THE GREENING OF A FOOD DESERT:

Building Community through Community Food Production

A collaboration between
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School
with the generous support of The Chicago Community Trust
 Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
 2


PROJECT
SUMMARY
 3


COMMUNITY
PROFILE
 5


DESIGNATION
AS
A
FOOD
DESERT
 5

COMMUNITY
VIBRANCY
AND
RESILIENCE
 6


LEAD
ORGANIZATIONS
 9


THE
PUERTO
RICAN
CULTURAL
CENTER
 9

PEDRO
ALBIZU
CAMPOS
HIGH
SCHOOL
 11


OTHER
KEY
PARTNERS
 12


CO­OP
HUMBOLDT
PARK
(COMMUNITY
ORGANIZING
FOR
OBESITY
PREVENTION)
 12

THE
INSTITUTE
OF
PUERTO
RICAN
ART
AND
CULTURE
 13

THE
CHICAGO
PARK
DISTRICT
 13

THE
CHICAGO
BOTANIC
GARDEN
 13

UIUC
GRADUATE
SCHOOL
OF
LIBRARY
AND
INFORMATION
SCIENCE
 14

UIUC
OFFICE
OF
EXTENSION
AND
OUTREACH
 14


RECREATING
THE
BUILT
ENVIRONMENT
TO
FOSTER
COMMUNITY
FOOD
PRODUCTION
 16


ESSENTIAL
COMPONENTS
OF
THE
INITIATIVE
 17


“SÍ
SE
PUEDO”
COMMUNITY
EDUCATION
AND
ENGAGEMENT
 17

HEALTH
AND
NUTRITION
CAMPAIGN
 17

JUNIOR
MASTER
GARDENER
PROGRAM
 17

GREEN
COLLAR
PIPELINE
 18

“COSECHA
LO
TUYO”
COMMUNITY
FOOD
PRODUCTION
AND
DISTRIBUTION
 18

URBAN
OASIS
EDIBLE
GARDEN
AND
COMMUNITY
FARM
 18

ROOFTOP
GREENHOUSES
 20

BACKYARD
AND
COMMUNITY
GARDENS
 20

HEALTHFUL
LIFESTYLES
 21

COORDINATION
OF
CULTIVATION
 22

MARKETING
AND
DISTRIBUTION
 22

CONTINUOUS
EVALUATION
AND
PLANNING
 23


SELF­SUSTAINABILITY
 23


PROJECT
GOALS
AND
INTENDED
OUTCOMES
 24


WORKS
CITED
 25


2
 THE GREENING OF A FOOD DESERT:
Building Community through Community Food Production

A collaboration between
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School
with the generous support of
The Chicago Community Trust

March 2011

This report was written and produced by:

Carlos R. DeJesús, M.A. Educational Leadership

Assistant Director, Pedro Albizu Campos High School

and

Michelle L. Torrise, MLIS

University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Graduate School of Library and Information

The Puerto Rican Cultural Center

2739 West Division Street
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773 342-8023
www.prcc-chgo.org
Rosalva Jiménez (above) was in the first corps of students
participating in the summer urban agriculture program at Pedro
Albizu Campos High School (2007). Rosi and her team made Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School
the initial suggestion that the school approach the Chicago
2739 West Division Street
Park District about securing land to create an urban farm.
Chicago, Illinois 60622
773 342-8022
www.pedroalbizucamposhs.org
3
Juan
 Antonio
 Corretjer


Mural of Juan Antonio Corretjer, Puerto Rican poet, journalist, and political activist, painted by artist Pablo Marcano García on the fa-
çade of the Andrés Figueroa Cordero Library and Community Information Center.

Puerto
Rican
Cultural
Center

 Dr.
Pedro
Albizu
Campos
High
School
Founded in 1973, the Juan Antonio Corretjer Puerto
Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) is a non-profit, commu-
nity-based umbrella institution, which seeks to serve
the social and cultural needs of Chicago’s Puerto Ri-
can/Latino community. All of the PRCC’s programs
encourage participants to think critically about their
reality and to promote an ethics of self-reliance based
on social responsibility while focusing on health, so-
cial, and cultural issues that affect Puerto Rican/Latino
and poor communities, such as AIDS, education, liter-
acy, housing, homophobia, drug addiction, gang vio-
lence, teen pregnancy.
PRCC has been at the fore of the renaissance of the
community that has transpired over the past 30 years.
The organization’s approach is one of community
building based on collaboration designed to address
the many exigencies that have plagued the commu-
nity.


Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School’s (PACHS)
mission is to provide a quality educational experience
needed to empower students to engage in critical
thinking and social transformation, from the classroom
to the Puerto Rican community, based on the philoso-
phical foundation of self-determination, a methodology
of self-actualization and an ethics of self-reliance.
Since its inception in 1972, PACHS has been serving
the Greater Humboldt Park community, addressing an
intensely high dropout rate among the community’s
youth. The school provides students with a safe, sup-
portive environment where they can transform their
prior negative educational experiences into positive
outcomes. Students are encouraged to reconceptual-
ize their perceptions and understanding of themselves
and their community in ways that propel them into a
life of leadership and accomplishment.
Acknowledgements
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Pedro Albizu
Campos High School wish to express their sincere
appreciation for the generous support provided by the
following funders who share in our vision for building a
healthy, sustainable community in Greater Humboldt
Park.
1. The Chicago Community Trust has provided a
generous planning grant that has resulted in this
publication. The Trust also selected the green-
house component of our Initiative as a model to
use in its successful request for funding from The
Healthy Eating Active Living Convergence Part-
nership—a national consortium of funders com-
prised of the Kellogg Foundation, the Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation, the Center for Dis-
ease Control, Keiser Permanente and others;
2. United Way of Metropolitan Chicago gener-
ously provided a three-year grant to address the
health disparities that have largely resulted from
the community’s food insecurity.
3. Youth Connections Charter School, of which
PACHS is an autonomous campus, has provided
funding and support for the teaching of the Inte-
grated Sciences and Urban Agriculture curricu-
lum, and has financed the construction of our pro-
totypical greenhouse on the roof of the high
school;
4. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation, through the Local Initiatives Sup-
port Corporation’s New Communities Program,
has funded our greenhouse feasibility study and
our Urban Agriculture summer program;
5. The McCarthey Dressman Foundation has pro-
vided a grant for the creation of the Urban Oasis
Edible Garden and Community Farm;
6. The Center for Disease Control and Preven-
tion’s (CDC) Centers of Excellence in the Elimina-
tion of Disparities in Health (CEED) has funded
the Urban Agriculture program through the Uni-
versity of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Center Latino
Health Research, Training, and Policy Center;
7. The Institute of Puerto Rican Art and Culture
has granted us with access to a half acre of the
parkland on which the Institute is located to create
a culturally consonant and aesthetically pleasing
edible garden, with the assistance of the Chicago
Botanic Garden;
8. The Chicago Park District will be leasing to us
an additional acre of parkland immediately adja-
cent to the half acre provided by the Institute of
Puerto Rican Art and Culture;
9. The Illinois Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity, through La Casa Norte,
has provided PACHS with funding for the em-
ployment of thirty youth in our urban agriculture
summer program in 2009;
10. The City of Chicago, through its After School
Matters initiative, has been funding our summer
and after school urban agriculture program;
11. The Alternative Schools Network has been
funding our summer and after school urban agri-
culture program, as well; and
12. The Illinois State Board of Education has pro-
vided funding for our hydroponics program.
Special acknowledgement and gratitude goes to the
students who participated in the summer and after
school urban agriculture programs since 2007 who
have been engaged in the process of identifying and
understanding the community’s needs and then acting
upon their new knowledge by creating a vision for a
healthy sustainable community.
We also wish to acknowledge the many community
residents and local businesses that have been so
supportive of ensuring healthy food options for the
community. It is because of this collaborative en-
gagement that the Greater Humboldt Park Urban Ag-
riculture Initiative will continue to grow and prosper.
2
Summary of Initiative
Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School (PACHS) and
the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) have devel-
oped a comprehensive, multi-faceted, community-
wide initiative in urban agriculture. The vision of the
Greater Humboldt Park Urban Agriculture Initiative is
to develop community self-sufficiency in the produc-
tion of key aspects of the community’s nutritional re-
serve. The proposed project is designed to address a
highly significant health, social and economic issue in
our community – the community’s designation as a
food desert. Food desert refers to “a neighborhood
with no or distant grocery stores [from which to access
affordable, fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables] but an
abundance of fast food restaurants…" (Gallagher).
Community residents will be actively engaged in the
planning and development of the necessary systems
of production, distribution and consumption of nutri-
tious, culturally defined and community-specific pro-
duce in transforming the desert into a fertile oasis. By
addressing the need for nutritious, fresh herbs, fruits
and vegetables and recognizing the excessively high
prevalence of diabetes, obesity, hypertension and
coronary disease within the community, the program
seeks to inform, engage, and transform the commu-
nity environment.
The Initiative is based on the belief that local food
needs go beyond simply growing and distributing food.
Left: Community youth participating in the Urban Agriculture Program prepare a raised garden bed at El Coquí community garden.
Students harvest crops like Ají Dulce (right), a Puerto Rican pepper, from community gardens and sell it at affordable prices at El Co-
nuco community produce market.
The Community is the Curriculum
Students who participated in the high school sum-
mer program of 2007 led the following community
inquiry: “Residents of the Greater Humboldt Park
community have poor access to fresh, affordable,
locally grown produce that is a part of the Puerto
Rican cuisine; what steps can the community take to
increase the availability of these foods at affordable
prices to local residents?”
Effective solutions to local food security issues, im-
proved health outcomes and overall community well-
ness must be sustainable and involve all members of
a community, especially the youth. As the lead orga-
nization PACHS spearheaded the Humboldt Park Ur-
ban Agriculture Initiative as an outgrowth of its inte-
grated, student-directed, project-based science and
math curriculum based on Urban Agriculture. The
initiative affirms that our youth are key agents in the
process of long-term, sustainable change within the
community. Through community inquiry and participa-
tory research, vital elements of the initiative were con-
ceived of and elaborated by the students themselves.
The initiative is designed to further engage youth
(from toddlers to teens) in addressing local food
needs to ensure that they develop the skills that are
necessary and are prepared as adults to take on key
roles as leaders of their community. It is also de-
3
signed to engage the adults in the community (in-
cluding the elderly), many of whom are experienced
farmers from Puerto Rico, Mexico and southern
United States, or are one generation removed from
their agricultural past. The Initiative will team enter-
prising students and other nascent urban farmers
with the many community residents that have a
proud agricultural heritage, to resolve the commu-
nity’s nutritional and economic needs—truly a multi-
generational approach.
The Initiative is comprised of nine major compo-
nents designed to engage the community in the
building of a healthy sustainable community that is
self-sufficient in addressing its nutritional and health
concerns. The components (graphically represented
below) are not a step-by-step approach to community
building, but rather an ongoing, fluid approach to identi-
fying, evaluating, and addressing the community’s criti-
cal needs. The components are described in detail in
pages 21 through 27 below.
The Initiative encompasses the germination, cultivation,
production, marketing and distribution of locally grown,
nutritious food that is free of herbicides, pesticides and
other chemical contaminants. The enhanced food pro-
duction will be complemented by community education
and engagement in nutrition, exercise and overall well-
ness.

Components of the Humboldt Park Urban Agriculture Initiative

Greater Humboldt Park

Urban Agriculture Initiative

"Sí Se Puede" "Cosecha Lo Tuyo"

Community Community Food "Muévete"
Education and Production and Active Living
Engagement Distribution

Urban El Conuco
Oasis Back Yard Produce Ciclo-
Health and Junior Green Edible Rooftop Market and Muévete Skate
and Urbano
Nutrition Master Collar Green- Fitness Board
Garden and Community La Bicycling
Campaign Gardeners Pipeline
 houses Options Program
Community Gardens Cosecha Program
Farm Kioskos

4
Community Profile
The Initiative is designed to serve the Greater Hum-
boldt Park community of Chicago, one of the poorest
communities in the city. This community is comprised
of East Humboldt Park, the western-most park of
West Town and the southern-most part of Logan
Square.
The community’s median household income of
$29,000 is 26% lower than Chicago’s median income.
Notably, 31% of community’s residents live below the
poverty level, and 17% of households have public as-
sistance as the sole source of income. The drop out
rate among the community youth is well in excess of
60%. The community is under intense pressure to

This map of Greater Humboldt Park identifies grocery stores within the Humboldt Park area. Less than 10% of these stores sell
fresh produce. Noted the absence of large grocers like a Jewel or a Dominick’s.
Source: Maties, D., Gmyrek, K. & Rankis, S. (Autumn 2007). Access to Nutritious Foods and Economic Inequity. Geographic Information Systems
II 242 Community Based Mapping Humboldt Park/West Town Project. DePaul University.

According to the 2000 Census, there are 38,480 stem the tide of gentrification would result in exces-
residents in the initiative’s service area, of which 70% sively high rent burdens, and ultimately displacement.
are Latino, 18% are African American, and 12% are Current rent burdens are already unconscionably high,
White. exceeding 50% of household income.

