Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:The Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens sit at the intersection of the city's Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The primary area served by the project is the immediate community surrounding the Farm and Gardens. Englewood is a 6 square-mile area on Chicago's Southside with a population of 30,654 people (2010 Census), primarily working-class and low-income households, and many vacant parcels of land and vacated businesses. Greater Grand Crossing, which is located immediately east of Englewood, is a 3.55 square mile community area with a population of 32,602 people (2010 Census). The immediate E2L neighborhood is the region bounded by 69th, State, 76th, and Normal Ave. The primary activities of this proposal serve residents of this 63 block region. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the census tract area (population of 2,191 individuals) surrounding the E2L site is low income; the estimated median family income is $12,808, compared to the Chicago area median income of $43,628 (2010 Census). The area is 99.22% minority, primarily African American/Black. During the fours years of the grant, the project worked closely with neighborhood organizations: Margaret's Village (operating a senior center and a shelter for women and children), Wentworth Havens Homes (assisted living residences for seniors and adults with physical disabilities), and Envision Unlimited (day jobs readiness program for adults with cognitive and learning disabilities); with schools: Harvard School of Excellence, Paul Robeson High School, and Southside Occupational Academy (high school for students with cognitive and learning disabilities); and with hundreds of adults and youth, both neighbors and community service volunteers. Changes/Problems:In past years' REEports, we described primary problems and challenges we encountered and our approaches to them. They can be categorized as: GROWING SITES Production challenges caused by the Farm's design, compacted compost, and broken water system were significant during the first two years but largely improved since then. The perimeter berms are a challenge from the standpoint of managing weedy overgrowth and cultivating diverse desired plants. They also prevent easy access for delivering equipment, supplies, or new growing medium. Lacking access to any water from November to April (other than in tanks in the hoop house) will be an ongoing issue, particularly for washing harvest for market. We saw some vandalism each season and closed off access points, but ultimately the Farm and its structures are very vulnerable. The Gardens are similar to growing sites in most urban settings. Neighboring properties are vacant and/or lack maintenance. Both have open access, and many people who don't help to grow the food come to pick it. However, no one has intentionally destroyed crops or significantly vandalized structures in all the seasons that each Garden has been operating (9 at Princeton and 5 at Vincennes). To get water to both Gardens requires multiple lengths of hoses to spigots hundreds of feet away. INFRASTRUCTURE The lack of permanent, year-round program space in the immediate vicinity of the Incubator Farm and Princeton Learning Garden remains a major problem that significantly compromises project capacity and limits overall impact. We were unable to establish an independent location near the Farm and Gardens for secure and climate-controlled storage of produce and growing supplies, a place to change clothes and do administrative tasks, or just get out of the weather and use a real bathroom. Staff and farmers continue to improvise for meetings and work at McDonald's or out of cars, constraining activities around these limitations. This is also a challenge for staff retention, a primary reason for turn-over among the support staff for the Eat to Live project. Beyond logistical challenges, our sites and community relationships would benefit from the stability of a full-time long-term home base in the neighborhood, a more sustained and grounded presence. In 2017, we retained an architecture firm to draw a post-renovation rendering of the vacant house next to the Princeton Garden, for us to use to attract support. To date, the City hasn't reduced or removed costly liens on the property. We met several times with the developer who owns the house, but he did not take steps required to transfer it to the Cook County Land Bank Authority. In the meantime, the Learning Center took on other property liability and obligations so has less capacity for additional real estate and renovation costs. Other nearby entities have limited access and/or had even less capacity to accommodate us and others. We continue to seek stable, mutual partnerships with a higher-capacity organization or institution in the vicinity of the E2L sites. Again, we see the potential for the new STEM high school on the former Paul Robeson High School campus to serve this purpose. INDIVIDUAL CHALLENGES Urban farming remains a risky proposition for anyone, and especially for people with few resources of their own or in their families. As an Incubator, Eat to Live has been able to provide some support, but not the income of a full-time job, or a substitute worker (or parent) in case of life emergencies. Our farmers tend their crops and manage markets, tools, vehicles, administration, and all the other aspects of urban farm enterprises while also carrying additional jobs and attending to the demands of personal health, family, and life beyond the farm business. They have few options when things go wrong or urgent needs to take precedence. This reality is one reason that relatively few low-income and neighborhood area residents have shown interest in starting a small farm or food businesses. E2L neighbors and volunteers mirror our farmers in terms of juggling their multiple life challenges and obligations in the context of insufficient resources, which also prevents them from spending as much time and energy as they might like in the Gardens or learning about healthy food and trying to improve their neighborhood food system. COMMUNITY & BROADER CONTEXT The neighborhood around the Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens was struggling with poverty, a depleted and disinvested economy, and pockets of gang activity and violence before and during (and continuing after) the grant period. Several more schools and stores closed, and church populations shrank and aged further. The neighborhood and economic context have their impact on neighbors' sense of safety and optimism, on people's availability and motivation to participate, and on ease of communication and outreach. We did our best to take programs and informational resources to locations where people live and gather, but the Farm and Gardens require people to go to them and engage with activities at those sites. Our Alternative Market Project provides a good sense of the community context for the project. Three owners of "corner" store businesses in the immediate neighborhood of the E2L Farm & Gardens were interested in support to increase their supply of fresh produce. With each store manager, we discussed arrangements by which we would source and stock fresh produce, while they would provide the cash register, EBT machine, and space to display and hold produce. The first had little extra space but was motivated and enthusiastic about design options for stocking them. The second was just launching a small shop with food and other items. The third had been in business for more than 15 years in that location and had extra space in his store where he had previously served prepared foods, but he had scaled back for economic reasons and had little extra staff assistance. None of the owners sustained their business through the end of the grant period. The first sold her store after several robberies to a nephew who didn't want to stock produce. The second owner closed after failing to obtain approval to take SNAP and WIC payments. The third was willing for us to staff a table outside the store, but didn't want to host or display produce indoors or during the winter. He was shot (not killed) during a robbery in summer 2019 and closed the store. Since the goal of the AMP was to ensure access to fresh produce year-round, we curtailed it while seeking potential partners in the forms of small stores, schools, and churches in the area. In summer 2017, we met the program outreach assistant for an African physician who was developing a healthy food class for his patients. We asked if his clinic could serve as a site for the AMP, but facility management did not want fresh produce in the building. In summer 2018, a new church minister started a weekly community supper. They considered