People For Community Recovery - Chicago

What People For Community Recovery - Chicago does

People for Community Recovery (PCR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1979 by Hazel Johnson in Chicago's Altgeld Gardens community on the city's far South Side. The organization serves residents of environmental justice communities — disproportionately Black and low-income neighborhoods surrounding the Lake Calumet Industrial Area, which PCR founder Hazel Johnson labeled the 'toxic donut' due to its concentration of landfills, industrial facilities, and polluted waterways. PCR operates as a community-led grassroots organization delivering an integrated portfolio of programs: direct community organizing and mutual aid; policy advocacy at city, state, and federal levels; solar and clean energy job training (including a curriculum adopted by Chicago Housing Authority with IBEW); environmental health research partnerships (e.g., University of Chicago community ambassador program enrolling 800+ residents in health studies); citizen science air monitoring (Shared Air/Shared Action); toxic tours of industrial sites; and workforce development in environmental remediation.

The organization has no proprietary technology stack; its 'product surface' is its program portfolio and convening power rather than software or AI systems. PCR's business model is a diversified nonprofit revenue stack combining individual donations, foundation grants (JPB Foundation, Tides Foundation, Energy Foundation, Conant Family Foundation, Crossroads Fund, Windward Fund, and others), government contracts (EPA EJ Small Grants, Illinois Solar for All, Healthy Chicago Equity Zone Initiative, Justice 40 Initiative), and nominal fees for toxic tours ($50/individual, $750/group). Its go-to-market is community-led organizing and coalition-based advocacy rather than commercial sales. A 9-person staff executes operations, with Executive Director Cheryl Johnson — Hazel Johnson's daughter — leading the organization since 2011. The organization is currently developing the Hazel M. Johnson Institute for Sustainability and Environmental Justice in the historic C Building at Altgeld Gardens, acquired from Chicago Public Schools in August 2024.

Name

People For Community Recovery - Chicago

Legal name

People for Community Recovery

Website

https://peopleforcommunityrecovery.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1979

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

People for Community Recovery is a 45-year-old Chicago nonprofit environmental justice organization serving far South Side communities through community organizing, policy advocacy, clean energy job training, and direct services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Environmental Justice Community Advocacy Services

NAICS

Human Rights Organizations (813311), Social Advocacy Organizations (8133), Other Individual and Family Services (624190)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental Justice & Community Environmental Health (BPAGAGAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

Affordable Housing & Community Development (Housing, Community Land Trusts) (BPAGALAC), Community Development & Neighborhood Revitalization (CDBG, Place-Based Initiatives) (BPAIANAE), Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

Keywords

• Environmental justice advocacy
• Community organizing services
• Clean energy access
• Policy advocacy services
• Community health education

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Donations: Individual donors contribute tax-deductible gifts to support PCR's environmental justice work. Donations help meet emerging community needs and provide flexibility to organize around pressing issues.
2. Foundation and Grant Funding: PCR receives support from foundations including Chicago Frontlines Funding Initiative, Conant Family Foundation, Crossroads Fund, Energy Foundation, JPB Foundation, Tides Foundation, Windward Fund, and others for environmental justice programming.
3. Government Contracts: PCR receives some government contracts, including EPA EJ Small Grants Program, Illinois Solar for All, Healthy Chicago Equity Zone Initiative, and Justice 40 Initiative.
4. Fees for Services: PCR charges nominal fees for toxic tours of the Lake Calumet Industrial Area: $50/individual or $750/group for management time and services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

People for Community Recovery is a community-based nonprofit that organizes residents and advocates for environmental justice on Chicago's far South Side. Its core offerings are direct community services (utility bill assistance, housing/tenant support, mutual aid), grassroots organizing campaigns, policy advocacy (cumulative impacts, clean energy, just transition), environmental education (toxic tours), and workforce training (solar installation) targeted at residents of environmental justice communities such as Altgeld Gardens.

