LaQuandra Fair, community engagement coordinator at Growing Home, is a “proud graduate” of the organization’s employment program. The organization has a USDA-certified organic urban farm and progression center at 5814 S. Wood St. in Englewood.
Peyton Reich/Sun-Times
When she became Executive Director of Growing Home, Janelle St. John was shocked to learn that 80% of the food grown at Wood Street Urban Farm in Englewood was not returning to the community.
Instead, produce is shipped from the food-insecure South Side community to the North Side markets of Lincoln Park and Logan Square on the North Side, where grocery retail outlets are more plentiful.
Efforts to keep food in its own network led to a $5 million grant from the city to expand Englewood Farm at 5814 S. Wood St. and include a cafeteria, retail store, and educational and advertising kitchens.
Growing Home is the nonprofit organization that manages Wood Street Urban Farm, the city’s USDA-certified organic farm.
“Over the past several years, we’ve catered to the demand for food as more and more grocery retail establishments in Englewood began to close their doors,” he said.
Growing Home already provides agricultural vocational education to network members, with the goal of hiring 80 people based on the growing season from February to November.
But to supply the grid with more food and opportunities, Wood Street Urban Farm would want to expand to free up space for more cultivation and processing.
“Do we have an idea of how we can find creative tactics to inject food back into the net?How can we better serve our network in terms of food access as we develop our progression program?How can we continue to serve and better meet the demand for food access within our network?So this task is part of that solution,” St. Louis said. John’s. John.
Growing Home has continuously implemented network progression grants over the past two years until it won cash from the city’s new housing and economic progression bond. The bond, approved by the city council in April, will provide $250 million over five years for affordable and affordable housing. Progression projects located mainly in traditionally disinvested neighbourhoods in the west and south.
Hoop Homes stocks new produce at Wood Street Farm and Growing Home, a USDA-certified urban organic farm, progression center, and nonprofit social enterprise in Englewood.
Peyton Reich/Sun-Times
The plan includes a produce processing facility next to the farms, as well as space for shops and kitchens.
The 76,784-square-foot allocation will cost $20 million, but we hope the city’s grant will inspire donors to be more willing to invest,” St. Louis said. John’s. John.
The task will double the capacity of the growth program to 160 more people and allow indoor cultivation in the low season to produce healthy food throughout the year.
Laquandra Fair, Growing Home’s community engagement coordinator, says she’s “proud to graduate” from the organization’s employment program.
“This new construction with the logo is intended to attract more investment to the community, because we deserve wonderful things too,” Fair said.
LaQuandra Fair, the network’s engagement coordinator and self-taught cook, lives Thursday as a visitor at Wood Street Farm, which just won $5 million from the city to expand and create a USDA-certified produce processing facility, retail store, cafeteria and instructional center, advertising kitchens and networked classrooms.
Peyton Reich/Sun-Times
With this expansion, the cooking demonstrations that the Fair organizes for the members of the network can take a position in the user and in the field. The cafeteria will come with meal kits and prepared food to give citizens what other Chicagoans may take for granted: options.
“People have the option of buying ‘worse for their’ salt for 99 cents, or ‘better for their’ pink salt for $4. 99. And Growing Home is an option,” St. John’s. John said.
The fair dreams of new concepts for the farm, such as an orchard where citizens can come to pick seasonal fruit.
“There’s a lot of things that other neighborhoods have available without a hitch, and for them, we’re going to bring them to the south side,” he said.
St. John hopes that the farm can actively contribute to Englewood’s economic progress.
“Growing Home may simply reflect what colleges are in some communities,” St. Louis added. John’s. John. ” This can be a flagship that I need the network to be proud of. I hope it inspires other people to think creatively about how you can create jobs (in Englewood) and not just social services.
The hand-grown and hand-picked flower beds will be on view June 27 at Wood Street Farm and Growing Home, a USDA-certified urban biological farm, progression center and nonprofit social enterprise in Englewood.
Peyton Reich/Sun-Times
Mariah Rush is a reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times through Report for America, a nonprofit journalism program that targets the paper’s policy toward communities in the South and West.
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