ways to incorporate a produce market but decided their church membership was too small. In early 2019, we met with the principal of the new Englewood STEM High School that opened in September with its first class of freshmen. It will focus on science-based careers and also have a community-based health center in the building. He was intrigued by the prospect of opportunities through the E2L Farm and Gardens and associated programs, possibly including a store in the school. The principal asked to revisit those ideas after the first school year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Over the grant period, we held 93 custom programs or educational training to expose project participants to principles of biointensive gardening and urban farming, local food and neighborhood food systems, and urban ecology. We assisted the farmers for the Incubator Farm in finding and negotiating business insurance, typically difficult for urban farm enterprises. We provided one-on-one technical assistance to Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales of Cedillo's Fresh Produce and assisted them in identifying and attending other training opportunities. Over the four years, we hosted youth and adults in the Gardens and at the Incubator Farm to work on food production and site management as hands-on learning experiences throughout the growing season from mid-April through mid-November, weekdays and weekends. Some came as individuals and others with groups; some came to learn about healthy food and urban agriculture, and others were part of job readiness programs, day programs, or community service teams. A few people each year came multiple times during the course of the season and increased their skills and their ability to work more independently. Through these sessions, we also met Garden leaders whom we hired as part-time staff. Though some groups came many times, their participants had cognitive barriers that prevented them from learning to work without significant supervision. We delivered Garden produce, and offered cooking and basic gardening workshops to area seniors and shelter residents, but none of them ended up coming to help in the Gardens. However, they took walks there, read Little Free Library books to their children, or harvested produce to take home and cook. As the grant period began, we were offering programs for Harvard Elementary School's science club on that school's campus a few blocks south of the Vincennes Garden, but they lacked teacher and staff capacity to continue or to bring kids to the Gardens. We hosted some teens in the Gardens from Paul Robeson High School a couple of blocks north of the Princeton Garden, for community service during the school year and through the Green Corps youth summer jobs program based there for two summers. However, the high school was already in its final years, closing down whole wings of the building and reducing any extra activity. As its student and teacher population dwindled, they also stopped hosting Green Corps or any after school programs. With scant teacher/staff capacity to extend activity beyond the school, we set up a resource room in the building in fall 2016 to try to engage students and parents there. Among these, we developed a 4-session program to help people get the ServSafe certificate required for all entry-level food service jobs in Illinois. The high school closed without convening a group to pilot that program. In summer 2018, two other schools requested our technical assistance setting up farms on their campuses, but neither proceeded after we submitted basic outlines. During the 5-6 colder months each year, we held community education sessions with seniors through the Vincennes Senior Center, shelter residents at the Maria Shelter, and seniors at Wentworth Haven Homes (WHH). We had originally met all of them while providing delivery of free fresh produce from the Learning Gardens during the growing season. The group at WHH was most receptive and regularly turned out an audience, so after the first two years of the grant, we focused our community education there. Their service coordinator also emphasizes health, nutrition, and exercise, and took a particular interest in supporting our workshops with outreach and reminders. She also attended the produce delivery days and workshops. Topics included basic gardening, but their interest was primarily to learn to cook while preserving the nutrients in healthy foods, and recipes that introduced them to new foods and new ways of preparing familiar foods. For instance, salads using raw or lightly steamed kale and collard greens, flavoring with herbs and spices rather than meat and salt, and dishes based on Mexican and Asian recipes. Among other things, we made tamales, veggie wraps with collard leaves, zucchini oatmeal, and coconut curry soup. They all reported liking foods they had been afraid to try and continued to make those dishes on their own after the workshops. We participated each year in community outreach events sponsored by Margaret's Village and Grow Greater Englewood, staffing a table with recipe samples and program information. Our market outreach events are described under Goal 3. Beyond the Eat to Live neighborhood, we organized and/or participated in citywide urban agriculture events with hundreds of participants. These include several with a focus on good practices for keeping backyard chickens and other farmed animals (bees, ducks, goats) in residential spaces: the annual Urban Livestock Expo (ULE) in February, "Raise Your Own" section of the Good Food Expo in March, and the Windy City Coop and EcoYard Tour in September. We were founders of the ULE in 2013, as a gathering where people could get basic guidance and meet resource providers. We launched the Coop Tour in 2010 as a weekend event. Visitors make their own itinerary from that year's Tour map and site information online. During nine Coop Tours, a total of 108 different hosts in 36 of Chicago's 50 wards have opened their yards for public visitors to view and ask questions. Throughout the grant period, our Program Director and Farm Manager served as a Board member of Chicago's Advocates for Urban Agriculture and chaired its Advocacy Committee. Primary activities included advising and research on city policy about backyard livestock animals, urban farm business licenses, and residential plantings. She also led AUA's Ward Ambassadors project to increase civic engagement in Chicago's urban agriculture network. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?We have shared information about the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens through local conferences and stakeholder meetings, including the Good Food Festival and our Incubator Farm Site Groundbreaking Ceremony. In addition, we publicized the result of the project through our organization's communication platforms, including social media accounts and our website blog. In E2L's target community, the primary form of communication is to passersby either by speaking directly with staff or seeing program information posted on the kiosk signboards we erected in front of each Learning Garden. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Through Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens project, Angelic Organics Learning Center provided urban agriculture and community education programs that helped 1343 neighbors, launched the E2L Incubator Farm, and maintained two Community Learning Gardens. During the grant period, we grew and distributed 11,424 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce. We held 353 events including hands-on custom gardening and cooking programs, volunteer service days, and activities at our growing sites and community partners' locations. Over the course of the four years of the grant, we developed two productive quarter-acre Community Learning Gardens, each with approximately 4000 square feet of space for growing vegetables in beds of compost laid on the soil surface. Each Garden also has a Little Free Library and an information sign-board kiosk for community outreach and education. The Vincennes Learning Garden is on vacant land owned by organizational partner, Margaret's Village. The Princeton Learning Garden is on city-owned land and serves as a community engagement arm of the Eat to Live Incubator Farm. The Incubator Farm's property ownership was transferred to the NeighborSpace open space land trust in spring 2017. In summer 2015, the City of Chicago built out the Incubator Farm space with 4 gravel-lined plots surrounded by clay berms, a paved parking area, potable water spigot, and perimeter fencing. The Farm's four 30x56 square foot growing plots are surrounded by gravel and clay berms topped with a dense skin of high-clay soil. In spring 2016, we installed a shipping