breakdown of their allyship spectrum: 📖 First Steps to Acknowledgement: Learn about Native culture and experiences from Native people. Redbud Resource Group offers numerous private + public workshops and has an extensive database of films, webinars, articles, reports, and more to to help you deepen your understanding. 🌳 Educated Action: Get involved intentionally in your local Native communities through volunteering at Native Land Trusts, attending public events led by the local Native communities, supporting Native-owned organizations, and more. ☀️ Impactful Action: Advocate for Native rights and sovereignty to create structural change and redistribute land, power, and resources back to Native communities and ecosystems. This could include transferring land ownership to a local tribe, paying a land-tax, or campaigning in local elections for Native representation. Supporting Indigenous sovereignty is an ongoing commitment to learning, understanding, and respecting Native cultures and communities. It’s important to go beyond performative allyship and make impactful action. Listen to local Native people. https://lnkd.in/eHAqrNTD

If you have a moment, or two, or hours in an airport, take a listen to this week's We Grow California episode - Moving at the Speed of Trust. Thank you Chairman Adán Ortega Jr. for the title inspiration! This week, Darcy Villere and I discuss some pretty incredible milestone events. First, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California entered into two Memorandums of Understanding. The first with Friant Water Authority and Westland Water District and the second with the San Joaquin Valley Blueprint. These non-binding agreements open the door to explore mutual beneficial groundwater storage projects as well as other water reliability efforts. Urban and Ag are working together to solve big issues, and some said it would never happen! It all starts with trust. Speaking of trust, I also share some results from a recent Public Trust focus group study. Spoiler alert – it’s not good. And we heard from you regarding our out-of-the-box water infrastructure funding ideas, more on that conversation to come. How are we doing? Do you like what you hear? You can provide comments, suggestions, questions, or recommendations at ecwaterpac.com/podcast . Thanks for tuning in! https://lnkd.in/gKyPFkHT

Great article with good points on both sides.

Do you know what the 6Ts of giving are? Take a look at this article featuring our CEO, Dien Yuen 袁詩鈿, by Habitat for Humanity East Bay/Silicon Valley and Lisa Amor, MBA! https://lnkd.in/gPGj7xky

This summer I had the opportunity to teach a history of Chicago course for City Colleges of Chicago-Harold Washington College. I designed the class to highlight Chicago’s relationship to nature. From the indigenous groups and earliest settlers who used the Chicago river to establish regional trade, to the longevity of our lakefront being an open, public space—thanks to the efforts of folks like Daniel Burnham and Montgomery Ward—nature has been critical in Chicago becoming the global city we know today. With the environment playing such an important role in both Chicago’s past and future, it’s no wonder that all of the candidates in the last mayoral election promoted bringing back Chicago’s Department of the Environment. Illinois Environmental Council’s Iyana Simba wrote about the need to revive the department last year. Check out her blog post here: https://lnkd.in/gVdZDYY7 Throughout the term I took students on tours of important sites around the city. Below is an image from my talk on Millennium Park. By the way, did you know that Millennium Park is the world’s largest green roof?! Earlier in the term, I took students on a tour of the Chicago River. The river is now a vibrant focal point for Chicago’s tourism economy because of the environmental advocacy of groups like Friends of the Chicago River and Urban Rivers. Personally, the river has also become a place for me to reconnect with nature (just this weekend I went kayaking along the north branch). What are some ways that you connect with nature in your city? How has nature influence your city’s development? #chicago #environment #education #sustainability #nonprofit