Dear Neighbors,
I grew up on Sangamon Street and have spent most of my life connected to Park Forest. This is where I went from being a young person benefiting from what our community offered to someone now serving on local boards, commissions, and initiatives that affect the people who live here every day.
Professionally, my career has taken me across healthcare, education, nonprofit leadership, and community development. I’ve worked with organizations including the Alzheimer’s Association and the Chicago Public Education Fund, and today I lead a national healthcare nonprofit focused on bringing institutions, resources, and people together around complex community needs.
At home, I’ve tried to bring that experience directly into the work I do in Park Forest—from serving on the Public Library Board and Youth Commission to building relationships with schools, local organizations, residents, and Village leadership. Those experiences have given me a much deeper understanding of both what makes Park Forest special and the challenges our community is facing.
I’m at a point in my life where I want the experience I’ve gained professionally and locally to have an even greater impact in the place where my own story began.
Vote Joshua Travis for Park Forest Trustee
April 6th, 2027
My Work
1
Creating a Safer Space for Survivors
I reached out and secured a partnership the nonprofit Project Beloved and the Park Forest Police Department to create a trauma-informed room for survivors. The goal was to make an extremely difficult moment feel safer, more private, and more humane. It is an example of how community partnerships can bring meaningful resources into Park Forest without waiting for government to build everything on its own.
2
Bringing Services Into the Library
While serving on the Park Forest Public Library Board, I worked to connect Respond Now with the library so residents could access social services in a place they already know and trust. Libraries can be more than places for books—they can also help connect people with food assistance, housing support, emergency resources, and other services. I want our public institutions to meet residents where they are and help remove barriers to getting assistance.
3
Growing Community from the Ground Up
I helped launch Roots to Grow, a Park Forest-based nonprofit created with my friend Georgia to introduce more young people to community gardening. The organization also focused on raising support for the ongoing care and maintenance of community gardens throughout Park Forest. It combined youth education, neighborhood involvement, and care for one of the Village’s existing community resources.
My Priorities
1
Property Tax Relief and Regional Investment
Park Forest residents are carrying significant costs, and addressing affordability requires looking beyond any one local government body. My focus is on building stronger partnerships with county, state, and regional leaders to pursue additional investment, infrastructure funding, and meaningful forms of property tax relief. I want Park Forest to remain a community where longtime residents can afford to stay and where new investment helps strengthen our tax base over time
2
Education & Opportunity
Every resident should have access to strong educational and economic opportunities, regardless of age or where they are in life. I want Park Forest to work more closely with our schools, library, community organizations, and regional partners to expand youth programming, workforce development, continuing education, and other opportunities for residents. I will also continue advocating for the outside funding and partnerships our schools and community institutions need to serve Park Forest effectively.
3
Connecting Residents to Resources
Local government should help residents understand where to turn and how to navigate the systems that affect their lives. I want to strengthen the connections between Park Forest residents and the public agencies, nonprofit organizations, healthcare providers, educational institutions, and other resources available throughout our region. When an issue requires action outside Village Hall, I believe a Trustee can still help residents identify the right people, make connections, and ensure their concerns are heard.
Getting what we need is
not impossible!
Park Forest families are paying too much, and too many people feel like government keeps asking them for more without fixing the bigger problems. My focus is on bringing local, county, and state leaders together to find real ways to lower the burden on residents, bring new investment into Park Forest, and grow our tax base. I also want to make sure our schools, library, and community groups are connected to more funding and opportunities. And when residents need help, I want local government to help them find answers instead of sending them from office to office.
Property Taxes & Investment
Put Services Before Stipends
When residents are paying more, they should not be watching basic services disappear. I want the Village to examine pausing or reducing Trustee stipends and using those dollars toward restoring direct health and nursing services for residents, with a special focus on seniors. The larger principle israther simple -before elected officials receive more, residents should be able to see what their tax dollars are providing.
Build a Southland Tax Relief Coalition
Property taxes are bigger than Park Forest alone. In fact, the Village itself notes that only about 38% of a typical Park Forest property-tax bill goes to the Village, while roughly 55% goes to school districts. I want residents, neighboring communities, school leaders, county officials, and state lawmakers at the same table—not just talking about appeals, but pushing for relief for longtime homeowners and renters and a larger Southland recovery plan.
Grow the Tax Base, Not Just the Tax Bill
We cannot solve high property taxes by continuing to divide the same bill among the same residents. Park Forest needs more outside investment, stronger commercial development, infrastructure improvements, and strategies that help people stay here while attracting new residents and businesses. The Village's own budget planning already identifies infrastructure, housing, economic development, and regional partnerships as major areas of investment; my focus would be making sure those investments ultimately reduce pressure on residents.
Education & Opportunity
Keep Rich East’s Legacy Alive
Rich East closed in 2020, but the building and what it meant to Park Forest should not simply disappear. District 227 and regional partners have since proposed reusing the site for a career and technical education center, with plans involving trades, technology, public safety, urban agriculture, and other career pathways. As Trustee, I would support finding a productive future for the property while fighting to preserve the history, identity, and memories connected to Rich East rather than treating the site as something that should simply be erased.
Make Park Forest a Classroom
Losing a high school inside our community should not mean losing educational opportunities. Park Forest already has wetlands, parks, community gardens, businesses, civic institutions, volunteer boards, and environmental programs that can become places where young people learn outside a traditional classroom. The Village itself identifies resources including Central Park Wetlands, Thorn Creek Nature Center, community gardens, parks, and other environmental assets throughout Park Forest. I want us working with our schools and community partners to turn those resources into hands-on learning, mentorship, civic education, career exposure, and real-world experience.
Stop Passing the Buck
When residents raise concerns about education, the answer from Village leadership should not simply be, “Talk to the school board.” Trustees represent the same families paying the bills and living with the results. I want Park Forest leaders bringing school districts, neighboring municipalities, county officials, residents, and state lawmakers together to address both sides of the problem: what families are paying and whether schools are receiving the state resources needed to educate our children. Park Forest should have a voice in those conversations and use it.
Connecting Residents to Resources
One Problem Should Not Mean Ten Phone Calls
Residents should not have to become experts in government just to get help. Whether someone needs help with housing, food, healthcare, senior services, transportation, education, or another issue, Village leadership should be able to help identify where that resource exists. My approach has always been: I am not simply going to tell you who to call; we will figure out where to go together.
Bring the Resources Into Park Forest
Not every service has to be created or paid for entirely by the Village. I want Park Forest to build stronger partnerships with hospitals, nonprofits, colleges, county agencies, social-service organizations, and other groups that already have programs and funding available. I have already used this kind of approach through efforts involving trauma-support resources and bringing additional services into the library; I want to apply it more broadly across the Village.
Let Residents Help Set the Agenda
Government should not decide what people need without hearing from them. I want more opportunities for residents, seniors, young people, neighborhood groups, and local organizations to identify problems and participate in developing solutions. That means taking what we hear locally and carrying those needs with us when we meet with county, state, regional, and private-sector partners.