container shed to store hand tools and equipment for use by our staff, Incubator farmers, and Garden volunteers. In fall 2016, we erected the frame for the 30x56 square foot hoop house and completed it with polycarbonate end walls and plastic film in fall 2017. We bought 250-gallon water storage tanks that we set up in the hoop house and fill in the fall before the water is turned off for winter water access. In 2019, we began building a shaded wash/pack area and have all materials to continue in 2020. During the first year of the grant, we prepared for the Incubator Farm by researching other incubators and developing criteria and processes for selecting farmers, systems and standards for managing the farm space, and outreach materials. Our Enterprise Coordinator networked in the area around the farm to explore market outlets for incubating farmers and to build awareness about opportunities for local food businesses as sources of more fresh produce. We originally planned to host up to four farm businesses but decided the total amount of space (just 6720 square feet) is limited for sharing with more than one enterprise and therefore focused efforts on one participant. Cedillos Fresh Produce is a mixed vegetable, herbs, and flower farm run by husband and wife team, Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales. Over winter, they maintain outdoor crops under low tunnels and have plants in the hoop house. Juan completed the Chicago Botanic Garden's Windy City Harvest 9-month horticulture program and developed their original business plan in WCH's Entrepreneurship course. Dulce Morales completed WCH's Entrepreneurship course in 2016, and had her first experience growing food in the 2017 season. Their business plan adjusted as Dulce gained experience selling vegetables and herbs at farmers markets, with a focus on community-based markets serving neighborhood residents. In 2019, Dulce piloted a small CSA program with 11 customers who received a weekly bag of mixed vegetables and herbs. She also sold produce to supplement a peer farmer's CSA boxes. E2L farmers took trainings on topics including food safety, wholesale marketing, SNAP/EBT access, and season extension. Dulce attended two BioDynamic Farming Association conferences, as a panelist and Spanish-language interpreter. Juan and Dulce are Latino/a and live with their children in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood, within a 15-minute drive of the Farm. Over the course of the grant, we aimed toward the goal of increasing food access in markets from several angles. Corner stores in the Eat to Live area don't typically stock healthy perishable foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. During the first year, our Enterprise Coordinator explored a range of possibilities, meeting with retail food market owners, restaurateurs, and caterers. In 2016, we piloted market outreach events outside three "corner" stores, staffing display tables on the sidewalk and offering samples of recipes with fresh produce (pasta salad, salsa, zucchini bread), along with copies of the recipes to take home. We also talked with passersby about where they currently get fresh produce, and some of the barriers they face (affordability, quality, transportation). We met with residents of multi-unit buildings in the neighborhood, and created an order form with residents of senior building Wentworth Haven Homes so that they could request items. In 2017, we launched our Alternative Market Project (AMP) to offer neighbors a way to purchase fresh produce while lessening the risk to store owners of stocking fruits and vegetables that don't sell before they lose quality. The AMP would bring more produce to the E2L neighborhood year-round, including items that people like to eat that may not grow in our climate (citrus, for example) or at E2L growing sites. Our staff solicited requests from neighbors and then placed a wholesale order with Midwest Foods, one of Chicago's largest distributors of produce (including local and organic). We set up a market stand outside the store to sell overstock, after packing up pre-orders. Three AMP market days served a total of 49 customers and convinced us that there is demand, but also that the project requires an enthusiastic host partner. Of the three store owners we began working with, none sustained their business through the end of the grant period. We continued to talk with potential partners in the forms of small stores, schools, and churches in the area, but were unable to find the right partner. Over the four years, we hosted youth and adults in the Gardens and at the Incubator Farm to work on food production and site management as hands-on learning experiences throughout the growing season from mid-April through mid-November, weekdays and weekends. Some came as individuals and others with groups; some came to learn about healthy food and urban agriculture, and others were part of job readiness programs, day programs, or community service teams. Through these sessions, we also met Garden leaders whom we hired as part-time staff. We delivered Garden produce, and offered cooking and basic gardening workshops to area seniors and shelter residents. The Learning Center provided fiscal sponsorship and funding support for the early development of Grow Greater Englewood as a network for urban farming and food system efforts in the immediate area. Our Program Director and farmer Dulce Morales serve as members of its advisory Wisdom Council. In the first year of the grant, we contracted with an external evaluation firm, Become, Inc. The scope of work included developing assessment tools and providing staff to talk with participants at activities and events. However, they were unable to fit the needs of the program and in early in 2017 to we decided to end the relationship and continue our own internal evaluation efforts. Become, Inc had initially developed a survey tool to gather data for statistical analysis. Instead, we designed a brief survey as a conversation starter during tabling events and workshops, and an interview questionnaire for longer discussions at workshops. Each season we collected program output data about Garden production and distribution, and about participation in Gardens, workshops, and events. Outcome data was primarily in the form of verbal self-reporting by participants.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/17 to 08/31/18
Outputs
Target Audience:The Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens sit at the intersection of the city's Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The primary area served by the project is the immediate community surrounding the Farm and gardens. Englewood is a 6 square-mile area on Chicago's Southside with a population of 30,654 people (2010 Census), primarily working-class and low-income households, and many vacant parcels of land and vacated businesses. Greater Grand Crossing, which is located immediately east of Englewood, is a 3.55 square mile community area with a population of 32,602 people (2010 Census). The immediate E2L neighborhood is the region bounded by 69th, State, 76th, and Normal Ave.; the primary activities of this proposal serve residents of this 63 block region. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the census tract area (population of 2,191 individuals) surrounding the E2L site is low income; the estimated median family income is $12,808, compared to the Chicago area median income of $43,628 (2010 Census). The area is 99.22% minority, primarily African American/Black. During the reporting period, the project worked closely with institutions in the neighborhood, including: Margaret's Village (operating a senior center and a shelter for women and children); Wentworth Havens Homes (assisted living residences for seniors and for adults with physical disabilities); and Envision Unlimited (day program for adults with disabilities or special needs). Changes/Problems:We remain challenged by our lack of access to permanent, year-round program space in the immediate vicinity of the Incubator Farm and Princeton Learning Garden. We still lack any bathroom or basic shelter for staff, farmers, and visitors, much less office, programming, or wash-pack space. Staff and farmers continue to improvise for meetings, using facilities at McDonald's, working out of cars, and constraining work projects around these limitations. This has posed a challenge also for staff retention, and is a primary reason we have had so much turn-over among the support staff to the Eat to Live project. Shortly after completing orientation, our most recent hire, a part time Program Manager, accepted a full-time position with a large planning firm. We did not attempt to rehire for that position this season. Beyond the logistical challenges, we