Welcome to the Sustain DuPage (WhatsApp) Forum!

Here at Sustain DuPage, we have a looooooot to talk about- so we’re using WhatsApp threads to have these discussions.

Ground Rules

How to Know Who Is A Member of the Leadership Committee/A Core Volunteer in the Threads:

If someone claims to be a member of the Leadership Committee or a Core Volunteer in the WhatsApp threads or text messages your phone number directly, first make sure that that person is listed on our “Our Team” page of the website. All of our Leadership Committee Members and Core Volunteers are listed there.

How to Join

Email us at info@sustaindupage.com and we will save your number in our phone and manually add you to each of the threads you are interested in. (If you don’t have the WhatsApp App on your phone, you will need to download the WhatsApp Desktop App).

Threads You Can Join:

General Threads:

• Introduce Yourself
  • Here is a place where you can introduce yourself to the community. Consider sharing your gender pronouns, which of the 5 focus areas call you the strongest (Food & Garden, Creativity, Rewilding, Policy Reform, Knowledge Share), and anything else you feel is important to share about yourself. (We advise that you don’t share sensitive information on this platform).
• Sustain DuPage Announcements
  • This is the channel that the SD Leadership Committee will make fast announcements in. (Weather cancellations, reminders, etc.)
• Non-Sustain DuPage Announcements
  • This is a place where anyone in the community can post announcements of non-Sustain DuPage events/action opportunities that are happening in the community.
• Rapid Response Alerts
  • This is where we will post alerts for ways you can act fast to help our community. It may be a local government meeting you can attend, a rally, a protest, a property with native plants that is about to be destroyed for development, or other important needs that require support.

Members Only Threads:

• Members-Only Chat
  • A place for SD Members to coordinate with each other and discuss Sustain DuPage.
• Members-Only Opportunities
  • A place for announcing member-only opportunities
• Share to SD Social
  • Upload photos and videos here with a brief description and we can share it to our social media! (Only upload photos of people if you have each person in the photo’s express permission to share a photo of them publicly). Thank you for helping us create content that will excite our community about sustainability!

Food & Garden Hub Threads:

• Community Cooking
  • The Community Cooking project shares traditions by preparing meals from local, seasonal and sustainably grown foods! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/community-cooking
• Compost Crew
  • The Compost Crew are overseeing the composting setup at our garden! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/compost
• Food Security Squad
  • The Food Security Squad project is working toward ensuring that all residents of DuPage County have access to healthy, locally grown, culturally appropriate food. More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/food-security-squad
• Gardeners
  • The SD Garden project is a living classroom for teaching sustainable practices through growing food and gardeners! More info at www.sustaindupage.com/garden
• Grow Out Crew
  • Gardeners growing out seeds of trusted open-pollinated seed sources. Currently, these are largely from Downers Legacy Seed Library (DLSL). The seeds will be distributed equitably between DLSL, Sustain DuPage Seed Cache, and the growers. More info at www.sustaindupage.com/grow-out-crew
• Harvest Crew
  • A group of early birds harvesting the bounty of our garden! More info at www.sustaindupage.com/harvest-crew
• Locally Integrated Food Economy (LIFE) Atlas
  • Forged in 2016 by intern Margo Vesely, the LIFE Atlas is an inventory of DuPage County’s food economy. Within you will find ways to support local growers as well as resources for grow it yourself (GIY). More info at www.sustaindupage.com/life-atlas
• One Seed, One Community!
  • Growing one type of seed together as one community. More info at www.sustaindupage.com/one-seed
• The Plant Database
  • Sustain DuPage is developing relationships with plants from all over the world who grow in our “growing zone” of 5b. This new database is a place where we’d like to start sharing notes and stories of what we are learning as we rebuild these relationships. More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/plant-database
• Seed Cache
  • The Sustain DuPage Seed Cache is a seed storage network that collects and preserves locally grown seeds for use in the Sustain DuPage Garden and affiliate gardens. We collaborate to learn, develop and share seed saving skills and to understand why seed saving is so very important. For more info: www.sustaindupage.com/seed-cache
• Seed Share
  • Receiving and packaging food-producing seeds for redistribution (whether or not they are open pollinated seed sources or not). These seeds are not a focus for seed saving, but just a way to get people growing and using seed that might be wasted otherwise. More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/seed-share

Creativity Hub Threads:

• The Creatives
  • Using art and creativity as a tool for cultural transformation! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/creatives
• Open Mind Events
  • A safe space for DuPage’s community to practice and present art! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/open-mind-events

Rewilding

• Monitoring Wildlife
  • We use the iNaturalist app to help us identify and document the plants, animals, and fungi around us! It also helps scientists collect rich data, which is pretty neat. More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/inaturalist
• Protectors
  • Nurturing our landscape for the benefit and diversity of our native plants and wildlife! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/protectors
• Native Plant Rescue
  • A rapid response team saving and propagating our local native plants! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/native-plant-rescue

Policy Reform Hub Threads:

• Policy Reform Hub threads are hosted on a different platform: Discord. Click here to access.

Knowledge Share Hub Threads:

• DuPage Turners Reading Group
  • A space for discussion about sustainability literature and current events! More info at: www.sustaindupage.com/Turners
• Open Mind Events

We look forward to receiving your email at info@sustaindupage.com with all the threads you are interested in being added to!