Designation as a Food Desert

In 2006, LaSalle Bank commissioned a report, “Good
Population of Greater Food: Examining the Impact of Food Deserts on Pub-
Humboldt Park lic Health in Chicago,” in which Greater Humboldt
Park was identified as being within the boundaries of
one of Chicago’s three food deserts. A food desert is a
African Puerto Rican
American 40%
large geographic area in which residents have little to
18% no access to fresh affordable fruits and vegetables.
White 12% Mexican These deserts are also characterized by grocery
25%
stores that only sell processed food and by an over-
Other
Latinos 5% abundance of fast food restaurants. Community resi-
dents are afflicted by inordinately high prevalence of
5
obesity, diabetes, hypertension and coronary dis- among Puerto Ricans in Humboldt Park is 68 per
ease. According to “The Community Survey in Hum- 100,000 people, a rate that is 172% greater than the
boldt Park: Preventing Obesity and Improving Our national diabetes mortality rate. SUHI also docu-
Health,” authored by PRCC and other community mented the prevalence of hypertension in the commu-
allies in 2006, 35% of the community’s adults are nity at 35% (67% higher than that of Chicago’s preva-
obese, a rate that is 40% greater than that of adults lence).
in the rest of Chicago. Twenty five percent (25%) of
adults in Humboldt Park who were either overweight
or obese thought that they were at the right weight or
Prevalence of Diabetes
even underweight. The Community Survey also
25%

found that 50% of the children in the community are 20%

obese, and an additional 14% are overweight. The 15%

data reinforced the results of a 2002-2003 US Cen- 10%

5%

sus population survey that found that 46% of the 0%

children in the community were obese and close to Puerto
Ricans
in
 US

90% of the caretakers of these children did not rec- Greater
Humboldt


ognize that their children were at an unhealthy

weight.

Community Vibrancy and Resilience

The paucity of nutritious food in the community, and
Prevalence of Obesity
the resultant sequelae of illnesses, are decimating a
60%
 community that is otherwise vibrant and resilient.
50%

Community residents are becoming well organized
40%

30%

and are working assiduously to stave off the en-
20%
 croachment of gentrification and the resultant dis-
10%
 placement of families. The degree of civic engage-
0%
 ment and collaboration with elected officials is high.
Latino Children in US Children The level of community building and community de-
Greater Humboldt Park
velopment is exemplary.
In 1993, the local alderman convened a community
summit, attended by well over 1,000 residents, to
A study by one of our community partners, Sinai Ur- identify community needs and determine priorities.
ban Health Institute (SUHI), titled "Disproportionate One of the outcomes was the development of the
Impact of Diabetes in a Puerto Rican Community in Humboldt Park Empowerment Partnership (HPEP),
Chicago” (published in Journal of Community Health, which is comprised of over 100 community organiza-
2006) indicates that diabetes is exacting an enor- tions (including PACHS and PRCC), schools, block
mous toll on the people of Humboldt Park, most no- associations and religious institutions.
tably Puerto Ricans. The proportion of adults with The community collaborative was charged with craft-
diabetes (the prevalence) among Puerto Ricans in ing a comprehensive, inclusive community develop-
this community is 21%, three times higher than the ment plan designed to preserve the community and
national rate. Even worse, the diabetes mortality rate guard against gentrification and displacement. Over
6
 Bottom: In a citywide study
commissioned by LaSalle Bank,
East Humboldt Park (which is part
of West Town) was designated as
a food desert.
Top: The section outlined in blue
(see arrows) is the area to be de-
veloped as part of the Greater
Humboldt Park Urban Agriculture
Initiative.
Source: Gallagher, Mari. (2006). Ex-
amining the Impact of Food Deserts on
Public Health in Chicago.

600 community residents participated in the plan-
ning process. A key goal was to empower the
community to determine the type of development
that is to take place. Key Leaders met with the
City’s Planning Commission and secured control of
154 city-owned vacant lots in the area. This victory
significantly impacted the morale and engagement of
the residents in the betterment of the community.
Twenty (20) of those lots have already been devel-
oped into 152 units of much needed, affordable hous-
ing for low-income residents, and an additional 150
units are presently under construction.
7
The summit also resulted in the conceptualization and PACHS and PRCC have been key catalysts for the
development of Paseo Boricua (Puerto Rican Prome- community victories described above. With the same
nade), a half-mile long commercial corridor at the cen- vigor and determination to continually address the
ter of the community. This commercial strip includes prominent exigencies of the community, the two orga-
several retail stores and restaurants, which have been nizations have collaborated in designing the proposed
engaged in the community planning and development initiative.
of the area. Demarcated at either end of the corridor
by a sixty-foot flag of Puerto Rico, the world’s largest
monuments to a flag, the Paseo has become the cul-
tural and economic heartbeat of Chicago’s Puerto Ri-
can community.

