Tribune: Three new farmers markets to open

Englewood's Growing Home opened a farm stand last year.
Photo by Juan Francisco Hernandez.

New farmers markets will increase access to fresh produce this summer in Englewood, Woodlawn and the Quad Communities, according to a page-one story in this morning's Chicago Tribune. Each of the markets was envisioned by the communities during their quality-of-life planning processes back in 2005 and each will play a specific role that goes beyond improved food access.

The Woodlawn market at the Experimental Station, 61st and Blackstone, will boost that location as a nucleus of community life. There's already a youth bicycling program there, an artists' studio, a community garden and a very successful youth violin program at Carnegie School next door. Arvin Strange of NCP/Woodlawn says the market will increase activity there on Saturday mornings, when 30 youngsters and their parents come for violin training. That market starts May 17. The Experimental Station will hold a fundraiser for the market on April 4.

In Quad Communities, the market is part of the Cottage Grove Restoration Initiative and will be a hybrid market that sells prepared food, antiques and music, plus fresh produce like bananas and citrus that aren't grown on a local farm, but aren't widely available in nearby stores. Again, bringing people out and building community life is at least as important as the produce. That market runs Sundays at 4400 S. Cottage Grove starting June 1. A recent survey by Quad Communities Development Corporation found "overwhelming" support for a local farmers market.

The Englewood market will run Thursdays at 6452 S. Ashland starting June 19. The twist here is that some of the produce will come from the two-year-old urban farm run nearby by Growing Home, which uses farming and related work to provide training and job opportunities for hard-to-employ individuals. A leader on this effort is Orrin Williams of Growing Home, who was named a "community hero," at last week's Getting It Done conference.

All the markets will also use Electronic Benefit Transfer machines so that residents can use their LINK (food stamp) cards, a program that was pioneered last year at the Logan Square farmers market.

Teams Didn't Drop Ball During NCP Conference

(This post was created as a demonstration of live blogging during a workshop on communications.)

Groups got things going at UIC during the New Communities Program's Getting It Done: New Tools for Communities conference.

The conference held on Wednesday, March 26, brought together over 800 people from around the country in hopes of sharing knowledge from neighborhood leaders in Chicago, as well as from each other. One workshop, entitled "Communicating: Tell Your Story Far and Wide" learned the critical tools of communication and its importance in community organizations.

During the second session of the communications workshop, volunteers representing such diverse locals as San Diego and Auburn Gresham in Chicago, were asked to participate in a team building exercise in which each team competed to pass a football to each other in the shortest amount of time. Despite the blood and guts that carpeted the floor, team play provided a winning combination.

When Thom Clark, facilitator of the panel asked the group to sum up the point of this activity, one audience member explained that this seemingly simple activity was a way to learn that "inclusive investment is the strength of the community."

Hear more from the workshop here.

TOUCH FOOTBALL: A New Way to Communicate

(This post was created as a demonstration of live blogging during a workshop on communications.)

Who knew a Nerf football could teach a diverse group of community leaders how to communicate? Well, it did at the New Communities Program's Getting It Done: New Tools for Communities conference.

The conference was held on Wednesday, March 26, with over 800 people from around the country convening to learn from neighborhood leaders in Chicago, as well as from each other. One workshop, entitled "Communicating: Tell Your Story Far and Wide" learned the critical tools of communication and its importance in community organizations.

During the first session of the communications workshop, twelve adventurous volunteers were asked to participate in a potentially embarrassing activity. Thankfully, the volunteers and the audience had fun, each team winning a game.

When Thom Clark, facilitator of the panel asked the group to sum up the point of this activity, one audience member explained that the activity was an opportunity to learn "the communication of direction and interpretation."

Hear more from the workshop here.

Extended bus schedule fills critical gap

Photo by Eric Young Smith

What does public transit have to do with community development? Quite a lot, as several NCP quality-of-life plans call for improvements such as new el stations in West Haven (at Western on the Green Line and Madison/United Center on the Pink) and transit-oriented development around stations in Englewood and East Garfield.

