[Communications] Invitation to join the Coalition to support the Forest Preserves of Cook County

Wed Jun 30 13:29:37 CDT 2021

Thanks for considering the invitation, and look forward to hearing from you!

Best,
Emily

Emily Reusswig

Director of Communications

Pronouns: she/her/hers

[1576018126283]

25 E. Washington Street

Suite 1650

Chicago, IL 60602

T: 312.863.6260

C: 312.925.5700

F: 312.863.6251

ereusswig at openlands.org<mailto:ereusswig at openlands.org>

openlands.org<http://www.openlands.org/>

[1576018152963]<http://www.facebook.com/openlandschicago> [1576018161700] <http://www.twitter.com/Openlands>  [1576018168651] <http://www.instagram.com/openlandschicago>  [1576018175298] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/openlands/>
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________________________________
From: Lorraine Kells <lxkells at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2021 12:56 PM
To: Emily Reusswig <ereusswig at openlands.org>; Amy OLSON <akeo at me.com>; JW Glass via Communications <communications at chicagocommunitygardens.org>
Cc: M Toy <mtoy.usa at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Invitation to join the Coalition to support the Forest Preserves of Cook County

Emily,

No doubt May is as pleased as I am to have CCGA receive this invitation to join the coalition and be a part of support for the Forest Preserves of Cook County with this referendum.  There are many treekeepers in CCGA, and numerous community gardens plant and maintain trees as a vital part of green space.   As well, it has been a goal of CCGA to have our organization more widely represented in initiatives like this,  and we have renamed one of our networking teams, Outreach and Advocacy to better achieve this goal.

Since the vote does not come up for a public vote, as you say, before November of 2022 that gives us a fair lead time to broaden support for this referendum. Coming up sooner is the upcoming Cook County Board Meeting where the Commissioners vote to move the referendum forward. That meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2021. Including CCGA on a growing list of members sounds good, so we will be calling a special meeting of our chairs and networking teams to fully voice throwing CCGA's support for the funding referendum that will offer accessible programs in the forest preserves, outdoor recreation, and open space   This will be a zoom meeting and we may request that someone such as yourself  will be available for comments. With our meeting we can ask for a member of CCGA to serve on the committee as well.  Most likely we will have someone on the Communications and Marketing, or Coalition Building committee, depending on how that person can meet the time commitment, which you say, ranges from two to six hours per month. The average $17 property tax increase per year is probably the hard sell of this funding referendum, but we will try our best

The reply to this email contains the CCGA Communications team and members of the Outreach and Advocacy team, to bring more of us into your correspondence as surely many questions will come up.

Regards,
Lorraine Kells

[https://docs.google.com/uc?export=download&id=1nAIalBRj_gGKBKxJvrrOe5A0f8VPf-OB&revid=0By0gvWIT0RboeHpnT3ZGZ0VnTTNwbWh2U21vQ0Q3RTlhT1kwPQ]

On Tue, Jun 29, 2021 at 12:19 PM Emily Reusswig <ereusswig at openlands.org<mailto:ereusswig at openlands.org>> wrote:
Hi May and Lorraine,

Hope you're both doing well. I'm not sure who this invitation needs to go to at the CCGA, so I'm hoping if it's not you, you can connect me to the appropriate person to speak with.

I'm reaching out to invite CCGA to join the coalition supporting the Forest Preserves of Cook County referendum, potentially coming up for a public vote in November 2022. The board of commissioners is currently considering a funding referendum, to better fund the Forest Preserves so they can continue to offer accessible programs, outdoor recreation, and open space to residents of Cook County. After a year when so many relied on the preserves to provide respite we have an opportunity to give back to the Preserves. For an average of $17 in property taxes each year, residents would be able to fully support the Forest Preserves of Cook County. Tentatively the referendum would be on the November 2022 ballot.

Openlands, along with Friends of the Forest Preserve, IEC, The Nature Conservancy , and others have signed on to be apart the coalition and it would mean so much to have CCGA join. Joining the coalition is quite simple and not time intensive. By agreeing to join, your organization will be included on a growing list of members and shared at the upcoming Cook County Board Meeting where the Commissioners vote to move the referendum forward. That meeting is scheduled for July 27, 2021.

If you are excited to join the coalition and have time to give to this initiative, it would be great to have a member of CCGA serve on a committee as well.  Currently we have Steering, Communications and Marketing, and Coalition Building committees, and the time commitment ranges from two to six hours per month.

I hope CCGA will join the coalition as we continue to build support for the preserves. I’ve attached some more information to this email but am here to talk more if you have questions or want to know next steps.

Thank you!

Best,
Emily

Emily Reusswig

Director of Communications

Pronouns: she/her/hers

[1576018126283]

25 E. Washington Street

Suite 1650

Chicago, IL 60602

T: 312.863.6260

C: 312.925.5700

F: 312.863.6251

ereusswig at openlands.org<mailto:ereusswig at openlands.org>

openlands.org<http://www.openlands.org/>

[1576018152963]<http://www.facebook.com/openlandschicago> [1576018161700] <http://www.twitter.com/Openlands>  [1576018168651] <http://www.instagram.com/openlandschicago>  [1576018175298] <https://www.linkedin.com/company/openlands/>
<https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E6340&id=9>Support nature's power to heal with a gift to Openlands<https://interland3.donorperfect.net/weblink/weblink.aspx?name=E6340&id=9>
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