Friends,
2024 marked another year of great accomplishments for Moving Pillsbury Forward and the Pillsbury Project. Functionally, we secured an additional $4M in cleanup and demolition funding, we recycled over 600 tons of materials from the site, and we completed all the necessary government reviews so that large-scale demolition can take place in 2025. In addition, we continued to connect with the community in a variety of ways: community gardening, public presentations, employee stories collection, historic site tours, street art and art exhibits, and one incredibly unique Illinois Symphony concert.
Here are the highlights in brief:
- MPF coordinated 3 Pillsbury Neighborhood cleanups (May, August, November)
- Micro-Pantry partnership averaged 100lbs of food per week (all year)
- MPF volunteers recycled over 100 tons of metal throughout the year (all year)
- Over 100 archival quality photos were taken to document the site (all year)
- Over 100 street art paintings were completed by more than 30 artists (all year)
- 300 lbs. of vegetables were harvested from the community garden(summer)
- Partnered with APL to spay/neuter on site feral cats (February)
- $1M in Community Development Funding awarded from Rep. Budzinski (March)
- 200 people attended the Pillsburied Exhibit opening (March)
- 600 people attended Spring Tours (April)
- 500 tons of brick were recycled at the site (April)
- $2.6M in cleanup grant funding awarded from USEPA (May)
- 1300 employee names were artfully placed on the “Roll Call” wall (May)
- 30% of collected artifacts & documents were recovered from Adams St. fire (June)
- All EPA site review elements were completed (July)
- Over 200 people attended the SAA opening for the Pillsbury Art Exhibit (September)
- All federal HUD review elements were completed (September)
- 300 people attend the Illinois symphony concert in the C-Mill (September)
- Requests for proposals went out to contractors for demolition (November)
The Pillsbury Project is much more than working through the difficult mechanics of demolishing buildings and moving toward redevelopment. The Pillsbury Project is about people coming together, taking control of a tough situation, and improving the quality of life in Springfield.
Thank you! We appreciate everyone being a part of advancing the Pillsbury Project.
Now…let’s be prepared for demolition in 2025!
~ Team Pillsbury