Although River Forest was not among the 10 municipalities designated All-America Cities by the National Civic League, village officials are proud of being among the 20 finalists.
The announcement of winners was made June 28 at the Civic League’s annual All-America City Conference in Denver. River Forest and 19 other municipalities were named finalists in March.
“This recognition is a testament to the strength of our community and the commitment of our residents, elected officials and staff to build meaningful connections together,” said Village President Cathy Adduci. “Being selected as one of only 20 communities in the nation to share our story was an incredible honor.
“We remain committed to expanding opportunities for engagement and ensuring residents have a voice in shaping the future of River Forest.”
Not only was River Forest the only Illinois municipality selected as a finalist, but it was also the smallest community in terms of population invited to present at the conference. River Forest also had one of the smaller delegations with 11 people compared to other groups with more than 30. The state has only sent two finalists to the competition in recent years, Evanston in 2021 and Peoria in 2013.
The culmination of the three-day event was finalists delivering 10-minute presentations to a panel of 12 judges.
The River Forest delegation was led by Deputy Clerk Luke Masella, who coordinated the village’s presentation. To showcase River Forest’s community engagement approach, the team created an interactive bingo-themed presentation highlighting successful initiatives designed to connect residents with the village and one another. Among the featured programs in the presentation were Neighborhood Dialogues; Casual Conversations with the President; and Senior Bingo & BBQ.
The delegation also included Adduci; Megan Keskitalo, Robert O’Connell and Lisa Gillis, village trustees; Matt Walsh, village administrator; Jack Bielak, director of public works; Jessica Spencer, assistant village administrator; Trish Ivansek, human resource manager; Tom Gaertner, fire chief; and James Greenwood, police chief.
Masala was credited with the bingo presentation idea, but he said he received “big time” assistance from Spencer and Ivansek.
“I knew we had a small delegation compared to other towns so I thought the bingo board may make us stand out,” he said.
The village has critics of its engagement efforts. The current process to consider a new development at Madison and Ashland has drawn unhappy comparisons to the failed development efforts at Lake and Lathrop.
That said, the village made engagement central to its presentation. Seven sessions of the Neighborhood Dialogues were held over four months in 2024. The gatherings were hosted by residents who invited a small group of friends and neighbors to discuss economic development in the village.
Nine Casual Conversations have been held since they were started in May 2024. The gatherings provide an informal opportunity for community engagement that helps to shape the future of River Forest. Community members are invited to attend and receive answers to any questions they may have about village operations and initiatives.
Since the award’s inception in 1949, 500 communities have been recognized for their innovation, collaboration and commitment to civic excellence. The Civic League, which was founded as the National Municipal League in 1894, has typically presented awards to 10 communities annually in recent years. During the event, officials were able to collect ideas from other finalists.
“The National Civic League conference was a great opportunity to meet towns from across the country and learn more about their challenges and solutions,” Keskitalo said. “I am inspired and motivated to bring some of these great ideas back to River Forest.”
Although the endeavor took months of preparation, Adduci said she thinks it was worth it.
“I thought the amount of time and effort we put in was absolutely worthwhile and I am very appreciative of the creativity that our village staff and trustees put into our presentation,” she said. “We were the smallest community by far to be a finalist and we competed among some pretty incredible cities and villages with many more resources, some of which have won this award in the past.”
At the same time, Adduci was noncommittal regarding applying for the award again.
As first-time participants, everything was new to members of the River Forest delegation, but Adduci said she was particularly impressed by several aspects of the three-day conference.
“I admit I was surprised at the level of enthusiasm and turnout of municipal officials, community partners and residents, as well as the entertainment provided through the finalist presentations,” she said, noting that two communities flew mariachi bands into Denver to be part of their presentations.
“A very pleasant surprise was the level of youth engagement by many of the participating communities, much like our village that has involved our youth,” she said, citing the seating of student commissioner on the Sustainability Commission; providing ongoing civic engagement presentations to D90 students; and hosting the Junior Police Academy and Village President for the Day program.