History

Since 2018, Vision Morton Grove has been working on issues related to environmental sustainability, racial equity, welcoming communities, fair housing, a living wage, comprehensive public planning, representational and transparent government, and other concerns.

Vision Morton Grove started formally meeting in the Fall of 2018. Many in the group knew each other from work on the Welcoming Community Resolution in 2017. In the first meetings we used collective input to generate areas of interest and issues to begin working on. Our Task Force Report was published in December 2018 and worked as a template for where to focus our work. In late 2019 and early 2020, we developed and finalized the Vision Morton Grove Platform based on community input.

We have regularly scheduled meetings, clear and concise goals and objectives, and we move work forward on issues of environmental justice, EDI (equity, diversity & inclusion), fair housing, a living wage, comprehensive public planning, and representational government.

We are your neighbors, your friends, and your local business owners and we hope you’ll join us to move Morton Grove toward a more sustainable and healthful future.

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Vision Morton Grove
Platform

Demand Transparency and Democracy

• • • Establish direct resident input at all stages of decision making.
    • Conduct all meetings and discussions in compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act.
    • Ensure a representative government in which officials respect, listen to and consider resident input in their voting.
    • Ensure an open government in which residents are fully informed and given advance notice and access to documents and governmental proceedings, enabling public oversight and collaboration.

Promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI)

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Past & Current Actions

• • January 2019 – March 2019 Met with all Village Board of Trustees, the Mayor and the Village Administrator to ask that the Village opt-in to the Cook County Minimum Wage and the Cook County Earned Sick Time referendums. Morton Grove voters overwhelming approved with 87% voting to pass both measures in November 2018.
  • March 2019 – August 2019 Called on the Village to uphold current 13% Fair Housing in the Village, including the new 250 unit condo highrise at Sawmill Station planned for 2020.
  • September 2019 Held the first Environmental Panel discussion to call on the Village to act now on the climate crisis.
  • September 2019 – October 2019 Organized and got the Village to take 3 first action steps to address the climate crisis: 1) Join the Metropolitan Mayors Greenest Region Compact & create a sustainability plan; 2) Create a community-wide compost program; and 3) To help pollinators, amend Morton Grove Municipal Code 8-3-1 to remove the designation of milkweed as a weed that may not reach more than 6 inches in height.
  • December 2019 – March 2020 Based on community input, developed and finalized the Vision Morton Grove 2020-2021 Platform.
  • June 2020 – December 2021 Organized around ways for residents to stand up for racial equity in Morton Grove and started 3 working groups that developed and implemented action plans: 1) Anti-racism initiative team; 2) Police research and action team; & 3) School district letter writing team. We gathered and presented over 100 residents’ signatures to the Village Board calling for the Village to hire a full-time social worker for the Police Department. The Village first hired a part-time social worker and later made this a full-time position that serves both the Police Department and Village residents.
  • July 2020 – December 2021 Our efforts to get the Village to create a new commission to work on environmental and sustainability issues in Morton Grove were successful with the newly formed Environment & Natural Resources Commission (ENRC). We then organized and gathered and presented over 100 residents’ signatures calling for the ENRC to improve the draft sustainability plan (adding specific goals and a process for periodic and ongoing evaluation, allowing time for resident review and input) and calling for The Village to allocate funds in the budget for the priorities and goals of the plan.  The Village Board adopted the new Sustainability Plan on January 25, 2021.
  • January 2021 – August 2021 In January 2021 Vision Morton Grove’s Sustainability Action Group was officially formed. Vision Morton Grove had been working on environmental issues in the village for over two years within the larger group setting, and with the formation of the sustainability group, solidified the importance of environmental justice to the Vision Morton Grove Platform. The Sustainability Action Group worked on environmental and sustainability issues through actions, projects, activities and educational events.  By August 2021 the group had grown to the point that it became an independent group with the new name Go Green Morton Grove.  Vision Morton Grove and Go Green Morton Grove will continue to collaborate to work on environmental and sustainability issues. 
  • September 2021 – Present We launched our campaign to call on the Village of Morton Grove to develop and implement equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) plans for the Village that include:
    1)  A new commission with a diverse and representative composition specifically charged with creating and monitoring EDI plans.
    2)  Trainings in EDI for all Village staff, officials, employees, departments and commission members, and also be offered to residents and businesses. EDI trainings will provide attendees with the necessary awareness, skills and knowledge to create a more equitable, diverse and inclusive community.
    3)  Plans for more diversity in recruiting, hiring and retaining employees in all Village departments and in appointing individuals to commissions.
    We formally presented our EDI request at the 9/12/2022 VIllage Trustee Board Meeting in a letter to the Mayor, Trustees, and Administrator with the names of the 219 residents, businesses, organizations, and others who signed our EDI petition. We asked that all of the EDI goals listed above be included in the new strategic plan. Although EDI was listed as one of 4 main pillars of the new strategic plan adopted in 2023, our specific goals were not included. We continue to advocate for them. 
  • November 2021 – July 2022: We launched our Affordable Housing Task Force to advocate for more affordable housing in Morton Grove. Joining Forces for Affordable Housing, a program of Connections for the Homeless, provided our task force with education, support and assistance in advocating for more affordable housing in Morton Grove. Our efforts resulted in the adoption of an affordable housing code that created an affordable housing trust fund and a requirement of one affordable unit for every 10 units of housing developments.
  • December 2022 – April 2023: We supported and endorsed 3 equity candidates running for the Niles Township High School District 219  Board of Education race. All 3 candidates were closely aligned with our platform/priorities and all 3 were elected. 
  • September 2023 – Present: We became a partner with Cook County United Against Hate, an initiative to stand up against all forms of hate that includes: a pledge to welcome all people regardless of their background or identity, and to support tolerance and justice; a personal choice to become educated on the legacies of systemic impacts of bigotry, and discrimination and how to be actively anti-hate.
    We urged the Village to join some of our neighboring municipalities and sign on as a municipal partner. The Village administration denied our request stating, “the Village’s primary focus is to bring people together in positive ways, and to celebrate our heroes; not to give undue attention to hateful outliers that do not define us.”
    Vision Morton Grove continues to advocate for the Village to join this important initiative. 
  • November 2023 statement regarding Israel-Gaza: Vision Morton Grove joins all fair-minded people in fervently calling for an end to the widespread violence in Israel and Palestine.  We grieve the devastating loss of life, especially the lives of children, and support efforts to end the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and to gain the immediate release of Israeli hostages. As partners with Cook County United Against Hate, we decry the Islamophobia and anti-Semitism that has increased in our country since this war erupted and stand with our Muslim and Jewish neighbors against these forms of hatred.