Communities use GRC to simplify the sustainability planning process, draft a plan

The Greenest Region Compact (GRC) and GRC Framework continue to help municipalities with setting sustainability goals and drafting sustainability plans, which makes them the perfect gift for the local governments in your life.

CHICAGO (December 21, 2023) – The Greenest Region Compact (GRC) sustainability pledge and accompanying GRC Framework document serve as a powerful foundation for local government sustainability goals and plans. You might even say they are a time-saving gift to municipalities that are interested in setting sustainability goals or drafting a plan. One hundred fifty-eight communities have adopted the 49 high-level GRC goals that are tailored for municipalities. Several communities have also used the GRC Framework companion document that provides objectives, strategies, and tools to help communities create a sustainability plan and address goals of the GRC.

One of the latest communities to use the GRC Framework to draft a sustainability plan is the City of Rolling Meadows, featured in this Daily Herald article. Over the last two years, the City’s Environmental Committee worked with City staff and the public to develop a sustainability plan for the City. The Committee’s approach in drafting the plan was to rely on the Greenest Region Compact Framework as an authoritative source of goals, objectives, and strategies, according to a City of Rolling Meadows memo. The GRC Framework document can be downloaded in Excel, which makes it easy for communities to check off which actions they have completed and which GRC actions should be included in a sustainability plan. The City of Rolling Meadows’ plan format also mirrors the GRC’s 10 categories: Climate, Economic Development, Energy, Land, Leadership, Mobility, Municipal Operations, Sustainable Communities, Waste & Recycling, and Water. Many other communities have found the GRC and GRC Framework tool to be useful in creating and organizing a sustainability plan, including the City of Countryside, the Village of Deer Park, the Village of Grayslake, the Village of Hoffman Estates, and the City of Waukegan, to name a few.

The Village of Brookfield is another community using the GRC Framework to organize their sustainability planning and structure the draft document they are creating. Brookfield’s Conservation Commission has been working with Village officials and residents to decide which goals and actions from the GRC Framework should be included in the Village’s sustainability plan. To find out more, read this Riverside-Brookfield Landmark article on the topic.

2023 GRC Communities

In looking back on 2023, we welcome all of the communities who adopted the GRC this year or reported their adoption to us in 2023:

  • Village of Bellwood
  • Village of Bloomingdale
  • Village of Downers Grove
  • DuPage County
  • Village of Elmwood Park
  • Village of Lindenhurst
  • Village of Riverside
  • Village of Sleepy Hollow
  • City of Warrenville
  • City of Wilmington

If your community has not passed a resolution in support of the GRC consensus sustainability goals, then adopt the GRC through municipal resolution and report your community’s adoption to the Caucus.

Kudos to a Rising Star

In looking back on recent GRC news, we would be remiss if we did not mention Jason Sullivan, who received the Rising Star Civic Award from the League of Women Voters of Roselle-Bloomingdale. Among his many accomplishments include advocating for the Village of Roselle to pass the Greenest Region Compact by making public comments to the Village Board. (The Village of Roselle passed the GRC in November of 2022.) To find out more about Jason and the Rising Star Civic Award he received, read this Daily Herald article on the topic.