“We farm and use farming as a way to create social change,” said co-founder Erika Allen, who serves as CEO and Director of Operations.
The collective operates at seven full-time sites around the city, along with pop-up beautification spaces.
Their largest farm is in South Chicago, a large Park District plot located right along the lakefront’s former industrial hub. Half of the space is used as an incubator for small local farmers, while the other half is farmed by Urban Growers Collective staff.
The collective’s portion has goats, bees, medicinal herbs, vegetables, a fruit orchard, and more.
For Allen and her co-founder Laurell Sims, part of the collective’s mission is to provide work opportunities and safe spaces for marginalized communities.
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