Building on these accomplishments, community resi-

dent leaders have formed The Puerto Rican Agenda
Group, designed to identify new areas of need in the
community, develop solutions and secure resources to
address the identified needs. Understanding the role
of art and culture in developing a sense of community
and to inspire a greater civic engagement among resi-
dents, the group’s initial focus was on the develop-
ment of an institute of art and culture.
In collaboration with the Chicago Park District and with
significant community fundraising, the Institute of
Puerto Rican Art and Culture had its grand opening in
June 2009. The inaugural exhibition featured the su-
perb body of work of the renowned Puerto Rican artist
One of artist Pablo Marcano García’s pieces displayed at
Pablo Marcano García. What was once an aban- IPRAC during the grand opening. Much of his work has
doned horse stables in Humboldt Park will now be a agriculture as a central theme, a strong statement about
the role agriculture has played in Puerto Rican culture.
magnificent community institution.
8
Lead Organizations v
PRCC and PACHS share a common organizationalvi PRCC programs have become community institutions
history. The community leaders that founded PACHS in their own right. They include:
in 1972 to address the dismal educational status of
• CO-OP Humboldt Park—community organizing
the community also founded PRCC in 1973 to address for obesity prevention (described in more detail
the socio-economic issues that plagued the commu-
below);
nity and to focus on cultural needs as well. The two
organizations have collaborated on a host of commu- • Café Teatro Batey Urbano—youth space for crea-
nity issues ever since. Collaboration has been the tive expression including theater, hip hop, spoken
hallmark of the organizations. The most salient ac- word and online broadcast;
complishments of the organizations have been col- • La Casita de Don Pedro—community folkloric
laborations between them and among many other space and art gallery;
partners. That is certainly the case with the initiative
• Community as Intellectual Space—annual confer-
at hand.
ence held with UI’s Graduate School of Informa-
tion Science and Community Informatics Initiative
The Puerto Rican Cultural Center analyzing critical community issues;
xix The PRCC is a non-profit, • Pipeline to Health Professions—intensive support
community-based organiza- for students interested in a career in health;
tion that has been actively
engaged in community • Consuelo Corretjer Day Care Center—licensed
building since its inception learning center for 1 to 5 year olds;
in 1973. It is celebrating its • Vida-Sida—HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted
36th anniversary as a disease prevention;
dynamic community institu-
• La Voz del Paseo Boricua—monthly bilingual
tion, working to increase
newspaper published by the Puerto Rican Cultural
capacity and community engagement in addressing
Center, focused on critical social issues and
the most pressing issues in Chicago's Humboldt Park
causes, providing information on resources and
neighborhood. PRCC has been at the heart of the
opportunities, all the while celebrating the many
community’s renaissance, catalyzing all of the accom-
triumphs of the community;
plishments described in the previous section and
many more. All PRCC programs encourage partici-
pants to think critically about their reality and promote
an ethics of self-reliance based on social responsibil-
ity. The programs address critical health, social, and
cultural issues affecting the community including
HIV/AIDS, education, homophobia, gang violence,
gentrification, and community and economic develop-
ment—involving youth in all aspects of program de-
velopment and community planning. This level of
youth involvement provides many opportunities for
youth to connect with their environment in positive
9
 • Participatory Democracy Project—community
organizing initiative designed to challenge gentri-
fication and prevent the displacement of low-
income residents from Chicago’s oldest Puerto
Rican community;
• Fiesta Boricua—annual music and food festival
featuring prominent and up-and-coming artists inix
Puerto Rican music performing on multiple
stages. Attended by over 200,000 residents,
Paseo Boricua becomes a half-mile, standing-
room-only, open-air concert hall for a day. It has
become a major way of celebrating the commu-
nity’s accomplishments. The festival serves to in-
form community residents and recruit new mem-
bers into the community’s various initiatives. Pedro Albizu Campos High School
vii PRCC is currently focused on establishing a Commu-
nity of Wellness, in collaboration with other commu-
nity allies, to address critical health concerns, a key
component of which is the Urban Agriculture Initiative.
This focus is informed by studies authored or com-
missioned by PRCC, including the two discussed in
the previous section.
viii The role of PRCC in the proposed initiative is to
continually monitor and assess the community’s
health concerns, engage partners and allies, and im-
plement the community organizing campaign on ur-
ban agriculture through its CO-OP Humboldt Park and
Participatory Democracy programs. It has engaged
an architectural firm to develop the plans for a smart,
eco-friendly greenhouse. PACHS and PRCC have
been granted access by the Institute for Puerto Rican
Art and Culture and Chicago Park District to parkland
in Humboldt Park for the development of the Urban
Oasis Community Farm.
PACHS is an alternative, charter school that has been
serving the Humboldt Park community since 1972. It
was founded to reverse the unconscionably high
dropout rate (then, nearly 70 percent) of students
attending the community’s public high schools. The
school provides its students with a highly supportive,
student-centered environment in which to undo years
of negativity and failure at their prior schools, and
rekindle their innate curiosity and love of learning.
The curriculum is focused on relatedness and rele-
vance. The applicability of concepts is embedded in
the lessons. Students learn, for instance, that their
bodies, their homes and their communities are verita-
ble learning laboratories,
that there is chemistry
and physics in the act of
brushing their teeth and
that there is history,
geometry and poetry in
planting a row of
tomatoes.
Students learn the value
of service learning and
community engagement,
that the community is an
eco-system, and that
10
their well-being as individuals is inexorably tied to
the well-being of their community and vice versa.
Ultimately they come to appreciate that although
they have much to learn, as life-long members of
this ecosystem they also have much to teach and
give to their fellow students, their teachers and their
community.
In keeping with this tradition and as part of its en-
gagement in establishing a Community of Wellness,
Urban Agriculture students worked over the summer to
address the issue of food security in their community—
the above student works to put together a model she
designed to demonstrate rooftop gardening in Humboldt
Park.
x CO-OP Humboldt Park is a
PRCC and PACHS developed a Pipeline to Health
Careers program in collaboration with Wright Col-
lege and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC)
School of Public Health. PACHS infused its science
curriculum with botany, agronomy and urban agricul-
ture. The students have been engaged in problem-
xi
based learning and encouraged to research, delib-
erate and come up with solutions to the community’s
food desert status and the concomitant health is-
sues. The role of the teachers is to observe the de-
liberations, suggest potential resources and innocu-
ously infuse key concepts in content that are ger-
mane to the deliberations. The ideas that the stu-
dents have generated include: a community-wide
campaign to encourage community residents to grow
their own food through back yard and roof-top gardens,
the development of a greenhouse at the school and on
the rooftops of buildings along Paseo Boricua, and the
creation of an urban community farm in Humboldt Park,
a 209-acre park located within the community's bounda-
ries.
The students' recommendations have fuel a community-
wide urban agriculture initiative. PACHS and the PRCC
have jointly convened an Urban Agriculture Planning
Committee, comprised of parents, teachers, directors of
both organizations, and collaborators from the Univer-
sity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), to further
elaborate on the students’ recommendations. The
Committee meets semi-monthly. What has resulted is
an expansive and innovative vision of community build-
ing—in essence, how to turn an urban food desert into a
nutritious oasis.
Other Key Partners
CO-OP Humboldt Park
(Community Organizing for
Obesity Prevention)
PRCC program that has deve-
loped a network of community
groups, medical facilities, and
elected officials to create
awareness of obesity-related
illnesses and create community-based solutions to this
epidemic.
This network includes the Humboldt Park Diabetes Task
Force, which brings together key health care partners
such as the Sinai Urban Health Institute, Rush Univer-
sity Medical Center, UIC School of Public Health, and
the American Diabetes Association. CO-OP Humboldt
Park also developed and manages a Farmers’ Market, a
Produce-Mobile (free produce brought into the commu-
nity by a socially conscious grocer on a biweekly basis),
11
 a farmer’s basket cooperative, and Muévete (Get
Moving), a highly successful exercise and fitness pro-
gram. The role of the program within this initiative is
to engage the community in embracing a healthier
lifestyle by actively participating in the production and
consumption of nutritious produce and in increasing its
level of physical activity.
The Institute of Puerto Rican Art and Culture
xii IPRAC is a state of the art exhibition space and an
active studio for the teaching and production of art. It
is located on a 3-acre parcel of parkland within Hum-
boldt Park. It was once a stable for horses and sat
abandoned for 3 decades. Now it is a magnificent
community institution instead of the eyesore that it
was. IPRAC has made available a half-acre of its land
to PACHS and PRCC for use in the Urban Agriculture
Initiative. It is understood that the resulting gardens
will be esthetically pleasing so that it fits seamlessly
within the nature of the Institute.
xiii The Chicago Botanic Garden has provided its creative
expertise in the converting the space into a fertile oa-
sis that is artfully composed.
The Chicago Park District
xiv CPD is comprised of 570 parks containing a total of
7,600 acres of parkland. Given that the average park
contains 13 acres, Humboldt Park ranks as one of the
largest in Chicago with 209 acres. CPD is presently
encouraging community gardeners to apply for space
to create small ornamental and edible gardens on
parkland. PACHS and PRCC have encouraged CPD
to augment its vision to include the multi-generational
urban community farm discussed in this proposal.
The community partners have identified the desired
one-acre of parkland immediately adjacent to the
IPRAC space referenced above and CPD is currently
determining the appropriateness of the space for farm-
ing. Although at the time of this submission the park-
land space for the Urban Farm is not fully secured, full
access to the space will be finalized within the next
two months.
The Chicago Botanic Garden
CBG is one of the country's most visited public gar-
dens and a preeminent center for research and learn-
ing, with its world-renowned plant collections and dis-
plays. CBG will develop and facilitate multi-day train-
ing workshop for faculty, staff, parents and other com-
munity residents involved in the Urban Agriculture Ini-
tiative based on the Garden’s highly successful Green
Youth Farms and Windy City Harvest models. In addi-
tion, CBG will:
• Train PACHS’s integrated science and urban ag-
riculture instructors in setting up and operating a
greenhouse for year round food production; and
• Assist staff and students in developing concepts
for high-function, accessible and secure food pro-
duction garden in Humboldt Park.
12
Top Left: The Institute of Puerto Rican Art and Culture, the grounds of which are the future site of the Urban Oasis Edible
Garden and Community Farm;
Top Right: Rendering of IPRAC, including the new parking lot and gardens around the building that will be installed in part-
nership with the Chicago Botanic Garden;
Bottom: Aerial view of IPRAC and surrounding land as it is today, demarcating the future location of the edible garden and
the community farm. IPRAC had its inaugural opening on June 12, 2009