Product overview

People for Community Recovery (PCR) is a community-based nonprofit organization (not a technology product company) offering a portfolio of environmental justice programs and services focused on Chicago's far South Side. The organization's offerings include community education programs (Help This Garden Grow podcast, Toxic Tours, 17 Principles of Environmental Justice), direct service programs (Community and Neighborhood Aid, Health Recovery and Mutual Aid), workforce development (Solar Job Training, Solar on the Southside), environmental monitoring (Shared Air/Shared Action), and policy advocacy (Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, Ready for 100 Chicago, Cumulative Impacts Ordinance). PCR also operates the Historic Health Study partnership with University of Chicago and is developing the Hazel M. Johnson Institute for Sustainability and Environmental Justice as a community resilience hub. These programs collectively form an integrated approach to environmental justice organizing rather than a unified software product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Toxic Tours of the Lake Calumet Industrial Area

Quantifiable outcome

• Secured $50 million in additional funding for low-income energy efficiency programs through ComEd negotiations
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• Illinois Commerce CommissioncoreOthers · 1 January 2021PCR participated in months-long negotiations with Illinois utility companies over their 4-year plans - first time in state history that environmental justice groups participated in such negotiations. ICC approved plans with significantly expanded low-income program budgets.
• City of Chicago Decarbonization Task Force and Environmental Equity Working GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2021In 2021, PCR was invited to join Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decarbonization task force and Environmental Equity Working Group to advise on transitioning municipal buildings to clean energy.
• Ready for 100 CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019PCR served on the leadership team for the Ready for 100 Coalition, which created a successful campaign to move Chicago toward a 100% clean energy future. Coalition achieved city council passage of resolution to power all Chicago buildings with clean energy by 2035.
• 17 Principles of Environmental Justice MovementcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1991At the 1991 National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit, Hazel Johnson worked with peers to create the 17 Principles of Environmental Justice, a foundational guidepost still used by organizers globally.
• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to train residents in solar installation. PCR developed solar training curriculum for Chicago Housing Authority and partnered with IBEW to train 25 residents in solar installation, helping them access Illinois' growing clean energy economy.
• Coalition of Black Trade UnionistscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for health and safety training programs. Partnered with Coalition of Black Trade Unionists and International Chemical Workers for Health and Safety Training Center to train 624 local residents in HAZWOPER, OSHA Safety and Mold Remediation certifications.
• Chicago Housing AuthoritycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for solar programs in public housing. PCR developed solar training curriculum for CHA and worked to ensure CHA commits to investing in solar arrays in Altgeld Gardens and other public housing communities. CHA also partnered on REAL lead education project.
• Energy Efficiency for All CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCR serves as state lead of the Illinois Energy Efficiency for All Coalition, guiding policy and implementation to hold utility companies, elected officials, and businesses accountable to equitably expanding energy efficiency and building decarbonization for low-income residents.
• Citizens United to Reclaim the Environment (CURE)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCR helped form CURE, a coalition of five grassroots groups from Chicago's southeast side. The coalition took direct action in 1987 to block a new landfill opening, resulting in 17 arrests and a moratorium on additional sites.
• University of Chicago ResearcherscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership to recruit and train community ambassadors for health studies. PCR worked with UChicago researchers to train 15 community ambassadors who enrolled more than 800 residents in health studies.
• Respair Production & MediasecondaryGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-presenter of Help This Garden Grow podcast documentary series telling Hazel Johnson's story and PCR's environmental justice work.
• ElevatesecondaryGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-presenter of Help This Garden Grow podcast documentary series. Elevate also partners on Income-Eligible Multifamily Savings Program and Public Housing Energy Savings Program.
• ComEdcoreOthersPartnership for energy efficiency programs. PCR negotiated with ComEd over their four-year energy plan, securing $50 million in additional funding for low-income energy efficiency programs. ComEd also sponsors PCR's annual Hazel Johnson EJ Awards.
• Goethe InstitutesecondaryGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership for CHEMICAL (RE)ACTIONS: On Environmental Struggles in Chicago project. Collaborated to create virtual tour of Lake Calumet Industrial Area called 'The Tactical Gardens.'
• Healthy Chicago Equity Zone InitiativecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPCR participates in the Healthy Chicago Equity Zones initiative, bringing resources and recovery to Chicago's Black and brown communities impacted by COVID-19 and environmental health disparities.
• Southeast Environmental Task ForcecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in civil rights complaint against HUD and coalition work on cumulative impacts ordinance, environmental justice advocacy, and Southeast Side environmental protection.
• Illinois Solar for AllcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIllinois program that lowers low-income residents' utility bills by providing assistance in installing and powering homes with solar power. PCR connects residents to this program.
• Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County (CEDA)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for utility bill assistance. For more than a decade, PCR served as community site in partnership with CEDA helping thousands of residents access financial assistance with light and gas bills.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Regional players

