Friends of the Chicago River welcomed a delegation from Chicago’s sister city of Warsaw led for a memorable cultural exchange, river exploration, and conversations about the important role rivers play in healthy, resilient cities.

The group visited the Lathrop Homes riverfront, which opened in 2019, to discuss design and management best practices and other lessons learned from this relatively recent, but well-established river edge landscape.

Since 1996, the CRSN has connected more than 650,000 students and 2,000 teachers with the river system through hands-on learning, science experiments, and field trips to the river.

Throughout the evening, we’ll recognize outstanding members of our river community with our annual River Commitment Awards.

The polystyrene ban supports Friends’ Litter Free Chicago-Calumet River program and efforts to reduce the waste stream to reduce litter in and along the river which harms people and wildlife.

On a river cruise with SOCAP 2026, members of Friends’ leadership team shared a series of stories highlighting the many years of effort, community partnerships, public policy and planning outcomes, and strategic leadership that resulted in a river clean enough for swimming.

Join Friends and its partners for lunch and a discussion about what the project has uncovered, what opportunities lie ahead, and to share your perspective to inform the ongoing effort to shape the future of what we hope will be renamed the Illinois Prairie Canal.

Chicago is one step closer to reducing plastic pollution.

Friends of the Chicago River and the Illinois Environmental Council hosted "Civics for Water Advocates: From Local Water Challenges to Federal Action" bringing water advocates together to learn how federal policies and investments shape water priorities in Chicago and across Illinois.

Investments like this are essential to meeting increasingly stringent water quality standards and advancing a vision for a river system that supports people, water, and wildlife.