Green Era Partners
Urban Growers Collective
Urban Growers Collective (UGC) demonstrates and supports communities in developing food systems where produce is grown, prepared and distributed within their home communities. Working closely with more than 33 community partners in Chicago, UGC’s goal is to build economic opportunity for youth and hard-to-employ adults, while mitigating food insecurity and limited access to high quality, affordable and nutritionally dense food. Eight urban farms operate on 11-acres of land predominantly located on Chicago’s south side.
Helping people thrive is the emphasis and the motivation for Urban Growers Collective. UGC tackles food security through a variety of programming. Their portfolio of programs includes: the Fresh Moves Mobile Market; Farmers for Chicago, their job-readiness program which trains over 200 teens annually, 50 formerly incarcerated adults through an 18-month job-training program with Heartland Alliance, as well as the Incubator Farmer program which provides land and technical assistance for new Chicago farmers; a head- start preschool farm which serves over 145 preschoolers and their families in partnership with Ounce of Prevention; and finally, UGC provides education to a larger audience through a series of agriculture, small business development, and equality building workshops.
Greater Auburn-Gresham Development corporation
The Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC) works to foster and promote revitalization of the low-to-moderate income communities that we serve using comprehensive community development strategies. Since 2001, the GAGDC has worked in all, or parts of, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Englewood, Greater Grand Crossing, Washington Heights, West Englewood, and West Chatham.
GAGDC programs include work in five pillars which include: economic development, housing and senior services, educational initiatives and youth development, health and community and family engagement.
VIEW Urban Growers Collective’s programs
Green era has the support of the City of Chicago, ILLINOIS EPA, and local community organizations including:
