This week, Streetsblog Chicago ran my interview with longtime sustainable transportation advocate Center for Neighborhood Technology’s Vice President for Government Affairs Jacky Grimshaw, who happens to be my grandmother. She was being recognized by Climate Action Museum with its 2025 Tom Skilling Lifetime Achievement Award, so we discussed that honor. We also talked about her current mission urging State lawmakers to address Chicagoland's impending $770 million transit budget gap this spring, so as to avoid nightmarish service cuts next year.
On Wednesday evening, Ms. Grimshaw received the award at the 2nd Annual Climate Action Hero Awards, held at The Library event space at 190 South La Salle St. in the Loop. (Climate Action Museum has its own event space at 300 S. Riverside Pl. in the West Loop, but so many people planned to attend the awards celebration that it needed to be moved to a large space.)
Skilling, the popular former local weather prognosticator, could not be there himself due to a prior commitment. So in his place, the role of bestowing Ms. Grimshaw with a symbolic green cape done by her granddaughter (and this reporter’s sister) Chicago Community Trust Impact Coordinator Sophia Bolton.
"Jackie's life is so extraordinary, and I cannot, no person can do it in honor and justice in two or three minutes, but I can tell you a story in three acts," said Climate Action Museum Secretary Doug Farr during the presentation. "Jacky, Act One: girl scout. This lady was a Girl Scout. She loved science. Her godmother took her to a lab and allowed her to do chemical experiments in the lab on the weekend, and she fell in love science. She went to a place, it's called, I think, Milwaukee, WI, Marquette University, and she got a degree in science and worked in science. So science mind, Act One."
"Act Two, policy woman," Farr continued. "She got involved with the craziest group of people before CNT, but helped elect... the first Black mayor, [Harold] Washington. Jacky and her past husband, Bill, were the brains and the muscle to get Harold elected, and without Harold getting elected, there would be no Barack Obama."
"And then number three," Farr concluded. "For all those achievements, that's not why we're giving you the award. You may be a science person, and you may be the best policy person, but since ‘93 Jacky has been the queen of [transit-oriented development] equitable communities at the Center for Neighborhood Technology."
"I am just so grateful to the Climate Action Museum board for selecting me for this honor, the Tom Skilling Lifetime Achievement Award," Ms. Grimshaw said upon receiving her award. During her speech, she drew a parallel between the work that Skilling did as a weather reporter and the work that she does at CNT. "Our staff are researchers, urban planners, environmentalists, and scientists. They use their problem solving skills, pretty much like Tom did, to create solutions to problems in our environment. When the focus is on low- and moderate-income communities, there are more than enough issues to keep us busy, and as a result, we have done much over my 33 years there."
"I must acknowledge the fabulous team of thought leaders that I've worked with at CNT," Ms. Grimshaw added. "I must dedicate this award to all the staff that I've worked with and for me over the years. And you saw some of them put up their hands. Some are a little bit shy, but you know, they're here… I should not name names, because I am sure someone I have not mentioned I left out and just say it's chalked up to my bad memory, not the quality of their assistance. But we are very collaborative."
“Many of the successes we achieved came because of letting the community lead," Ms. Grimshaw noted. "One of the last projects that I worked on came about because of our listening to community developers. This was a lesson of unintended consequences. CNT and [the Metropolitan Planning Council] led the revision of zoning policy boards that allowed for transit oriented development. Our intent was to make housing more plentiful around transit stations, as Doug indicated, a good idea that deep-pocket developers just jumped right on. The result was that community developers could not compete for the best available land, and longterm residents were being pushed out of their neighborhood for high income newcomers."
"Our solution was to develop policies for equitable transit oriented development. Our participation with Elevated Chicago has resulted in implementation through a policy plan and amended zoning ordinance," Ms. Grimshaw concluded. "This is an example of transportation leading to land use and reduced vehicle use for lower impacts on the climate. My work has been... serendipitous. I ended up in places I had not intended to go. Being open to opportunities, needs, and unintended consequences have been my guiding principles. I have proudly talked for too long, so I'll close by again, thanking the museum for their recognition, and thanks to Tom Skilling for being such a role model and making all of us aware of how we are affected by climate change, so thank you."
Sure, I may have a bit of bias here, but I think Ms. Grimshaw's laurels are well-deserved.
Read my recent interview with Ms. Grimshaw here.
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