want to offer a more sustained and grounded presence to our sites and our community relationships, which would benefit from the stability of a full-time long-term home base in the neighborhood. We continue to seek stable, mutual partnership with a higher-capacity organization or institution in the vicinity of the E2L sites. At the top of our list is the new STEM high school that will occupy the former Paul Robeson High School campus. In recruiting for the Incubator Farm and networking with peer organizations, we find that many people still know very little about urban farming. Of those who show interest, very few envision or are prepared to launch a small farm or food business. Early in 2018, Martha asked the City of Chicago's Urban Agriculture Project Manager, Micheal Newman-Brooks, to refer candidates from her recent Windy City Harvest entrepreneurship class for the Eat to Live Incubator Farm. Of a couple of prospects, none was a person of color based on the southside; in that class, she had only one Black student. We continue to pursue partnerships with local organizations and schools to provide introductions and learning opportunities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The following training opportunities were provided during the first year project period: 91 custom program or educational trainings to expose project participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. One-on-one technical assistance to Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales of Cedillo's Fresh Produce How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In E2L's target community, we have disseminated information about Eat to Live primarily through face-to-face communication with neighbors as they pass by or through the gardens, and through printed information on the garden kiosks in front of both gardens (general information, open garden times, contact information, etc.). We also publicize the project through our organization's communication platforms, including social media accounts and our website blog. We also share information about the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens through local conferences and stakeholder meetings, including the Good Food Festival in Chicago. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our primary areas of activity during the next reporting period will remain the same, with a focus on supporting Cedillo's Fresh Produce at the Incubator Farm. We will also invest staff time on strengthening connections with neighbors and organizational partnerships that hold the most promise to sustain themselves beyond the grant period. A new STEM high school is under construction and plans to open on the site of the former Paul Robeson High School, a few blocks from the Incubator Farm. A principal for the school was recently identified (late October), and we will meet with him about integrating the school's curriculum and community of students, families, teachers, and staff with Incubator Farm, urban agriculture and ecology, and other aspects of a healthy neighborhood food system In addition to moving forward with the core activities of the project, we have formed ad-hoc board and staff committee that will meet this winter to define key strategies for the program's future direction beyond the grant period (which comes to a close in August 2019).
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The project provided urban agriculture and community education programs that helped 157 neighbors and two urban farmers develop the skills, resources, and leadership capacity they need to grow, get and eat good food. During this reporting period, we hosted one farm business for the second year at the Incubator Farm. We also maintained two community Learning Gardens, where we increase neighborhood food access and demonstrate methods of growing food in a small space like a city lot or backyard. During the grant period, we grew and distributed approximately 3000 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce. Overall, we held 91 events including hands-on custom gardening and cooking programs, open garden volunteer days, market events, and activities at our growing sites and community partners' locations. Goal 1: We continued to establish the Eat to Live Farm and Gardens campus: We maintained our original .25 acre Learning Garden at 7029 S. Princeton Ave and expanded new growing beds in the second Learning Garden on property owned by Margaret Village at 73rd and Vincennes Avenue. The two Gardens together produced an estimated 3000 lbs. of produce in the 2018 season. Main crops this year were again greens (collards, kale, mustard greens), tomatoes, and peppers (bell, sweet, and several varieties of hot peppers). Secondary crops were summer squash, potatoes, and green beans. We also tried growing celery, broccoli, and red cabbage, with limited success. Primary challenges this growing season were a cool/late spring followed by a hot and dry summer. Keeping up with irrigation for germination and adequate crop growth was difficult in both Gardens. In particular, the Princeton Garden lost its water source when neighbors broke the city water hydrant on Memorial Day, and the replacement hydrant has a security cap that we cannot remove to access the hydrant. At the Incubator Farm, we added rigid plastic end walls, doors, shutters, and polyfilm covering to the hoophouse in September-November 2017, to provide a place to overwinter some plants and offer an early start to the 2018 growing season. During the summer, we set up drip irrigation to the four growing plots on the Farm. We managed the plot perimeters to increase diversity of plant habitat for pollinators and other beneficial insects. Farmers plan to grow lettuce and hardy greens in the hoophouse over the winter. We continued to pursue acquisition of the vacant house next door to our Princeton Learning Garden for use as a project headquarters with indoor and outdoor program and office space. In late summer 2017, we had made contact with the owner of the house and his attorney, and had solicited assistance from the Cook County Land Bank Authority for assistance with the deed transfer. Both of these developments made us hopeful for progress. However, since November 2017, the process has been on hold as the owner works to resolve the accumulated debts on his real estate portfolio (liens attached to other properties in Chicago). CCLBA will not accept the property until the owners clear that debt. Goal 2: During the 2018 growing season, Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales of Cedillo's Fresh Produce (CFP) continued to grow at the Incubator Farm (their second year of operation at the Incubator). Juan and Dulce grew on all four plots of the Incubator, and sold their produce at several farmers markets, with a focus on community-based markets serving neighborhood residents. They supplemented their own crops with produce and flowers from the two Learning Gardens; among these were sunflowers from the Vincennes Garden, which were consistently top sellers. Juan and Dulce attended trainings on topics including food safety, wholesale marketing, and SNAP/EBT access. Goal 3: In September - November of 2017, we coordinated Alternative Market Project (AMP) market days. Learning Center staff solicited requests from neighbors and then placed a bulk wholesale order with Midwest Foods -- one of Chicago's largest distributors of produce, including local and organic. We then sold that produce (with minimal mark-up to round number prices), as a pilot partnership with the owner of a small neighborhood store. Learning Center staff set up a market table along the sidewalk in front of his store to sell overstock after packing up pre-orders. We wanted to practice sourcing more produce to the E2L neighborhood year-round, including items that people like to eat that may not grow in our climate (citrus, for example) or at our current growing sites. We also want to assist stores to carry fresh produce while lessening their risk of stocking fruits and vegetables that don't sell before they lose quality. The three AMP market days served a total of 49 customers and convinced us that there is demand, but also that the project requires an enthusiastic host partner. The store owner we worked with in fall 2017 tolerated the project but took no initiative; two other stores with whom we explored partnering 1) closed or 2) changed ownership to someone with less interest. We decided to pause the AMP during 2018 while seeking a host location with more capacity and motivation. Goal 4: We provided 117 educational events, including 4 community education workshops, 2 community meetings, 98 volunteer Garden work days, program outreach at 5 community resource fairs and 2 citywide urban agriculture events, and additional technical