Growing Home believes that everyone deserves a good job and good food. Through our high-production USDA-certified organic farms in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago, we provide job training to people with employment barriers and provide access to organic produce in a neighborhood with few sources of fresh food. Our unique employment training program uses farming to teach transferable skills to adults with extreme barriers to employment, such as criminal records, homelessness, or low education. Through fieldwork, classroom instruction, and personalized case management, we prepare our participants to enter full-time, stable jobs in Chicago's food and farming industries. In 2019, 78% of our program graduates secured employment. Each year we cultivate over 30,000 pounds of organic produce on just under an acre of city land. We sell our produce at Green City Market in Lincoln Park, Logan Square Farmer's Market, IMAN's Fresh Beats and Eats in Englewood, and at our own Wood Street Farm Stand in Englewood. Produce at IMAN and our Farm Stand is sold at half its market value, and is coupled with farm tours and cooking workshops to empower community residents to develop healthy habits. During the pandemic, we have continued our employment training program in a hybrid virtual format and focused on distributing 90-100% of our food in our community at no cost to Englewood residents. We have started online cooking demos as well as teaching nutrition and growing classes via zoom. We are still growing!
