Olga Bautista
Member
Olga Bautista is the Co-Executive Director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force and the eldest daughter of immigrants from Mexico. She has dedicated her career to improving the quality of life on Chicago’s Southeast Side. With decades of community organizing experience, she has emerged as a leading advocate, facilitator, and thought leader. Bautista has mentored youth through the girls’ organization Rebel Bells and served as the Community Leadership Director for Our City Our Voice, a civic engagement group focused on increasing local governance participation. She also led community engagement for the Participatory Budgeting Project and is trained in Restorative Justice Conflict Resolution.
Before joining the Southeast Environmental Task Force, Bautista served as the Community Planning Manager for the Alliance for the Great Lakes, where she worked on comprehensive planning efforts to protect and preserve local waterways. She has also served as a Local School Council parent representative at John L. Marsh School and worked as a Crisis Intervention Specialist for the YWCA, where she provided critical support to survivors of sexual violence. As a State Recruiter for the Illinois Migrant Education Program, she worked closely with agricultural migrant workers in Illinois, supporting those engaged in essential work on farms.
In her current role at the Southeast Environmental Task Force, Bautista has been at the forefront of the fight for environmental justice, notably in the battle against General Iron, advocating against the concentration of polluters in Black and Brown neighborhoods. She is equally passionate about ensuring safe, well-funded, and safe schools for students and teachers through her work on the Green New Schools initiative. As the mother of two Chicago Public Schools students, she brings a deep personal commitment to these causes.