Meet Sarah Bury
Sarah is a Democratic candidate for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD). Before that, she was a Chicago Public Schools student, an attorney, an environmentalist and an organizer.
She grew up in a home that flooded every time it rained and knows the toll that flooding basements can take on a working class family.
She believes that the government should work for the people, and that means managing taxpayer money responsibly, facilitating public participation and acting transparently and ethically.
She learned environmental values from her father who kept a garden, tracked rainfall, repurposed coffee cans, and crushed and recycled soda cans.
Sarah fell in love with the Chicago River in high school when she worked for a small business called Riverbikes, which operated a pilot program that allowed patrons to ride an upright bike on the river.
Where is Sarah from?
Sarah has lived (green circles) and attended school (blue circles) in a number of Cook County neighborhoods:
When Sarah was born, her family lived in Back of the Yards.
She grew up in Clearing / Garfield Ridge and attended a local Chicago Public School for grade school and Whitney Young High School. She attended Daley College.
As a student at Roosevelt University, Sarah lived in Noble Square and Garfield Ridge before heading off to DC for law and graduate school at American University.
Sarah lived in Oak Lawn and Uptown before choosing Rogers Park as her home.
She has experienced the impact of flooding in many neighborhoods.
A Passion for Water Quality
As a volunteer with Sierra Club’s Chicago Water Team, Sarah researched whether suburban municipalities posted yearly reports as required by their stormwater permits, and she contacted non-compliant municipalities to urge them into compliance. She also tested the water in the Chicago River for phosphorus and dissolved oxygen as part of a testing program. manages waste and storm water, not drinking water or pipe infrastructure.
As Water Issue Specialist of League of Women Voters of Illinois, Sarah tracked water-related legislation in the Illinois General Assembly and informed members about the bills.
As Dale Bryson Water Quality Fellow at the Alliance for the Great Lakes, she drafted letters to governmental agencies about water pollution, compared legal developments around phosphorus across midwestern states, and explored ways to protect the Great Lakes through existing laws and regulations.
As Vice President of the League of Women Voters Lake Michigan Region, Sarah managed outreach and participated in advocacy and educational efforts, including presenting a watershed model to the public to demonstrate how pollution gets into our water. She now serves as Treasurer.
As Secretary of the Loyola Park Advisory Council, Rogers Park's largest lakefront park, Sarah fundraised to support park upkeep and programs.
Well-Qualified to Fight for our Water
Sarah is an attorney. She understands contract language, and the board votes on leases, settlements and other legal agreements.
Sarah earned a joint JD/MA at American University. While in graduate school, Sarah had internships with the City of Chicago’s legal department, the US EPA, the Center for International Environmental Law, and the DOJ. She worked on the International Law Review and the Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief. She also was selected to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties, where she collaborated with nonprofits to work to include environmental principles such as public participation and the common but differentiated responsibilities principle into negotiated text. For her master’s degree writing requirement, she wrote about the impact of gardening on the global fight against climate change.
Though she works in discovery (a pre-trial process on litigation) on corporate matters, she devotes the rest of her time to environmental and other equitable causes.
A Seasoned Organizer
Because Sarah believes in showing up in the way that is needed, she became an organizer.
She has run field operations for Maria Hadden’s aldermanic campaign in the 49th Ward, led field for the Bring Chicago Home ballot campaign (photo at left from that effort), knocked doors for Obama in Virginia, collected signatures alongside former MWRD Commissioner Debra Shore for current MWRD Commissioner Cam Davis, phone banked for Stacy Abrams, text banked for Joe Biden and more.
She also co-managed the ballot access process for Ebony DeBerry’s campaign for Chicago's elected school board and was part of the volunteer management team for Operation Swing State during the Kamala Harris campaign.