The Urban Juncture Foundation and several partners are developing the Bronzeville Community Garden at the southeast corner of Calumet Avenue and 51st Street, just a block off Washington Park. The purpose of the garden is to engage Bronzeville residents around issues of food, nutrition, and health; to facilitate positive neighborhood interaction; to highlight opportunities in urban agriculture; and, to beautify Bronzeville. It is part of the broader Bronzeville Cookin’™ culinary development on 51st Street (see www.urban-juncture.com/news.html).
Work on the garden started in April with the leadership of Chef Tsadakeeyah Emmanuel, proprietor of Majani310 vegetarian restaurant that is being developed at 51st Street and Prairie Avenue. After removal of
trash and other obstructions from the site in April, building of beds by lead carpenters Mike Beavers and Mike Robinson, and installation of the garden plan designed by Brook Architecture (www.brookarchitecture.com) began in May. This was helped greatly by donations of used pallets and other materials secured by Indrani Peyton and by a team of interns provided by the K.L.E.O. center.
Planting began at the end of June with the leadership of Madiem Kawa of the Washington Park Conservancy (washington-park-greenspace-journal.blogspot.com), the help of a Bronzeville Alliance (www.bronzevillealliance.org) team of summer interns, which was organized by Centers for New Horizons (www.cnh.org), and the assistance of many other community volunteers. Currently 11 of 12 beds have been completed and planted, mostly with vegetables that will be used in cooking demonstrations and made available to neighborhood residents.
Mike Beavers, John Owens, and
Chef Tsadakeeyah water one of the first beds.
The garden’s first public event will be a community art exhibit, “Habib” - beloved in Arabic, which is currently being installed by ArtUP, a college-readiness program of The Center for Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College Chicago. Habib is a compilation of text and images of community members and their views on the garden, health, wellness and that which they hold dear in their community. The installation consists of three totems wrapped in photographs and text. Contributing artists include high school students from DimeChild Foundation and college students from Columbia College Chicago.
Everyone is invited to the garden’s Grand Opening celebration, Thursday, August 19, from 6 - 8 PM, which will include games, presentation of the Habib exhibit, and a cooking demonstration.
Before After
The garden is a member of the Bronzeville Alliance Green Network and the Openlands HomeGrown Chicago Food Garden Network.
Anyone needing more information or interested in volunteering may contact Chef Tsadakeeyah at 773 507 8280 or tsadakeeyah@me.com.
BIG™
Where is your Village? Sustainability One Square Mile at a Time
Explore a new paradigm for green community development with BIG’s 8 Principles of Green-Village-Building-a practical guide for community groups, scholars, environmentalists, and neighbors interested in sustainable development for communities of color. Compare other sustainability models with our “culture-specific prescription,” which has universal values and a design to deconstruct whole-system problems common to black communities. Tackle the hypothesis that “only a whole-system solution can transform a whole-system problem.” Advance the health/wealth of your walkable village, and relate back to the common-sense roots found in Grannynomics-the values that ruled our households and guided our transactions when small was plenty. Note: this course will be held on the University of Chicago’s Hyde Park campus, at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture, 5733 S. University Av.Section Number: 10A1
10/6/2010 - 11/24/2010
Wednesdays 6:30 PM - 9:00 PM
Tuition: $365.00
Early Registration Rate: $335.00 before 9/14/2010
