Chipride Volunteering + Urban Rivers – Riverbank Cleanup

Urban Rivers – Riverbank Cleanup

When: Saturday, September 7th, 2024

Time: 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Location: The Wild Mile, Park Entrance behind the REI, 905 W Eastman St, Chicago, IL 60642

Total Spots Available: 20

Description: Join other LGBTQ+ and Ally volunteers in Chicago as we help clean up Chicago’s Rivers!

Volunteers will perform trash pickup from the Wild Mile and the surrounding stretches of riverwalk and riveredge habitat. Their team will equip us with trash-pickers as well as bags or buckets, and give an informational introduction to aquatic plastic pollution and its impact on wildlife. We will begin the project with a walking tour of the Wild Mile, which lasts approximately 30 minutes and covers the history, ecology, and design of the park.

Volunteers should wear breathable clothing (such as dry-fit or cotton t-shirts). We suggest these additional items:

• Sunscreen
• Hat and/or sunglasses
• Refillable water bottle

Urban Rivers Mission: Transforming city rivers into wildlife sanctuaries, to provide spaces where people of all backgrounds can connect with nature in new and innovative ways.

Look at a river running through any major city around the world and you will probably find the same thing — sheet metal walls where riverbanks used to be. These walls remove essentially any natural riverbank habitat for plants and wildlife to live. Since these walls simply cannot be removed from most cities, we are bringing back river habitat to urban waterways by building artificial floating gardens that can fit into existing river systems. These gardens are filled with native wetland plants that provide food, shelter, and overall high quality habitat for native wildlife — a sanctuary in the middle of the city.

These sanctuaries aren’t just for the fish, birds, and turtles. We are restoring life to the Chicago River for all by installing floating boardwalks for human communities to access and enjoy the river too.

At Urban Rivers, we believe that transforming urban waterways into wildlife sanctuaries is not only an important environmental mission, but also a critical social one. Access to nature and green spaces is not equally distributed in our cities, and historically marginalized communities have been disproportionately impacted by environmental degradation and pollution. We seek to target and transform historically degraded areas of the Chicago River into lush gardens and public walkways that benefit the communities around them, improving environmental quality and increasing access to nature.

We are committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive environment where people of all backgrounds have an equal opportunity to connect with nature. The Wild Mile is a public park with ADA accessible boardwalk. We host free school field trips, tours, and a variety of programs open to all ages, races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, religions, and abilities.

We recognize that diversity, equity, and inclusion are essential values that must continue to guide our work in transforming once inaccessible urban waterways into accessible community spaces for all.