13
 by marshalling other university resources to the en-
deavor, including technical expertise in agronomy,
marketing and program evaluation.

UIUC Office of Extension and Outreach

xvii The UIUC Office of Extension and Outreach offers
educational programs to Illinois residents that are
aimed at making life better, healthier, safer and more
profitable for individuals and their communities.
xviii The UIUC Cook County Extension is committed to
providing Junior Master Gardener training to PACHS
students who are involved in the school’s urban agri-
culture program. The training program will include
UIUC Graduate School of Library and In- curriculum materials and the participation of certified
formation Science Master Gardener volunteers who will work directly with
xv GSLIS's Community Informatics Initiative (CII) works
with community organizations and residents to de-
velop information and communication technologies to
achieve their goals. The core of the program is
community inquiry: collaborative action to create
knowledge and technology connected to people's
values, history, and lived experiences; the develop-
ment of models of engagement that are just, democ-
ratic, participatory, and open-ended; and the integra-
tion of theory and practice in an experimental and
critical manner.
xvi The GSLIS CII has over a decade of experience of
direct work with communities around the globe. In
particular, the CII has a well-established relationship
with PACHS, based around onsite teaching, re-
search, and engagement in the community. After
visiting the PACHS Urban Agriculture Initiative in
2007, UIUC Chancellor, Richard Herman, PhD,
committed to fund a five-year graduate assistantship
to focus specifically on the agriculture initiative.
GSLIS’s faculty and graduate students lend their ex-
pertise to the initiative by identifying best practices
and research-based approaches to the science and
art of urban agriculture, as well as their knowledge of Humboldt Park Youth working alongside a Master
Gardener at the University of Illinois Cook County
community information flows and technology devel- Extension Office in Chicago.
opment (e.g., website design). They will also assist
14
 “There is a quiet revolution stirring in our food
system. It is not happening so much on the
distant farms that still provide us with the ma-
jority of our food; it is happening in cities,
neighborhoods, and towns. It has evolved out
of the basic need that every person has to
know their food, and to have some sense of
control over its safety and security. It is a revo-
lution that is providing poor people with an im-
portant safety net where they can grow some
nourishment and income for themselves and
their families…. And it is providing an oasis for
the human spirit where urban people can
gather, preserve something of their culture
through native seeds and foods, and teach
their children about food and the earth. The
revolution is taking place in small gardens, un-
der railroad tracks and power lines, on roof-
tops, at farmers’ markets, and in the most un-
likely of places. It is a movement that has the
potential to address a multitude of issues: eco-
nomic, environmental, personal health, and cul-
tural.”1
Michael Ableman, Fatal Harvest (The Institute for Deep Ecology),
quoted in “Urban Agriculture: A Revolutionary Model for Economic
Development” by Chris Lazarus, New Village: Building Sustain-
able Cultures, Issue 2, 2000, p.64.
Rendering of the prototypical smart, eco-friendly greenhouse to be constructed
\ on the roof of the school’s cafeteria and adjacent to the Science Lab. (Lisec &
Biederman, Ltd.)
Recreating the Built Environment to
Foster Community Food Production
The vision includes the construction of greenhouses
on the rooftops of buildings throughout the
community. These will be critical components of an
expansive endeavor to have the community grow its
own nutritious produce. The proprietors of ten
buildings within a city block of PACHS and PRCC
have expressed a commitment to making their
rooftops available for this purpose, provided a
feasibility study is done that ensures the structural
integrity of their edifice and that funding for the
addition is secured.
Reconceptualizing the use of these rooftops in this
manner provides multiple benefits for the proprietors
and residents of the buildings, and for the com-
munity’s common environment as well. Most of the
sun’s energy beaming on the roofs is detrimental to
building and the community, as it increases the cost
of cooling the building and contributes to urban heat.
Our vision is to efficiently harness this rooftop solar
energy by converting it to photosynthesis in the
greenhouses and photovoltaic energy in solar panels
that will be installed alongside the greenhouses. The
solar electricity produced will
power the mechanicals of
the greenhouses and may
even be channeled to
provide for all or part of the
electrical demand of the
building itself; all of this in
addition to the production of
nutritious produce. We are
presently in discussions with
YouthBuild, Inc. to engage
and train our students in the
design and construction of
the greenhouses and in the
installation of these rooftop
solar panels.
15
Essential Components of the Initiative
The Initiative is comprised three essential compo-
nents: community education and engagement, com-
munity food production and distribution, and active
living. Each component is comprised of several es-
sential elements. The components and their elements
are described below.
“Sí Se Puede” Community Education and
Engagement
The campaign is comprised of three elements: Health
and Nutrition, the Green Collar Pipeline, and Junior
Master Gardeners program.
Health and Nutrition Campaign
The effectiveness and success of the Initiative is fully
dependent on the knowledge and engagement of the
community as a whole. An expansive campaign on
Health and Nutrition is being developed in which CO-
OP Humboldt Park and the Participatory Democracy
Project, two key components of PRCC, will:
A. Develop educational materials, such as bro-
chures, fliers and posters to disseminate through-
out the community;
B. Deploy their staff and volunteers to carry out a
door-to-door campaign that engages community
residents in dialogue on health and nutrition and
the need to address the food desert by cultivating
and consuming fresh produce;
C. Engage our partnerships with community
churches, schools, clinics, local business, gov-
ernment agencies, and public officials (elected
and appointed) to disseminate information on
health nutrition and cultivation to the community
residents they serve;
D. Strategically utilize mass venues and cultural fes-
tivities in the community, such as Three Kings
Day, Puerto Rican Parade Week, Fiesta Boricua
and Haunted Paseo (collectively attended by
hundreds of thousands of participants) to dis-