assistance and advisory meetings, serving a total of 411 unique individuals. This includes 202 residents of the immediate neighborhood, and 209 people from other parts of Chicago engaged through events like one-day volunteer groups and citywide urban agriculture events. We hosted Open Garden sessions in the two Learning Gardens multiple times per week beginning in late April through October, as weather permitted. Although few neighbors participate overall, several volunteer consistently, and we maintain and presence and expand awareness while meeting many people and introducing them to E2L and the growing sites. From fall through early spring, we held healthy cooking workshops with residents at Wentworth Haven Homes. We explored partnering with several schools that have or want urban agriculture programs on their campuses. They requested our technical assistance to plan and budget, install, and potentially also to serve as instructors for their school-based programs. We will host students from the Southside Occupational Academy, a high school for young people with learning and cognitive disabilities, beginning in September. Goal 5: Our approach to cultivating leaders in a context of high transience and where few institutions provide stability is to establish sound foundations -- in sites, systems, and connections -- and strive to maintain a consistent presence and nurture relationships. During the third year of the project, several neighbors volunteered consistently in Gardens, including one who is new to Eat to Live. Of these, two have full-time teaching positions in schools outside the neighborhood, and the third works two jobs and cares for an infant grandchild. They lack sufficient time and energy to take on more responsibility with E2L. Many neighbors are casual visitors and don't engage with the Gardens beyond socializing and periodic harvesting. We harvest and distribute to seniors with limited mobility; we have offered to help them design growing spaces at their own residence but to date their management company has refused. Goal 6: We are using the community food access survey that we developed in Year 1 to generate conversations when we are able to with neighbors and key stakeholders about how they obtain fresh produce and any barriers they face or changes they would like to see. We conducted surveys at neighborhood and market outreach events, and in one-on-one interviews with neighbors. Survey responses inform the project's ongoing development.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17
Outputs
Target Audience: The Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens sit at the intersection of the city's Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The primary area served by the project is the immediate community surrounding the Farm and gardens. Englewood is a 6 square-mile area on Chicago's Southside with a population of 30,654 people (2010 Census), primarily working-class and low-income households, and many vacant parcels of land and vacated businesses. Greater Grand Crossing, which is located immediately east of Englewood, is a 3.55 square mile community area with a population of 32,602 people (2010 Census). The immediate E2L neighborhood is the region bounded by 69th, State, 76th, and Normal Ave.; the primary activities of this proposal serve residents of this 63 block region. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the census tract area (population of 2,191 individuals) surrounding the E2L site is low income; the estimated median family income is $12,808, compared to the Chicago area median income of $43,628 (2010 Census). The area is 99.22% minority, primarily African American/Black. During the reporting period, the project worked closely with institutions in the neighborhood, including: Margaret's Village (operating a senior center and a shelter for women and children); Wentworth Havens Homes (assisted living residences for seniors and for adults with physical disabilities); Envision Unlimited (day program for adults with disabilities or special needs); and Paul Robeson High School (Title 1 School with fewer than 100 students enrolled. 98% students are low income, and 99% are Black.) Changes/Problems:We contracted with external evaluator, Become Inc. and found working with them very challenging. None of their staff members had a schedule sufficiently flexible to interact with community members in the "flow" inherent to this type of project: Open Garden sessions, tabling and outreach moments, late-notice changes to community education workshops, conversations on the sidewalk in the mornings or the evenings. Consultants who lack familiarity with food systems topics and frameworks also demand E2L staff time to coach them to the level of discussion that serves program needs. We would rather make that investment in programs, and cultivate our staff's relationships with people in the E2L neighborhood. Another major challenge faced during this reporting period was disrupted water access on the Farm caused by the City's replacement of water mains in the street from fall 2016 to spring 2017, which resulted in a blocked water line to the Farm. The City and the landowner negotiated for three months before scheduling full excavation and replacement of the spigot and water line in mid-July. This delayed full and effective, reliable use of the Farm, causing our second farm business to cancel plans to grow at the Incubator. In June, since water issues were yet to be resolved, that farmer understandably decided liability insurance was too expensive and challenge of growing too risky without a working water system. Another logistical challenge is that the experimental berm and water retention system at the Farm not working as the City originally planned, and the growing medium vacillates between sopping wet and dusty dry. Our focus in 2018 will include cover cropping, topdressing and mixing soil amendments, and digging out paths so that crops are grown in raised beds. We will delay installing more hoophouses until we are more confident that we have resolved water retention and soil issues. We remain challenged by our lack of access to permanent, year-round program space in the immediate vicinity of the Incubator Farm and Princeton Learning Garden. We still lack any bathroom or basic shelter for staff, farmers, and visitors, much less office, programming, or wash-pack space. Staff and farmers continue to improvise for meetings, using facilities at McDonald's, working out of cars, and constraining work projects around these limitations. Beyond the logistical challenges, we want to offer a more sustained and grounded presence to our sites and our community relationships, which would benefit from the stability of a full-time long-term home base in the neighborhood. We are hopeful about progress made toward acquiring the vacant house across from the Incubator Farm, and look forward to advancing this project in the next year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The following training opportunities were provided during the first year project period: 93 custom program or educational trainings to expose project participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. One-on-one technical assistance to Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales of Cedillo's Fresh Produce How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In E2L's target community, the primary form of communication is to passersby either by speaking directly with staff or seeing program information posted on the kiosk signboards we erected in front of each Learning Garden. We publicize the project through our organization's communication platforms, including social media accounts and our website blog. We also share information about the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens through local conferences and stakeholder meetings, including the Good Food Festival in Chicago. