How does a vacant, nine-acre brownfield on Chicago's South Side get transformed into a beacon for renewable energy and urban farming? It takes collaboration, vision, and some help from an anaerobic digester.
Join leaders from Green Era Partners, Urban Growers Collective, Midwest Foods, and McCormick Place as they share details of their unique partnership designed to address environmental justice on the South Side. As you'll learn, the Chicago Prize funded an anaerobic digester that processes food waste, producing natural gas and fertilizer that supports local urban food production and procurement, reduces landfill waste, and enhances workforce development and community education.
Learning Objectives
- Examine the process of planning, financing, and constructing a renewable energy and urban farming campus on a vacant, nine-acre brownfield site on Chicago's South Side.
- Understand how local farmers turned a predominately Black neighborhood into a diverse national hub for the growing green economy.
- Recognize the positive environmental impact that dynamic partnerships can offer, such as sourcing local food from farmers and diverting food waste.
- Discover innovative strategies, such as enlisting ecotourism, to introduce the environmental benefits of the renewable energy campus.
- Erika Allen
Co-Founder & CEO / President / Co-Owner - Urban Growers Collective /Green ERA Educational NFP / Green Era Sustainability Partners - Doug Bradley
Vice President of Culinary - SAVOR Chicago at McCormick Place - Nicol Chervenak, AIA
Director of Planning and Program Management - Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority - Jason Feldman
Co-founder and CEO - Green Era Sustainability - Alexandra Frantz
Director of Local & Sustainability - Midwest Foods