Our Impact
Urban Growers Collective’s work aims to address the inequities and structural racism that exist in the food system and in communities of color. Research suggests that urban agriculture can produce a range of social, health, and economic benefits for communities. We believe engaging in this work will ultimately lead to healing trauma on many levels and will improve the economic vitality and overall health of communities in Chicago.
Our approach is to build economic opportunity for urban farmers and ranchers, mitigate food insecurity, and increase access to high-quality, affordable, and nutritionally-dense food on Chicago’s South and West Sides. As a Black- and women-led organization, healing through food justice is integral to our mission and in our approach to creating a market for urban growers, providing good food for the communities we serve, and throughout all of our programming.
2023 Season Impact Numbers
23,000
Pounds of crops harvested across UGC’s farm sites
133
Youth Corps participants
1,530
CSA boxes packed and delivered
14,400
Customers served through our Fresh Moves Mobile Market
Urban Growers Collective
In the News
Job Training & Education
Our Job Training & Education programs connect into a life-long pathway that allows participants to enter (and reenter) at any age and any stage of their life. They provide hands-on soft and hard skill development at all levels, from introductory to advanced. Our holistic programming creates a strong foundation for school, work, and life while building household wealth from generation to generation.
Educare Preschool Farm
Our Educare head-start preschool farm allows students engage in age-appropriate garden activities and build a strong connection with food and nature. Students plan, plant, tend to, and harvest their own gardens and share the food they grow with their families.
Youth Corps
Our teen job training empowers youth on Chicago’s South and West sides to develop skills that will help them succeed in any career path they choose to follow. Youth Corps participants learn about our food system and business management through a hands-on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math) curriculum.
Internships
Our internship program provides a realistic experience as an urban farmer and local food system advocate in Chicago. Interns assist UGC staff in all aspects of our operations – Production, Market Pathways, Community Engagement, and more. This is a hands-on urban farming experience, driven by the learning objectives of the individual and organization in collaboration.
Growers and Herbal Apprenticeships
The Grower Apprenticeship Program provides new and emerging growers with hands-on training in urban agriculture production and cooperative business models as a foundation to increasing food security, food sovereignty, and economic opportunity within the Chicago region.
The Community Herbalism Apprenticeship offers the opportunity for participants to engage with plants; to build a relationship with plants; and ultimately, to use plants for personal, family, and community healing.
Market Pathways
We connect our neighbors to locally-grown, nutritional, affordable, and culturally-affirming food. We also invest in developing local food economies through urban farming, job training, and education. This connects growers and marketplaces to eaters, building long-term resilience to further divestment in Chicago’s communities of color. It’s our hope that we can improve quality of life for people living on Chicago’s South and West Sides by prioritizing community health and well-being and increasing economic vitality.
Fresh Moves Mobile Market
The Fresh Moves Mobile Market is a bus that’s been transformed into a mobile farmers’ market to provide South and West Side communities with access to fresh, locally-grown produce; culturally-affirming non-local produce and pantry staples; and value-added products from BIPOC growers and makers. Monday through Friday, we visit partner sites like churches, health clinics, community centers, and schools – places that folks already frequent – to make our Mobile Market as accessible as possible.
Farm Stands
During the growing season, we host weekly farm stands at two of our South Side farms: South Chicago Farm and Roosevelt Square Youth Farm, which are run by our Youth Corps ambassadors as part of their job training curriculum, our Interns, and by staff Farm Stand Associates.
CSA Memberships
April through October, we offer a seasonal Collective Supported Agriculture (CSA) subscription. Members receive weekly shares of UGC-grown vegetables and herbs, fruit from Seedling Farm, micro greens from Urban Eden, and produce from our Incubator Farmers.
Wholesale
During our growing season, local restaurants, farmers markets, or grocers can source high-quality, harvest-to-order vegetables and herbs in bulk from our farms. We provide small businesses produce at wholesale prices, grown locally by BIPOC farmers using healthy, regenerative, and culturally rooted agricultural practices.
Community Engagement
The communities we serve are at the core of all of our programming. By prioritizing and engaging the communities around us, we work together to create nourishing environments for everyone. We believe that these spaces are essential to addressing trauma and inequality in our communities.
Workshops & Trainings
Led by UGC staff and industry experts, Urban Growers Collective hosts public events and workshops covering a variety of topics, including at-home herbalism, urban composting, agribusiness development, mushroom growing, and beekeeping.
Volunteer Opportunities
Our volunteer program offers weekly drop in opportunities for folks to give back to their community and connect with each other and the land as well as weekly recurring opportunities for those looking for a more long-term commitment. We also offer group volunteer opportunities for local businesses and organizations to get involved.
Community Garden Plots
We currently manage plots at two locations: Jackson Park and our South Chicago Farm. These community garden plots allow South Side community members to safely grow food for themselves and their families. Since many sites on Chicago’s South and West Sides are contaminated with lead and other toxins, we ensure that our community gardeners grow in compost that is either made at our South Chicago Farm or purchased from a mushroom composter outside of the city.
Farm Tours
Youth Corps ambassadors and Urban Growers Collective staff offer tours of our South Chicago Farm, Grant Park “Art on the Farm”, and Green Era Campus to teach visitors about the the benefits and properties of the crops we grow, regenerative practices for growing, the impact of our programming, and our visions for building the world we want to live in.