• Elevate: Chicago-based nonprofit focused on energy efficiency, building decarbonization, and clean energy access for low-income households. Regional peer: partner and co-presenter of PCR's podcast, co-implements Income-Eligible Multifamily Savings Program and Public Housing Energy Savings Program, similar geographic focus on Chicago EJ communities.

Direct peers

• UPROSE: Brooklyn-based EJ and youth development organization serving Sunset Park's Latino and immigrant community. Direct comparable to PCR: comparable community-led organizing, focus on industrial pollution and cumulative impacts, youth and workforce programming, and federal EJ grant relationships.
• East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice: Long Beach, California-based EJ organization serving communities adjacent to the I-710 freeway and Port of Los Angeles. Directly comparable to PCR in addressing cumulative impacts from multiple pollution sources in low-income communities of color with a community-organizing-plus-policy model.
• WE ACT for Environmental Justice: West Harlem-based environmental justice organization founded in 1988, one of the most established community-based EJ groups in the U.S. Direct comparable to PCR: comparable era, similar community-organizing-plus-policy-advocacy model, comparable focus on cumulative impacts, air quality, and EJ for low-income Black and Brown communities.
• Ironbound Community Corporation: Newark, NJ-based community development and environmental justice organization serving the Ironbound neighborhood, a heavily industrialized area near port and airport facilities. Directly comparable to PCR in community-organizing-plus-policy model addressing industrial pollution in low-income communities of color.
• Deep South Center for Environmental Justice: New Orleans-based EJ nonprofit serving the Gulf Coast's fenceline communities, founded in 1992 after the Cancer Alley movement. Directly comparable to PCR: similar grassroots organizing model, workforce training programs (including HAZWOPER), policy advocacy, and focus on Black communities disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution.
• Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice (CCAEJ): Riverside, California-based EJ organization founded in 1982, serving predominantly Latino fenceline communities. Direct comparable to PCR: parallel era, community organizing, policy advocacy, base-building model, and focus on cumulative impacts in heavily polluted communities.
• Southeast Environmental Task Force: Chicago-based EJ organization serving the Southeast Side of Chicago, working on industrial pollution, cumulative impacts, and HUD civil rights complaint issues. Most direct local peer to PCR: same city, parallel geography, co-litigant on the HUD civil rights complaint, and very similar organizational model.

Emerging players

• Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ): Mississippi-based EJ organization founded by Dr. Robert Bullard focusing on rural and small-town EJ issues. Comparable to PCR as a Black-led EJ organization with policy advocacy and community organizing; differs by serving rural communities rather than urban ones.

Broad incumbents

• Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC): National environmental advocacy organization with major EJ program and co-sponsor of PCR's annual Hazel Johnson EJ Awards. Broad incumbent: operates across environmental issues at national scale, with EJ as one program area; overlaps with PCR through EJ movement leadership and policy advocacy.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/pcrchi
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCRaOCOC3FoC-RflH_1LxtbA
• Facebookfacebook.com/PCRChicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/pcrchi
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pcrchi

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about People For Community Recovery - Chicago