Cheryl Johnson

Cheryl Johnson is a long-time residents of Altgeld Gardens a public housing development located on the far south side of Chicago. She is a mother of two, grandmother of one. Ms. Johnson is the daughter of the late Hazel Johnson, “Mother of Environmental Justice,” who founded People for Community Recovery over 42 years ago and now Cheryl has taken the reign to continue to fight for environmental justice and equality in Chicago. Cheryl has been with PCR for the past thirty-three years as an administrative assistance to project manager and now the executive director of PCR. Ms. Johnson is a strong advocate like her mom on urban environmental pollution and its negative impacts on human health. She believes the climate change is real like her mother stated two decades ago that if America does not change its practices of damaging our ozone layers and emitting toxins into our air, we will see a change in our weather patterns. Today’s her statement is true and we call it climate change!

Ms. Johnson has various training experiences and holds many certificates that are environmental related to help assist her in educating her community. Ms. Johnson has co-written several journal articles on environmental health and risk factors, she’s a passion speaker about environmental justice issues and the injustices associated with it. Ms. Johnson belongs to several organizations that address environment, health, housing, and safety issues. In 2012 former Governor Pat Quinn appointed Ms. Johnson as one of the 12 members of the Illinois Environmental Justice Commission and 2017 became a member of the National Environmental Justice Council of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Ms. Johnson received several awards and recognitions for the work she has done on environment and housing related issues.