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Our primary areas of activity during the next reporting period will remain the same, with the addition of two part-time Program Managers to our staff team in Chicago, and a focus on strengthening connections with partnerships that hold the most promise. We'll keep developing the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens and the Alternative Market Project (AMP) buying club as engagement spaces for interacting with community members and activating the neighborhood conversation about getting, growing, and eating good food. Our current Program Director, Martha Boyd, remains responsible for managing growing sites and teaching ecological production at the Learning Gardens and Incubator Farm. With a full year of growing on the Incubator Farm and a completed hoophouse, we can refine systems with our current farm business, and recruit additional farmers for the 2018 growing season. Cedillos Fresh Produce will stay at the Incubator for a second year, and we are responding to inquiries from 2-3 prospective growers. We will review their applications and production plans to assess fit for the site and incubator model. We expect to invest in soil improvements and drip irrigation, as well as building out a basic wash-pack area. Once ownership of the 7039 Princeton house is transferred to the Learning Center, we will begin Phase 1 of the building renovation; mainly working to secure the integrity of the building for staff to use the space as a field office (board open windows, create secure entry to first floor and basement) . Our leadership and resource development team will research and plan for additional fundraising for Phase 2 (2018-19; renovating ground floor for program use) and Phase 3 (2020-22; renovating top floor for office/caretaker space). One of our new Program Managers, Dulce Morales, will focus on the AMP (coordinating market logistics and ties with nearby stores) and on Food Education (safe and healthy ways of handling and preparing fresh produce). With her husband Juan, Dulce is also one-half of Cedillo's Fresh Produce at the E2L Incubator Farm. She brings a wealth of experience in food service, restaurant management, and produce sales. Our second new Program Manager, Tenika Walker, will focus on community outreach and program evaluation. A community resident, she comes to E2L with a masters in community development, experience in urban gardening, and a strong interest in linking healthy lifestyles with improved neighborhood economic opportunities. Tenika also works for a nearby medical doctor who started a weight loss program for his patients with chronic health conditions related to diet and exercise. He requested her help to make the program more compelling and attract more clinic patients. Tenika initially contacted E2L about sharing healthier cooking tips, and/or getting patients into the Learning Gardens to grow their own fresh vegetables. With a vision of integrating these activities and the AMP buying club into the clinic's healthy lifestyles program, Tenika will coordinate robust community outreach for all of E2L's associated programs. She will also ensure thorough collection of program data and participant feedback. We anticipate working more closely with new collaborators who can help E2L expose more community members to basic growing skills and career opportunities in farming and horticulture. In recruiting for the Incubator Farm and networking with peer organizations, we see that many people in the area remain unaware of urban farming, and very few imagine launching a small farm or food business. However, several black-led community organizations are formulating projects that will need people with basic horticulture training, including long-time ally BIG/Blacks in Green (installing Great Migration Gardens and designing a plant nursery cooperative in nearby West Woodlawn) and the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (mobilizing African American Churches around social justice), who envision urban agriculture as integral to their Kwame Nkrumah Academy (a K-8 school in the Roseland neighborhood, with a mission for African-centered teaching and learning). We are in conversation with them about prospective partnership. During 2018, we want to position E2L to serve likely new developments in the immediate area: 1) The Hope Network of Schools proposes to renovate and occupy the empty primary school building that abuts the E2L "campus," newly incarnated as the Katherine G Johnson STEAM School for Girls (K-8). School founders are enthusiastic to partner with the Learning Garden, the Incubator Farm, and E2L's bigger picture of a regenerated community food economy and ecology. They take a project-based learning and community participatory research approach to education, and also want the school to serve as a family learning and resource center for all ages in the neighborhood. They aim to open in fall 2019. 2) Combining four neighborhood high schools with fewer than 25 freshman apiece, Paul Robeson High School's campus is slated to host a new building that would also open in fall 2019.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Through Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens project, the Learning Center helped 112 neighbors and two urban farmers develop the skills, resources, and leadership capacity they need to grow, get and eat good food. During this reporting period, we hosted the first farm enterprise at the Incubator Farm and provided mentorship to the farmers as they established their farm business. We also maintained two community Learning Gardens, where we increased neighborhood food access by growing produce accessible to community members. During the grant period, we grew and distributed approximately 2,000 pounds of produce. Overall, we held 117 events including hands-on custom gardening and cooking programs, open garden volunteer days, market events, and activities at our growing sites and community partners' locations. Goal 1: We continued to establish the Eat to Live Farm and Gardens campus, and added infrastructure to increase healthy food production and access in the neighborhood. We maintained our original .25 acre Learning Garden at 7029 S. Princeton Ave., which produced approximately 1150 lbs. of produce (770 lbs. of produce was harvested and weighed by staff, plus we estimate nearly half that much was harvested by neighbors in our absence), and the second Learning Garden on property owned by Margaret Village at 73rd and Vincennes Avenue, which produced an estimated 960 lbs. of produce in the 2017 season (740 lbs weighed plus at least another 30% harvested in our absence). We installed a storage container next to the Incubator Farm in 2016, filled with a variety of tools and equipment for use by E2L staff, Incubator farmers, and Garden volunteers. We installed the first hoophouse at the Incubator Farm. We erected the frame in 2016, and Cedillo's Fresh Produce growers planted warm season crops into that footprint in 2017. We added rigid plastic end walls, doors, shutters, and polyfilm covering in September-November 2017. We pursued acquisition of the vacant house next door to our Princeton Learning Garden for use as a project headquarters with indoor and outdoor program and office space, and washing and cooling space for farmers. The property is in process for transfer/donation to the Learning Center via the Cook County Land Bank Authority. We also worked with Brook Architecture to develop an exterior rendering and narrative outlining the house's renovation. Goal 2: One farm business (2 farmers) grew at the Incubator Farm in 2017. Juan Cedillo and Dulce Morales of Cedillo's Fresh Produce (CFP) began on one of the four incubator spaces and expanded to grow on three out of the four, including the footprint under the hoophouse. Juan also works in landscaping and completed the Chicago Botanic Garden's Windy City Harvest 9-month horticulture program several years ago. He developed CFP's original business plan during WCH's Entrepreneurship class. Juan's wife, Dulce, completed WCH's Entrepreneurship course in 2016 and joined Juan for her first experience growing food during the 2017 season. Their business plan adjusted as Dulce gained experience selling their vegetables and herbs at five farmers markets that serve low- to middle-income customers. Our Program Director Martha Boyd provided one-on-one technical assistance to Juan and Dulce, advising them on topics ranging from botany to harvest and storage techniques. Juan and Dulce are Hispanic/Latino and live in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood, within a 15-minute drive of the Farm. Unfortunately, in April the farm water system was broken, and the City would not move to repair it for several months. Jennifer of Grow You Organics - the second farm enterprise that was to grow at the Incubator - decided she could not afford the risk of paying business insurance and planting in that situation. Goal 3: We formally launched the Alternative Market Project (AMP) in 2017. Corner stores in the Eat to Live area don't typically stock healthy perishable foods like fresh fruits and vegetables. In a buying club format, AMP offers neighbors a way to purchase fresh produce and lessens the risk to store owners of of stocking fruits and vegetables. Learning Center staff solicit requests from neighbors and then place a wholesale order with Midwest Foods which delivers the produce to customers the following day. Learning Center staff set up a market stand in front of neighborhood corner stores to sell the overstock after packing up the pre-orders. We launched the pilot AMP market during the project period, serving