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GreenRoots Initiative
The GreenRoots Initiative is a bold, community-driven response to Gary’s environmental legacy and its untapped potential for renewal. Born from a history where industrial manufacturing was placed directly alongside residential neighborhoods, Gary’s landscape still bears the toxic imprint of factories, mill sites, gas stations, and dry cleaners. Many of these sites remain abandoned, contaminated, and misunderstood, posing risks to health, housing, and investment.
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But beneath those risks lies opportunity. GreenRoots is about turning environmental liabilities into community assets. By mapping contaminated sites, training a local workforce, and prioritizing strategic remediation, we can unlock land for safe redevelopment, attract investment, and restore Gary’s role as a regional economic engine.
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GreenRoots Initiative Integration
Brownfields Inventorying
& Mapping
Identify, catalog, and map contaminated and underutilized sites throughout Gary with support from Kansas State University Technical Assistance for Brownfields, Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission, Delta Institute, and the Indiana Brownfields Program.
Workforce Development and Training
Partner with local college, university, and other education partners on an EPA Brownfields Job Training Grant to equip students and residents with skills in site assessment, hazardous materials handling, and ecological restoration.
Cleanup Implementation
Partner with KSU TAB, NIRPC and Indiana Brownfields Program to obtain funding for prioritized site assessments and remediation, and coach local developers and peer CDCs through the technical review and submission process. Pair trained residents with environmental contractors to oversee site remediation projects.
Brownfields Fact Sheets
A brownfield is real property for which redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the potential presence or presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant.
Use this form and checklist to identify potential contaminated sites in your neighborhood.
Many commercial, industrial and even some residential properties may be environmentally contaminated due to past uses at the site.
This is a guide to access and navigate the IDEM's interactive map to find environmental info.
When a community has questions about whether a property is environmentally contaminated, a site assessment is needed.
Unsafe levels of environmental contamination on a brownfield may result from past or current use. The amount of cleanup required depends on how the site will be reused.
Project Partners
