This complex includes public schools within its borders, and the Housing Authority has maintenance staff, on-site social services, and medical facilities for residents.

[3] Altgeld Gardens was nicknamed Chicago's 'toxic donut' due to having the highest concentration of hazardous waste sites in the United States.

There were 50 landfills and 382 industrial facilities surrounding the area, including the Acme Steel plant and the Pullman factory, with many of the sites unregulated.

Toxicology studies revealed high and dangerous levels of lead, mercury, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, and xylene.

[5] The residents of Maryland Manor were paying city taxes for 25 years for contaminated water extracted from wells where a film of chemicals such as cyanide floated on top.

[5] In 1980, the People for Community Recovery organized a grassroots campaign in the project to advocate for the removal of fiberglass and asbestos insulation from the complex flats.

[3] Former US President Barack Obama participated in this campaign during his early years as a local community organizer and wrote about his experience in Dreams From My Father.

[5] The organization also trained Chicago Housing Authority workers focusing on the Altgeld Gardens' development on environmental lead dust reduction during the apartment's renovation period in 2002.

[7] Numerous manufacturing plants, steel mills, landfills, and waste dumps border the 190 acre Altgeld Gardens site.

The residents have a growing concern about the number of deaths annually from cancer and other diseases that may be related to environmental hazards of their industrial neighborhood.

For example, the organization started programs and workshops to teach community members on lead poisoning prevention to share with their friends and neighbors.

[6] In May 2018, the Chicago Housing Authority signed a $145,000 contract to develop and implement a solar and energy efficiency training curriculum for residents to promote entrepreneurship and self-sufficiency.

[6] Programs aimed to clean up regional pollution such as Lake Michigan bordering Chicago would lose an estimated $427 million for spending.

[16] The goals are to: However, experts on childhood lead exposure point out the Plan's failure to fully commit to the elimination of lead poisoning, provide concrete timelines, improve federal standards and regulations to speed up intervention times, specify which environmental groups and public health advocates they will gather input from, and specify where the funding comes from [17] In fact, the word "eliminate" fails to appear in the action plan report compared to the task force's 2016 report, which included primary prevention, environmental justice, and the elimination of lead poisoning.