The mission of Bronzeville Community Garden™ is to engage Bronzeville residents around issues of food, nutrition, health, and community building; to facilitate positive neighborhood interaction; to highlight income and food production opportunities in urban agriculture; to promote sustainability; and, to contribute to beautifying Bronzeville. Since its Grand Opening on August 19, 2010, the Garden has served thousands of patrons with free Community Feasts and with a variety of games and activities. It has been featured in local and national publications and has a strong online presence.
The Garden is designed to encourage positive, informal neighborhood interaction through crop production, kid activities, game events, free community feasts, and other family-friendly activities. To meet these objectives, the Garden includes over a dozen organic produce and flower beds, the Bronzeville Butterfly Sanctuary and other art installations, informal seating, a performance patio, a chef’s pavilion, a communal dining table, and a variety of games including chess, checkers, tic-tac-toe, hopscotch, and bean bag toss.
The Garden also provides education, internship, and part-time job opportunities. This has included hiring youth interns supported by federal stimulus funds (ARRA) to help build the Garden, hiring a local mosaic artist to create a large scale mural for the Garden, and recruiting youth interns from the community, supported by the Illinois Youth Recreation Corps program and by the Garden’s own funds. The Garden has also partnered with Chicago Botanic Garden to present Homegrown Bronzeville, a weekly farmstand featuring high-quality local produce, to the Washington Park/Grand Boulevard Community Areas.
The Garden is working to significantly expand the services it provides to the Bronzeville community. This includes sponsoring weekly “Come Unity” gardening activities, organizing informal games and tournaments, hosting the startup of Bronzeville Bikes™, and partnering with See Potential to secure additional support and resources.