seminate materials and engage residents; and
E. Strategically utilize the local mass media by con-
vening press conferences, securing that articles
are written in the print media and coverage is pro-
vided by the broadcast media of the Initiative, and
placing ads in the community newspaper, La Voz
de Paseo Boricua (also a program of PRCC).
The purpose of the campaign is to educate the com-
munity on health and nutrition, but also to encourage
its active engagement in the cultivation and consump-
tion of fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables, and to en-
courage more active and less sedentary lifestyles in
an intentional effort to reduce the prevalence of diabe-
tes, obesity and hypertension.
Students visit a Green Roof Garden in Humboldt Park and
learn about irrigation systems and the Earthbox®, information
and resources that they will bring back to their community.
16
Junior Master Gardener Program
PACHS provides students with a forum for continuous
learning and innovation. It has redesigned and inte-
grated its science and math curriculum to focus on
urban agriculture. The curriculum is infused with con-
cepts in botany, agronomy and urban agriculture. For
the past 4 years, the students have been engaged in
growing culturally relevant herbs, fruits and vegeta-
bles, using soil-based and hydroponic (soil-less) tech-
nologies. Students germinate plants from seed, nur-
ture their growth into seedlings, and transplant the
soil-based ones into El Coquí, the school’s community
garden.
PACHS students engage with Master Gardener to learn
about container gardening.
Students who are interested in more profound skill
sets in horticulture will participate in a Master Gar-
dener program specifically designed for our students
by the Director of Urban Horticulture and Environment
of the UIUC – Cook County Extension Office. The
Junior Master Gardeners program will allow students
to delve deeply into topics in botany, soils, vegeta-
bles, fruits, flowers, trees and shrubs, grasses, land-
scaping, insects, and plant diseases. These skill sets
will be reinforced as students work with the commu-
nity farmers in the Urban Oasis and in the green-
houses, and will be invaluable for the long-term
sustainability of the Urban Agriculture Initiative in
Humboldt Park.
Green Collar Pipeline
To further stimulate student engagement in urban ag-
riculture and green technology in the long-term, PRCC
and PACHS have developed a partnership with Wilbur
Wright College (WWC) and UIUC to create a Green
Collar Pipeline for the students. The pipeline allows
the students the opportunity to expand on the knowl-
edge and skill sets mastered in the classroom, green-
houses and gardens and engage in post-secondary
courses that will lead career paths in the booming in-
dustries of the future. WWC is presently developing
an associate’s degree program in urban agriculture
and green technology. The program will bridge the
curricula of PACHS and other community high
schools to the academic programs of the College of
Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
at UIUC where students can complete their under-
graduate and graduate degrees. The curricula of the
three educational institutions will be synergistically
articulated to ensure a seamless transition for
students from one academic level to the next.
PACHS students grow plants hydroponically using an Ebb
and Flow system as part of their integrated science curricu-
lum. Plants grown in the classroom are transplanted in com-
munity and rooftop gardens.
17
“Cosecha Lo Tuyo” Community Food Pro-
duction and Distribution
This component of the Initiative is focused on the
ways in which the community can become self-
sufficient in producing its own food reserves. The
component is comprised of four elements: the Urban
Oasis Edible Garden and Community Farm, rooftop
greenhouses, backyard and community gardens,
and distribution through El Conuco Community Pro-
duce Market and La Cosecha Produce Kiosks.
Student cares for ají dulce (Puerto Rican sweet pepper)
plants in one of the community gardens.
Urban Oasis Edible Garden and Community
Farm
In a community where land is at a premium and va-
cant lots are prohibitively expensive as a result of the
pressures of gentrification, innovation is critical in or-
der for the community to provide for its own nutritional
needs. The needed innovation has come in heavy
doses from the students of PACHS as they have led
the way in proposing rooftop greenhouses and gar-
dens, and the creation of a community urban farm on
parkland. The Initiative is responsive to the students
and premised on recreating the built environment by
developing state of the art, eco-friendly greenhouses
in the “most unlikely of places”, community parkland
and rooftops.
The Urban Oasis is an urban community farm in
which parkland is transformed into an aesthetically
pleasing edible garden. This is an example of the
reconceptualization of the built environment, taking a
portion of a community green space and making it
much greener. The Chicago Park District’s Humboldt
Park is 209 acres of beautiful urban parkland within
the Humboldt Park community. In this collaboration,
the Park District will initially lease a half-acre lot to
PACHS and PRCC for the creation of the Urban Oa-
sis. Additional parkland will be made available once
the success of the Oasis is demonstrated.
The Sí Se Puede Campaign will serve to identify un-
employed or underemployed community residents
who have agricultural expertise and are committed to
working with our students in establishing and main-
taining Urban Oasis. The Initiative will seek to secure
Americorps funding for these community residents,
providing them with living wage stipends, health in-
surance and educational stipends. The Americorps
volunteers will be principally responsible for the culti-
vation, harvesting and upkeep of the Urban Oasis.
The Urban Oasis will be established on a half acre of
organically composted raised beds meticulously de-
signed and landscaped to be consonant with its sur-
roundings, as the space is immediately adjacent to
the Institute of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, a state
of the art exhibition space and an active studio for the
teaching and production of art and cultural artifacts.
The Oasis will be designed by landscape architects in
collaboration with the Chicago Botanic Garden (CBG),
one of the nation's most visited public gardens and a
preeminent center for learning and research, with its
world-renowned plant collections and displays. CBG
will provide ongoing consultation, training and techni-
cal assistance. IPRAC will provide guidance to en-
sure that the design is in keeping with Puerto Rican
cultural motifs.
The cultivation will be fully organic and multi-crop in
nature. The crops to be grown have largely been de-
termined by a produce consumption survey that was
18

