Ms. Peggy Salazar
Executive Director
Southeast Environmental Task Force
Peggy Salazar is a lifelong resident of Southeast Chicago. Growing up across the street from US Steel, she became accustomed to and accepting of the daily grit and grime associated with the steel industry. .Venturing outside of her neighbourhood as she became older afforded her the awareness that all neighbourhoods neither looked nor smelled like hers.. But family and community ties kept her on the Southside.
Married with two children, her husband lost his job when the US Steel shuttered its facility for good. Having just bought the house she currently lives in, all seemed bleak for a moment. But then the realization that the community had a chance to be reborn and transformed into a healthier, cleaner, more desirable place to live was hopeful.
When the Southeast side neighbourhood she moved into didn’t get any cleaner after the closing of the nearby mills, it became apparent that the source of the dirt and grime blanketing her community had not been only from the steel industry, and instead from all the industry remaining along the Calumet river.
When she had the opportunity to join the Board of Directors of the South East Environmental Task Force in 2005, she did so with the intent to eliminate or reduce the amount of pollution in the area and to help usher in the change for a better community. . Since then, she has been an active participant in the governance of the organization. Peggy was asked to serve as the Executive Director in 2010. Peggy's ties to the community and her passion for environmental advocacy and awareness have helped the Task Force carry out its mission to improve the quality of life for all residents on Chicago's Southeast Side.