a total of 24 unique customers, and continued into the fall holding one AMP per month. Goal 4: We hosted 111 educational events, including 9 community education events, 18 community meetings, 67 volunteer Garden work days, 1 community event, 2 Market outreach days, 2 citywide urban agriculture events, and 12 technical assistance or presentation events that served a total of 516 unique individuals. This includes 112 individuals from the immediate neighborhood, as well as 404 individuals from throughout Chicago engaged through one-day volunteer groups and citywide events. Early in the season, we held monthly community education sessions with seniors attending day programs at Margaret's Village Vincennes Senior Center. We also hosted regular volunteer sessions in the Gardens with Envision Unlimited, an organization offering basic life skills and job readiness training for adults with disabilities or special needs. Despite success working with some nearby community organizations, we have faced a number of setbacks involving local schools in the project, including the neighboring school to the Princeton Learning Garden closing in 2013, and another nearby school partner losing funding for after school programming in 2015. Over the years, we have aimed to build relationships with nearby Paul Robeson High School, through several turnovers of leadership and decreasing student population. In 2016, we met staff working in the high school, and with his facilitation obtained approval to occupy part of an unused room and set up a resource space for teaching hands on skills for growing, cooking, and food handling. We held 3 education sessions at the school during the reporting period, but unfortunately, there was low student interest in after school programming. Goal 5: Our approach to cultivating leaders in a context of high transience and where few institutions provide stability is to establish sound foundations -- in sites, systems, and connections-- maintaining a consistent presence and nurturing relationships. As individuals join in various aspects of the project, we encourage their input and participation at deeper levels. We have a growing resource base of community members who advise as needed, and we turn to them with questions and for introductions and guidance. As we informally engage residents in conversations, they share their ideas about needed changes in policy and practice and the direction of Eat to Live. We also collaborate with local community planning organizations like Teamwork Englewood, Grow Greater Englewood, and RAGE/Residents Association of Greater Englewood, and our program partners and neighbors like Margaret's Village and New Birth Kingdom Ministries. Seven members of this broader community of peers comprise E2L's Advisory group. Goal 6: We are using the community food access survey that we developed in Year 1 to generate conversations with neighbors and key stakeholders about how they obtain fresh produce and any barriers they face or changes they would like to see. We conducted surveys at neighborhood and market outreach events, and in one-on-one interviews with neighbors. Survey responses inform the AMP and its ongoing development. We also collect program output data, listed above, including event participation and market customers, food grown and distributed from Gardens, and produce requests and purchases through the AMP.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens sit at the intersection of the city's Englewood and Greater Grand Crossing neighborhoods. The primary area served by the project is the immediate community surrounding the Farm and gardens. Englewood is a 6 square-mile area on Chicago's Southside with a population of 30,654 people (2010 Census), primarily working-class and low-income households, and many vacant parcels of land and vacated businesses. Greater Grand Crossing, which is located immediately east of Englewood, is a 3.55 square mile community area with a population of 32,602 people (2010 Census). The immediate E2L neighborhood is the region bounded by 69th, State, 76th, and Normal Ave.; the primary activities of this proposal serve residents of this 63 block region. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council, the census tract area (population of 2,191 individuals) surrounding the E2L site is low income; the estimated median family income is $12,808, compared to the Chicago area median income of $43,628 (2010 Census). The area is 99.22% minority, primarily African American/Black. The project works closely with institutions in the neighborhood, including: The Institute for Women Today (operating a senior center and a shelter for women and children); Wentworth and Paradise Havens (assisted living residences for seniors and for adults with physical disabilities); Envision Unlimited (day program for adults with developmental disabilities); and Paul Robeson High School (Title 1 School serving 200 students who are 98% low income, and 99% Black.) Changes/Problems:In general, we are on target to meet most goals and outcomes in our project, with some minor adjustments to timeline or approach. Challenges faced during the first year of the project include: In spring 2016, we recruited two farmers who had plans to begin growing at the Incubator Farm site in the 2016 summer growing season. Unfortunately, both farmers encountered personal financial or health issues that prevented them from launching their farm enterprise this year. Both remain committed and enthusiastic about the opportunity to grow at the Incubator, so the plan is for them to begin at the Incubator in 2017. During the 2016 growing season, we piloted use of the Incubator Farm to test the site and growing conditions. The Farm was designed to hold rainwater on site inside the built up clay berms and gravel, flowing under the growing medium in each plot. During Year 1, we practiced management of water levels and learned that drainage of the growing medium is a challenge. Crops grew significantly better near edges of each plot compared to the center. On each plot, we experimented with different methods to address this and will continue in Year 2. Unfortunately, our partner Harvard School of Excellence lost funding for their science teacher and after school programming for the 2015-16 school year, so they were unable to commit to partnering with us to provide healthy food and garden programs at school during Year 1. As a result, we did not develop additional garden space at the school or work with those youth as described in our original proposal. However, we continue to build relationships with other nearby schools, and look forward to establishing a deep partnership with and presence at Paul Robeson High School in the coming year. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Internal trainings: This year we held 66 custom program or educational trainings to expose project participants to principles of sustainable agriculture, local foods, and urban farming. We assisted the two farmers for the Incubator Farm in finding and negotiating business insurance, typically difficult for urban farm enterprises. We will assist both with getting systems in place to begin growing at the site in 2017. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?In this first year, we have shared information about the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens through local conferences and stakeholder meetings, including the Good Food Festival and our Incubator Farm Site Groundbreaking Ceremony. In addition, we publicized result of the project through our organization's communication platforms, including social media accounts and our website blog. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period, we will continue to develop the Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens, as well as provide educational and outreach programs that help local residents gain skills to grow, get and eat good food. A key focus of our work will be assisting the farmers who will begin growing at the Incubator Farm, as well as promoting the project to recruit potential new growers for the 2018 growing seasons. In addition, we plan to install the first passive solar hoophouse at the Incubator Farm by mid-November. For community education programs, we will continue our ongoing partnership with IWT's Vincennes Senior Center and Maria Shelter, and the City of Chicago's GreenCorps youth summer jobs program. We have initiated programs with residents of Wentworth and Paradise Havens, assisted living residences that also want to develop on-site growing spaces. Beginning in fall 2016, we will also partner with nearby Paul Robeson High School to provide programs and learning resources in the school and on the campus, both during the school day and after school, as academic enrichment and for exposure to food system topics and career opportunities. We will offer community service opportunities for PRHS students in the E2L Learning Gardens, and will continue to work in the Gardens with neighbors and community volunteers like the group from Envision, Unlimited, whose participants worked in the Gardens twice per week starting in September 2016. We aim to cultivate 2-3 high school students for stipended apprenticeships during summer 2017, while hosting the summer jobs youth groups for bigger projects and in-depth exposure to urban agriculture and community food sovereignty.