The first group to notch a victory on this front is Quad Communities Development Corporation (QCDC), which in late 2004 co-hosted a community workshop (along with Work Welfare and Families and CTA chair Carole Brown) to discuss local transit needs.

A bunch of ideas got kicked around, from a child-care shuttle to a car-ownership program, but the solution that stuck was simply to plug a gap in local bus service.

Until this week, the #43 bus stopped running at 7 p.m. on weekdays, which meant second-shift workers couldn't transfer to or from the Red or Green Line stations, which are a mile or more west of the neighborhood. Now the bus runs every 20 minutes until just after midnight, thanks to a $150,000 grant from the Mayor's Office of Workforce Development, matched by a similar amount from the Regional Transportation Authority.

"This will serve the whole community," said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, QCDC's executive director, noting that hundreds of new units of housing have been built near 43rd Street, with more to come. It will benefit businesses as well, because four of the first loans from the $12 million Cottage Grove Restoration Initiative Fund will rehabilitate retail spaces on 43rd Street (shown at right) and on the 4200 block of Cottage Grove.

The CTA press release also announced new weekend trains on the Yellow Line and extended hours on the #69 Grand bus serving Navy Pier and the West Side.

The #43 bus is among the 20 routes that will offer Bus Tracker service, which allows riders to check arrival times via the internet. See CTA Tattler article.

Video of Little Village Boxing Gym

Photo by Alex Fledderjohn

This just in: the TuMultimedia video about the Little Village Boxing Gym.

During a winter when Chicago Public School students face gang violence and death on the streets, most recently at Crane and Gage Park High Schools, the people behind this gym are creating a real alternative. As one of the youth participants, Semajay Thomas, points out in the video, "For me to not fight on the streets, that's good for me."

Says Robert Ramos, executive director of the gym, "There's never any positive that comes from street violence."



Thanks to Sarahmaria Gomez and Alex Fledderjohn of TuMultimedia for the terrific video.

A community slant at Vocalo.org

One of my ongoing interests on this blog is exploring the new forms that communications are taking as the old broadcast and newspaper models fall apart. I can't tell yet how important web/radio might end up, but I'm certainly intrigued by the possibilities being kicked around by Chicago Public Radio's offshoot, Vocalo.org.

One of Vocalo's host-producers, Dan Weissman, told me yesterday that the station stirs things up by trying a new programming format every six weeks. The latest experiment will be a neighborhood-focused program centered around visits to the studio by community activists followed by journeys out to the 'hood to see things and meet others.

Interesting.

It gets started on Tuesday, March 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a visit from Jermont Montgomery of Imagine Englewood If, an organization that works on projects related to open space, youth and beautification. Two weeks later on March 25, Dan will visit with Ernest Sanders of Greater Auburn-Gresham Development Corporation, again from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Ernest is one of the New Communities Program's most prolific communicators, not simply writing stories and taking photos for the web, but making audio slideshows and using his cell phone to send reports to Vocalo.

To get more people in on that action, Vocalo is sponsoring another of its anyone-can-be-a-broadcaster trainings next Monday and Tuesday, March 10 or 11, at Batey Urbano, 2634 W. Division. "You'll learn the basics, including recording, editing, licensing, music selection, using your telephone as microphone and uploading content to the Vocalo.org web site," said the e-mail I received. "You'll also get to test some inexpensive recording equipment and free software." You can register online at the Vocalo "store" or call 312-893-2956. You can catch Vocalo at 89.5 FM if you live on the far South Side or Northwest Indiana; otherwise the best way to listen is by streaming it on the Vocalo browser. A more powerful antenna will start working this summer, Dan says, spreading the broadcast through metro Chicago.

Where's it all going? Who knows. But it sure is interesting watching the new media evolve.