Community residents who grow herbs, fruits and vege-
tables in their backyards will be encouraged to sell their
excess yield in the community produce market.
administered in 2008. The results indicated that 82%
of the adult respondents would consume at least the
daily minimum requirement of fresh produce if it were
affordably available within the community. Sixty four
percent of Puerto Rican respondents indicated that
their produce consumption would significantly increase
with the affordable availability of culturally consonant
produce such as batata, malanga, yuca and ñame.
These tropical perennial tubers will not likely grow in
Batata Malanga
Yuca Ñame
Chicago’s temperate climate unless cultivated in a
climate-controlled greenhouse. However the stu-
dents will be encouraged to experiment in determin-
ing the feasibility and practicality of growing these
tubers in the Urban Oasis.
According to the Community Food Security Coalition,
urban multi-crop cultivation (polyculture) can produce
yields that are 13 times more per acre than the yields
of mono-crop rural farms, assuming that urban farm-
ers utilize raised beds, soil amendments, and season
extenders such as row covers, hoop houses and
greenhouses.1 The anticipated crop yield is 50,000
pounds of produce in the initial year. It is also antici-
pated that the annual yield will significantly increase
as the community residents and students become
more proficient in food production. The yields will
increase yet again once the fruit trees start to flower
and bear fruit.
Rooftop Greenhouses
This element is another example of a component that
is born of student innovation. It is also an example of
the recreation of the built environment, constructing
eco-friendly, solar-powered greenhouses on the
roofs of buildings in t he community.
The initial and prototypical greenhouse has been
constructed on the roof of PACHS’s cafeteria, placing
it immediately adjacent to the science laboratory,
making it an extension of the school’s lab. This
greenhouse will be operational by April 2011. It is
Hydroponic lettuce being grown in a greenhouse will
grow from seed to harvest in 36 days.
19
designed as a “smart” greenhouse in which the criti-
cal functions and operations, such as heat-
ing/cooling, ventilation, irrigation and nutrient supply,
will be computer controlled. Students will set the pa-
rameters, but the system will be fully automated to
ensure optimal crop quality, maintenance and har-
vest. This eco-friendly greenhouse will ultimately be
solar-powered, irrigated by re-cycled rainwater, and
will be free of pesticides, fertilizers and other chemi-
cal pollutants.
The Sí Se Puede Campaign will serve to identify un-
employed or underemployed community residents,
preferably the residents of the buildings where the
greenhouses will be constructed, to train along with
our students in soil and hydroponic cultivation and in
establishing and maintaining the greenhouses. As
with the Urban Oasis, the Initiative will seek to secure
Americorps funding for these community residents,
providing them with living wage stipends, health in-
surance and educational stipends. The Americorps
volunteers will principally responsible for the cultiva-
tion, harvesting and upkeep of greenhouses. Once
Fresh fruits and vegetables are an essential compo-
nent of a healthy individual and healthy community.
the greenhouses are fully operational, the estimated
yields will be 6,000 to 10,000 pounds of produce per
greenhouse. The cultivation will be monitored closely
to ensure maximum quality and efficiency. Faculty
from UIUC’s College of Agriculture, Consumer and
Environmental Sciences (ACES) will provide consulta-
tion, training and technical assistance on greenhouse
and hydroponics maintenance and operation.
Backyard and Community Gardens
The Sí Se Puede Campaign will encourage
community residents to engage in backyard
gardening. They will be encouraged to cultivate
three to four times more than what their family will
consume. The excess is to be shared with
neighbors who do not have the means or ability to
cultivate their own. Alternatively, the excess can be
donated or sold at the Community Produce Market.
The backyard gardeners will be supported by
volunteer Master Gardeners and Junior Master
Gardeners in collaboration with the Cook County
Extension Office of UIUC. Support will include
training in methods of raised bed and/or container
gardening to ensure that the produce is free of soil
contaminants.
The Initiative will collaborate with Growing Pride, an
association of community gardeners, to grow
surplus produce to maximize the community’s crop
yield. It is estimated that 15,000 pounds of produce
will be generated annually by back yard and
20
community gardeners.
Ongoing community produce needs assessments will
be used in determining the types and quantities of
produce to be cultivated. The Initiative will consult
with key partners discussed below to help determine
crop assignment—which crops will grow optimally in
hydroponic, greenhouse environments and which will
grow best in the raised, composted beds in the Urban
Oasis. The Director of Urban Agriculture will coordi-
nate and oversee the needs assessments and the
cultivation processes to ensure the quality and quan-
tity of produce meet the needs of the community.
Marketing and Distribution
The means that will be used to propagate the Sí Se
Puede Campaign (discussed above) will also be used
in marketing the produce harvested through the Initia-
tive—educational materials, door-to-door outreach,
community partnerships, the local media, etc. The
distribution of produce will be through El Conuco, a
central community produce market and through La
Cosecha, sidewalk vending kiosks situated immedi-
ately outside the location of each of the green houses
and at other strategic locations throughout the com-
munity. El Conuco (the family farm) will be a large
weekend market, reminiscent of the open-air markets
that are ubiquitous in Latin American countries.
Presently La Cosecha (the harvest) is our biweekly
market basket program through which community
residents can purchase fifteen pounds of fresh pro-
duce for $9.00. Participants pick up their baskets at
centrally located CO-OP Humboldt Park. La Cosecha
will evolve into the multi-site, strategically located ki-
osks that will open all week but closed on the week-
end to encourage the community to commune in El
Conuco. The vision includes using adult tricycles cre-
ated through Ciclo-Urbano to provide a mode by
which to transport the crops and materials that are
produced through the Initiative to and from the various
production and vending sites.
Muévete Active Living
Healthy eating is an essential aspect of what the
community needs to do in order to eradicate diabetes,
obesity and hypertension, to be sure. But just as es-
sential is the need to significantly increase the level of
exercise and physical activity. This component is
comprised of three elements: Muévete Fitness Op-
tions, the Ciclo Urbano Bicycling Program, and the
Skate Boarding Project.
Muévete Fitness Options
CO-OP Humboldt Park has initiated Muévete (Get
Moving), a highly successful exercise and fitness pro-
gram that provides participants with workout options
that include vigorous aerobic exercise, weight training,
brisk walking, jogging and bicycling throughout the
community. This free program started out as begin-
ner level aerobics club for women of all ages to pro-
mote physical activity and provide social support. The
program has expanded to include men in the work-
outs. The sessions take place four times a week in
the gym of the Humboldt Park Field House. The
workout includes warm up exercises, a dance aerobic
workout, abdominal exercises and ends with stretch-
ing and deep breathing. Participants may opt to in-
crease their workout regimen by engaging in the other
program offerings.
21
Muévete also conducts free technical assistance for
agencies and organizations that want to establish
physical activity for community residents. Thus far, the
program has assisted West Humboldt Park
Development Council and Von Humboldt Elementary
School in developing or improving physical activity
interventions in the community.

