Bringing Fresh Produce to the South Side of Chicago

Michael and Amelia, owners of Eden Place Farms.

Michael Howard founded Eden Place Farms eight years ago with his wife, Amelia Howard. What used to be a vacant property is now a three-acre urban farm in South Side Fuller Park. This is one of the most underserved neighborhoods in the South Side of Chicago. Seventy-four percent of residents are food insecure. There hasn’t been a grocery store in Fuller Park in 40 years. There are no drug stores or banks, and they recently lost a school. There’s only one gas station that mostly sells processed foods. That’s where most residents shop.

Michael has seen many people come and go from Fuller Park, and he doesn’t blame them. Currently, there are no real economic opportunities there, but to him and Amelia, it’s home. They love their community and were tired of seeing people go hungry. That’s what motivated them to create Eden Place Farms.

For many years, the farm was solely operated by Michael and Amelia. It was hard labor, but they got it done. Then one day, they received an email from NeighborSpace inviting them to apply to the Chicago Community Growers Program. The program provides infrastructure and technical assistance to urban growers in low-to-moderate income communities in Chicago. It’s led by NeighborSpace in partnership with the City of Chicago’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Office, Advocates for Urban Agriculture, Chicago Food Policy Action Council, the Urban Growers Collective, Windy City Harvest, Grow Greater Englewood, and the Conservatory Fund’s Farm Fund.

Through the program, Michael and Amelia were able to get a grant to hire three full-time staff members and expand their operations. They were also able to purchase a wash pack to clean and sort the produce they grow and open a farm stand to sell their fresh produce to the community. Now community members can purchase locally-grown tomatoes, peppers, greens, cucumbers, turnips, radishes, eggplants and more right in their neighborhood.

Michael, owner of Eden Place Farms, stocking his new farm stand with fresh produce.

Michael also offers classes, where community members can learn how to grow and cook their own food. His goal is to empower people to be self-sufficient so they don’t have to rely on outside support to get by.

“It’s a good feeling when you’re training people in a new vocation,” said Michael. He hopes to keep growing Eden Place Farm so he can train and hire even more people and give them a living wage to support their families.

Michael (to the left) teaching one of his tractor training workshops at the farm.

“I’m so grateful to be part of the Chicago Community Growers Program,” said Michael. “The grant has been so helpful in so many ways and exceeded our expectations. We see a lot of programs that say we’re going to do this, we’re going to do that, but in the long run you get very little.“

In addition to providing grants, NeighborSpace also helps growers like Michael get access to land, water and the infrastructure they need to grow good food. *Over the past 30 years, they have helped protect 40 acres of community managed green spaces in low to moderate income neighborhoods in Chicago. *

“Community farms and gardens are places of comfort and connection, where neighbors come together to socialize and nourish their bodies,” said Robin Cline, Assistant Director of NeighborSpace. “They put power and pride back into the hands of communities that have experienced long-term underinvestment and limited access to fresh food.”

PHA is proud to support NeighborSpace and the Chicago Community Growers Program as part of our Good Food Cities work in Chicago.Together, we’re helping 60+ growers like Michael grow good food in their communities and expand their sales capacity. And that’s just one piece of the puzzle. In partnership with the Chicago Food Equity Council and others, we’re funding innovative solutions to double produce consumption in Chicago by 2030.