Wood Street Urban Farm

Organization Overview

Growing Home provides job training for homeless and low-income individuals in Chicago through a social enterprise business based on organic agriculture. The program provides experiential learning opportunities and employment in the horticulture field as well as a unique job readiness curriculum that helps reintroduce participants back into the workforce. It is Chicago’s first permanent, year-round urban farm, meaning that growing can occur even in winter, in enclosed areas called hoop-houses.   

Participants take part in a curriculum that focuses on skills such as planting, cultivating and harvesting organically, food and nutrition education, and basic life skills, including personal money management. In addition, they learn marketing and sales skills and have the chance to practice them as they take turns working at sales booths.

Social Benefits

Economic development and job creation: The program teaches participants job readiness, farming, marketing and sales skills. The farm creates job opportunities each year through their transitional employment training program, and provides healthy produce for Englewood residents.

Public health: Growing Home provides fresh produce to multiple vendors in the Englewood community, an area that has been categorized as food desert because it is underserved by grocery stores and inundated with unhealthy fast-food franchises.

Environmental sustainability: The urban farm only produces USDA-Certified organic produce. Partial restoration of a former industrial site and recycled products used in construction of the building further contribute to limiting the structure’s environmental impact.

CCLF's Role

In 2009, CCLF provided a $250,000 mini-permanent mortgage to Growing Home for the completion of its Wood Street Urban Farm. The loan also allowed Growing Home to maintain essential reserves so that it could continue to be a successful and stable organization. CCLF worked closely with Growing Home to ensure the loan’s success after other lenders voiced concerns over a high loan-to-value rate and environmental remediation of the site.