Hero image credit: RainReady Robbins
On April 27, 2026, the American Planning Association Sustainable Communities Division (APA SCD) recognized the Robbins Heritage Trail Plan with its Quality of Life Award at the APA National Planning Conference in Detroit — the only Illinois winner among six national honorees.
As Chicagoland's oldest majority Black-led suburb, Robbins is home to the first Black-owned airport and flight school in the country, and 10 Tuskegee Airmen called it home. It's also a community that has faced chronic flooding and decades of disinvestment, with many of its historic sites sitting unmarked and in disrepair.
The Heritage Trail Plan was co-developed by Greenprint Partners and driven by the RainReady Robbins Steering Committee, a dedicated group of residents who've been organizing around flooding and neighborhood revitalization since 2016 through the RainReady Calumet Corridor initiative. In line with RainReady Robbins vision, the Plan identifies infrastructure and placemaking strategies and maps a trail connecting historic sites in the Village to the African American Heritage Water Trail along the Little Calumet River.
The Plan is implementation-ready. The Committee voted to prioritize two sites for early action: improvements to the Robbins Metra Station (where a Military Veterans Memorial Garden honoring the Tuskegee Airmen is proposed) and an ADA-accessible boat launch at South Woodlawn Avenue that would create Robbins' first connection to the water trail. Both conceptual designs are complete. What's needed now is funding and partners to build them.
Greenprint is honored that the Plan was recognized; our hope is that this award will help highlight the important work the Robbins community has advanced for years, growing the network of partners and supporters of this work.
