Chinatown Environmental Justice Initiative (CEJI)
We’re a grassroots group of residents and neighbors of the greater Chinatown area that works on urban garden soil contamination and other environmental justice issues, especially as it relates to Chinese and Asian-American communities.
Our mission is to educate and empower residents of the greater Chinatown area to enact change for healthier living and environmental justice through our community-centered projects.
About
Chicago’s Chinatown neighborhood is an economic and cultural hub for Chinese and other Asian communities across the Midwest. But the Greater Chinatown area, along with the southwest side more broadly, has historically been heavily industrial.
In 2017, longtime resident, Kelly Chen, tested her family garden’s soil and found high levels of lead. Chen was concerned that family, friends, and neighbors might also be eating vegetables grown in contaminated soil. Chen later met Andrea Chu, who had been offering a workshop about environmental issues affecting Asian Americans. Together, they began to work on the issue of lead contamination of urban gardens in the Greater Chinatown area, leading to the Chinatown Environmental Justice Initiative.