We believe everyone deserves to have a good job, and everyone deserves to eat well.
That’s why we’ve been helping people find meaningful careers through skills learned while farming since 2002. Growing Home is Chicago’s leading expert in farm-based training for people with employment barriers. By providing 25 hours per week of paid on-the-job experience and job-readiness training at our farms, plus the support to conquer issues like criminal records, medical needs, child-care, and housing, we have changed the lives of hundreds of workers, and thousands of their family members.
We start people on the path to self-sufficiency. When people have jobs, they have economic stability in their lives; this stability allows for healthy people and families. But we don’t stop there: we use our unique model to impact neighborhoods with the greatest need. That’s why our farms are located in Englewood, a community on the South side of Chicago that has been under-served for decades and has extremely high rates of unemployment and poverty, hundreds of acres of vacant lots, and a distinct lack of healthy food choices.
When communities have access to healthy food options, the overall well-being and health of the residents improves. With economic resources and physical health, neighbors are more able to participate in the rejuvenation of their community.
To help people find meaningful, sustaining careers, we train them in job skills, give them real work experience, and support them while they begin their careers by helping with job placement and life-planning. We not only provide the support people need to succeed, but also the space to define what success means to them. To transform our community, we offer our produce to our neighbors at significantly reduced prices, advocate for the issues impacting Englewood, and open up our space for trainings, workshops, and more.
Milestones
1992
Les Brown, founder of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, has a vision to help homeless Chicagoans gain job skills and rebuild their confidence through farming.
2002
Nine people enroll as participants in Growing Home’s first year of training.
2006
Development begins on the Wood Street Urban Farm and the job training program finds a permanent home in Englewood. The first 100 Production Assistants complete the training program.
2011
In part due to Growing Home’s precedent-setting Wood Street Farm, the City of Chicago passes a new ordinance making the establishment of an urban farm less daunting and more efficient for others. Growing Home’s Honore Street Farm is the first farm to open under the new ordinance.
2013
Growing Home is chosen as the winner of the Bank of America Neighborhood Builders Award, and, at the Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards, is named as the Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Strategy of the Year.
2014
Growing Home solidifies a partnership with Cabrini Green Legal Aid to help Production Assistants seal or expunge their criminal records, a primary employment barrier, and to offer legal assistance with housing, child custody, and other civil pursuits affecting their ability to succeed.
Our Team
Janelle St. John
Executive Director
Natalie Archie
Controller
T’Nerra Butler
Marketing & Events Coordinator
Jakob Chybowski
Accountant
Mary Devo
IT Specialist
Janice Ellis
Workforce Development Specialist
LaQuandra Fair
Community Engagement Coordinator
Sonia Garcia
Farm Sales Associate
Ezra Lee
Farm & Program Manager
Daniel Mackey
Workforce Development Manager
Andre Morgan
Farm Market Associate
Megan Morrison
Communications and Development Manager
Rojas Oliva
Farm and Program Educator
Ursula Phillips-Levi
Employment Training and Community Engagement Associate
Courtney Richardson
Workforce Development Specialist
Mawiyah Stewart
Executive Support Administrative Assistant
Kenn Strickland
Training and Development Specialist
Anna Sumska
Farm and Program Educator
Jovan Wade
Farm and Program Educator
Zenobia Williams
Director of Employment Training
Karl Riley
Board President
5/3rd Bank, VP, Small Business Community Lender
Micheál Newman-Brooks
Board Vice President
Horticulturalist
Shawn Boone
Board Treasurer
PNC Bank, AVP Branch Manager
Dan Kaplan
Board Secretary
American Library Association, Marketing Manager
Joyce Donaly
BMO Harris
Stephen Gates
Accenture, Senior Manager, Midwest SAP Program Delivery
Katie Hill
Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter, Partner
Joe Niemec
Senior Managing Director at Guggenheim Securities
Colette Payne
Director, Reclamation Project
Lynn Sheck
Past Board President
Finicity, Senior Vice President
Steve Stanley
Pastor & Community Organizer
Kevin Swan
United Senior Services, General Manager
James Thompson
Physician, Senior Partner & Vice President, Associated Allergists & Asthma Specialists
Toni Thompson
U.S. Bank, Vice President
Stewart Weiss
Elrod Friedman LLP, Founding Partner
Associate Board
Rashanah Baldwin
Board Chair
Journalist & Multimedia Consultant. Baldwin Media Group.
Sima Shah
iRely, Manager
Martina Oroz
Accenture, Consulting Senior Analyst
Olivia Rath
Deloitte, Consultant
Bill Galusha
Sarah Locklund
Director of Partnerships & Marketing, Leafwell
Hannah Tate
Vital Proteins, Retail Marketing Manager
Jared Sagoff
Argonne National Laboratory, Coordinating Writer/Editor
Courtney Taylor
Executive Legal Assistant
Brendan Troutman
Cate Stuart
Leadership Council
Diana Leifer
Amy Rynell
Anton Seals Jr.
Barbara Wallace
Betsy Gates-Alford
Carolyn Zehrer
Colleen Sheehan
Deborah Bennett
Erika Allen
Foster Dale
Ivan Handler
Judith Aronson, PhD
Lauren Rosenthal
Lauri Alpern
Lisa Leib
Nicole Wagner
Orrin Williams
Paula Carney
Perry Gunn
Philip Hong
Sebastian White