Shrinking the food desert

There's a new farmers market on 61st and Dorchester in Woodlawn. It bustled with shoppers, the beets were fresh and going fast and the nine vendors nearly sold out of everything. This is one great step toward building healthier communities, especially because of the scarcity of fresh produce in this area. We can't wait to see how this market grows. Enjoy the sights and sounds!

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Artists as neighborhood assets

For the last decade or so, the arrival of artists in a gritty neighborhood has generally meant one thing: real estate developers were not too far behind. A classic example is the case of Wicker Park, once a scruffy neighborhood that became hip after attracting a slew of arts and music professionals, and now rivals Lincoln Park in home prices and general chi-chiness. The irony, of course, is many of the artists who once called Wicker Park home have now been priced out.

At the same time artists are seeking ways to live and work affordably, some neighborhoods are courting artists as community assets. Earlier this week, WBEZ aired a segment about artists in search of live/work space and featured the Chicago Lawn and Woodlawn neighborhoods as welcoming places for them.

Artists looking to find or keep a place to live got tips recently at the Creative Chicago Expo, which held workshops on buying a home, finding live/work or commercial space and preventing foreclosure. The expo also offered tips on how to get arts-related gigs with schools and win public art commissions, which help artists make money by helping schools and neighborhoods.

One local effort I know that has done much to integrate artists into the life of a particular community, is Voice of the City, which networks artists and community organization to produce art and arts education in Logan Square.

But I wonder how to interrupt the dynamic of artists arrive, put the neighborhood "on the map" to wealthier outsiders, then wind up unable to afford to stay. There's a national effort to answer this question: Leveraging Investments in Creativity, or LINC, which operates in Chicago and 13 other cities around the U.S>

As Adele Fleet Bacow wrote for the Chicago Artists Resource web site:

We recognize that in many communities, artists are being forced to become "developers by default," particularly in markets with high housing costs, limited supply of space, and/or areas where the space does not meet their unique needs. LINC is working to help artists find accessible information and support, to answer complex questions related to the development of affordable space.

I'll be interested to know what they find out. In the mean time, readers, if you have stories to share of artists who have been assets to their neighborhoods or creative ways artists have found to integrate into neighborhoods without sparking Wicker Parkian gentrification, post your comments here.

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.