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Through Eat to Live Incubator Farm and Learning Gardens project, Angelic Organics Learning Center provided urban agriculture and community education programs that helped 944 neighbors, urban farmers and project participants develop the skills, resources, and leadership capacity they need to grow, get and eat good food. Through the project, we launched the E2L Incubator Farm, which will provide land and comprehensive support services that lower barriers for beginning farmers based on the city's south side. We also maintained two Community Learning Gardens, where we help increase neighborhood food access through growing produce for the community, and demonstrate methods of growing food organically and intensively in a small space like a city lot or backyard. During the grant period, we grew and distributed 3,924 pounds of fresh, organically grown produce. Overall, we held 88 events including hands-on custom gardening and cooking programs, volunteer service days, and activities at our growing sites and community partners' locations. Under Goal 1, we completed initial construction on the incubator farm site by the end of September 2015. The City of Chicago spent more than $500,000 to prepare the site to meet environmental and stormwater management requirements, in part through an innovative water-retention system. We also maintained our original .25 acre Learning Garden at 7029 S. Princeton Ave., which produced approximately 1953 lbs. of produce (1,502 lbs. of produce was harvested and weighed by staff, plus an estimated 30% harvested by neighbors in our absence). In addition, we launched a second Learning Garden on property owned by the Institute for Women Today at 73rd and Vincennes Avenue. By the end of the season, the new Garden comprised approximately 1500 square feet of grow beds. The Vincennes Learning Garden produced an estimated 1971 lbs. of produce in the 2016 season (1,516 lbs weighed plus at least another 30% harvested in our absence). We also continue to pursue acquisition of the vacant house next door to our Princeton Learning Garden, to serve as a project headquarters with indoor and outdoor programming and office space. Grants from the USDA Community Foods Project Program, and a local funder have provided funds for this initial exploration. In mid-August, we met with the developer who owns the house and was prepared to transfer the deed to the Learning Center. However, since the deed is encumbered by debts, we are in the process of requesting assistance from the Cook County Land Bank Authority to acquire the property by forfeiture to reduce or remove all debts before transferring it to us. Under Goal 2, much of our staff time in the first four months of the grant period was invested in preparations for the incubator farm. Program Director Martha Boyd researched other incubators, and developed criteria for selecting farmers, systems and standards for managing the farm space, and outreach materials. We also prepared an informal application process for the first incubator year in order to recruit and select appropriate farmers. During this time, our Enterprise Coordinator Tedd Snowden worked to identify market outlets in the immediate neighborhood for incubating farmers to sell their produce. Through this, we established relationships with nearly 40 businesses in E2L's vicinity; we will be able to connect incubating farmers with these businesses as requested and appropriate. In spring 2016, we recruited two farmers to begin operating their new enterprises at the Farm. Both farmers developed business plans through the Windy City Harvest (WCH) Entrepreneurship course in winter 2016, and one had completed the WCH 9-month horticulture program several years ago. The other is a southside resident with extensive growing experience leading volunteer projects and providing gardening workshops. Unfortunately, both farmers experienced personal health or financial issues that prevented them from beginning to grow at the Incubator this summer. The plan is for them to begin growing on the site at the beginning of the 2017 growing season. Under Goal 3, we piloted two market outreach events outside two local "corner" stores, which were attended by 35 people. The owners of both stores would like to be sources of fresh produce in the immediate neighborhood but face the expected challenges of sourcing, space for holding and displaying fresh food items, and maintaining produce quality until it is sold. At these outreach events, we staffed display tables on the sidewalk outside and offered samples of recipes that used fresh produce (pasta salad, salsa, zucchini bread), along with copies of the recipes to take home. We look forward to building these relationships and programming in 2017. Under Goal 4, we hosted 92 educational events, including 50 small group events, 22 community meetings, 8 volunteer service days, 5 community events, 4 citywide urban agriculture events, and 3 technical assistance or presentation events that served a total of 944 individuals. This includes 323 individuals from the immediate neighborhood, as well as 621 individuals from throughout Chicago who were engaged through events like one-day volunteer groups and citywide urban agriculture events. Throughout the year, we held monthly community education sessions with the members of IWT's Vincennes Senior Center and with residents at the Maria Shelter. In addition, we hosted the City's GreenCorps youth summer jobs program, which worked in the Gardens once each week. The Alternatives.org summer job program restorative justice "peace team" based at Paul Robeson High School also worked in the Princeton Garden once each week. On average, 40-45 young people (ages 15-19) in these programs were introduced to hands-on experience with vegetable growing and harvesting, along with some basic principles of urban ecology. We also initiated new relationships with the assisted living facilities Wentworth Havens (seniors) and Paradise Havens (physically disabled people and their family members). Unfortunately, due to planning and scheduling issues with our external evaluator as detailed below, we were unable to survey participants during this grant period. Under Goal 5, we worked to engage neighbors as leaders within the project. In addition to organizations where we provide community education and distribute produce, we collaborate with area organizations like Teamwork Englewood, Grow Greater Englewood and the neighboring New Birth Kingdom Ministries Church. Seven neighbors and representatives from these organizations currently comprise E2L's Advisory group. In March, GGE's Executive Director Sonya Harper was elected as a state representative. Given Sonya's departure, GGE's working board is restructuring and deciding about new leadership and staffing for the organization moving forward. Under Goal 6, we began to work with our external evaluator, Become Inc., who will conduct baseline and post-program assessments to evaluate the project's impacts with program participants. The completion of these assessments has been delayed to Year 2 due to internal staff transitions at Become, Inc. Separately, their team was contracted to conduct our community food access survey. They initially developed a survey tool to gather data for statistical analysis, which we believe is redundant in this area where so many researchers have focused around concerns about "food deserts" over the past decade. Our goal is to use the survey to frame conversations with neighbors and key stakeholders who are interested in engaging changes to their household and neighborhood food access. We revised the survey tool to serve this purpose, in individual or small group interviews. As we meet participants in the immediate neighborhood, we schedule interviews with the evaluator, who completed approximately 20 interviews during the 2016 season, and will continue into 2017.
Publications
- Type:
Other
Status:
Other
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
In the first year of the project, we hosted 92 trainings, workshops, produce distribution, community events or field trips with total attendance of 944 people.
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