Humboldt Park skateboarders built their own boards and

Ciclo Urbano
developed heir skating skills
The initiative now includes CicloUrbano, a community
bicycling program that engages community residents in
gaged in skateboarding. Students spend hours on
designing and building their own bicycles from scratch
end practicing their skills and honing their craft.
or taking donated or junked bicycles and recycling them
PRCC and PACHS sought to encourage this type of
into eco-friendly, economical, energy-efficient and
physical activity in our youth by establishing a
healthful modes of transportation. The community is
skateboarding program in the summer of 2008.
becoming increasingly bicycle-friendly as more streets
Thirty students participated in a project in which they
are designated as bike paths and bicycle only lanes are
were encouraged to spend the day focused on all
installed. One of the Muévete options is group bicycling
aspects of skateboarding. Participants learned new
throughout the community. Community residents who
skill from each other, in addition to learning to de-
sign and construct their own skateboards and their
own skateboarding park. Almost as many young
women were involved in this project as young men.
In addition to the Active Living elements described
above, the active participation of students and other
community residents in land preparation and main-
tenance, cultivation and harvest will significantly
increase the exercise and physical activities of the
participants.

Community bicyclists converge on the Ciclo Urbano

location in Paseo Boricua

do not own a bike can barrow one, rent one, buy one,
or build their own through Ciclo Urbano. Bicycles and
adult tricycles will be the preferred way to transport
produce from one component of the Initiative to an-
other.

Skateboard Project
An increasing number of our youth are becoming en-
22
Goal and Intended Outcomes
The goal of the initiative is to eradicate the commu-
nity’s designation as a food desert and engender
healthier lifestyles for community residents by engag-
ing them in the sustainable production and consump-
tion of nutritious produce that is grown by and for them
within the community, and by increasing the commu-
nity’s engagement in physical activity by actively par-
ticipating in urban agriculture.

Intended Outcomes
The intended outcomes of the Initiative are as follow: buildings and fresh produce kiosks on its side-
1) Improve the community’s ability and capacity to walks, and by making some of parkland and back-
be self-sufficient in cultivating affordable, fresh yards greener through their transformation into an
herbs, fruits and vegetables; edible gardens;
2) Increase the active participation of students (pre- 8) Decrease the community’s demand for unsustain-
school through high school) and other community able energy (conventional electricity) by construct-
residents (including elders) in a multi-generational ing greenhouses and photo-voltaic solar panels on
production of nutritious produce; rooftops of existing buildings;
3) Increase the community’s knowledge of the health 9) Improve the career options of students and other
benefits of fresh produce in the diet and an active community residents by increasing their knowl-
lifestyle, as well as the adverse consequences of edge of agriculture and green technology through
fast food, processed food and sedentary living; their engagement in the edible gardens and
4) Increase the community’s access to community- greenhouses and through their participation in the
grown affordable produce through an expansive green collar pipeline;
marketing and distribution system that incents
community residents to purchase the products of
this initiative;
5) Increase significantly the consumption of fresh
produce by community residents the increasing
the availability and affordability of fresh produce;
6) Decrease the distance community residents
to travel
need to totravel
access
to fresh produce
access fresh byproduce
expanding
by
the size of the Community Produce Market (aka
Farmers Market) and the number of its business
days and hours and by establishing strategically
located produce kiosks throughout the
community;
7) Enhance the community’s built environment by Carlos DeJesús and student innovators prepare har-
constructing greenhouses on rooftops of existing vested ají dulce for the making sofrito.

23
Continuous Evaluation and Planning
A. Process Evaluation - Measure of Activity Effec-
tiveness - The staff of the Initiative will work as a
team to collaboratively develop a comprehensive
work plan that will specify the activities to be ac-
complished for each objective and the time frame
by which they are to be accomplished. The Direc-
tor of Urban Agriculture will facilitate the process.
A baseline measure will be determined for each
objective prior to the onset of the proposed pro-
gram. The Director will undertake an evaluative
analysis of the objectives at the mid-point and at
the end of each program year, comparing the
status of each objective to the baseline measure.
The activities will be augmented or altered as
deemed necessary throughout the program year.
The Director will report the results of the evalua-
tive analyses to the executive director of PRCC
and the principal of PACHS, and ultimately to the
Board of Directors of each organization. A final
report will be submitted to the funders of the Initia-
tive at the end of each program year, or in com-
pliance with specified timeframes from funder .
B. Outcomes Evaluation - Success will be measured
by the degree to which the program has accom-
plished each of the outcome objective discussed
above, and has taken significant strides toward
fulfilling the goal.
C. Independent Evaluation - The Initiative will utilize
its university partnerships to identify and contract
a program evaluation consultant to independently
assess the effectiveness of the initiative.
Self-Sustainability
The entire initiative will continue well beyond any
given funding period. It has the potential of eventually
becoming self-sustaining. As the agricultural systems
and assets are established and become operational
and sufficient levels of food production are achieved,
the initiative will begin to generate income through the
sale of produce to community residents and local res-
taurants, schools and other institutions. The long-term
sustainability of this project will be approached
through the production and sales of fresh, nutritious
produce that is grown locally by enterprising students
and the community’s experienced farmers, as well as
the nascent urban farmers who come from a proud
agricultural tradition.
Given that the Initiative is not-for-profit and is thereby
driven by the missions of the PRCC, PACHS and the
key partners, and not driven by profit motive, the com-
plete self-sufficiency of the Initiative is improbable.
The viability of this initiative, and the well being of our
community, will depend on the vision, compassion and
generosity of donors, foundations, corporations, uni-
versities and public entities, such as those described
in the acknowledgements section above.
PACHS and PRCC will continue to seek and secure
funding from other potential partners, including the
National Science Foundation, the Kellogg Foundation,
Kresge Foundation, Humana Health Systems, the Illi-
nois General Assembly, the US Department of Agri-
culture, YouthBuild, Inc., the Toyota Foundation, the
Eli’s Cheesecake Company, the City of Chicago De-
partment of Environment, and many others.
24
Works Cited

Ableman, M. (2000). Fatal Harvest. Quoted in Urban Agriculture: A Revolutionary Model for Economic Development by Chris Laza-
rus, New Village: Building Sustainable Cultures, 2, 64.
Estarziau, M., Morales, M., Rico, A., Margellos-Anast, H., Whitman, S., & Christoffel, K. (2006). The Community Survey in Humboldt
Park: Preventing Obesity and Improving Our Health. Chicago, IL: Puerto Rican Cultural Center and Sinai Urban Health In-
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Health System.

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