COMMUNITY AND WORKFORCE PARTNERSHIPS
NEW PARTNERSHIP GROWS IN WAUKEGAN facility located in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. The Lakeshore Campus initiative will take inspiration from the Farm on Ogden and build upon local community input to be relevant for the northshore Lake County communities. The student-run farm, expected to open in fall of 2023, will apply sustainable agriculture practices: hydroponics, aquaponics, raised beds and greenhouse production. It will operate from three renovated CLC buildings facing Madison Street and will help revitalize the Lakeshore Campus with a facility that includes food cultivation, aggregation and storage.
Thanks in part to generous donors, things will be sprouting up in the future in Waukegan with a new Center for Urban Agriculture & Community Development at the CLC Lakeshore Campus.
“This is an initiative that touches on each of the pillars and values of CLC,” said Roneida Martin, executive director, community programs, personal enrichment, judicial services and the urban farm.
Veggies will be grown hydroponically, in water, which provides a faster growth cycle, and will be enhanced with nutrients that are good for plants as well as people. In addition, this method allows CLC to have optimal use of space for the yield and provides nearly zero emissions which ties into the college’s role as a sustainability leader. “I’m excited about this new endeavor, which will be a community effort. In the spirit of a true partnership, CLC has been and will continue to engage the local community to see how we can achieve mutually beneficial goals,” Martin said. “We cannot do this important work by ourselves.”
The farm is being funded by generous, local benefactors who have,
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to date, donated $3.2 million. The college partnered with the Chicago
CLC has engaged the community through townhall meetings and
Botanic Garden to learn from its Farm on Ogden, a multi-use
by bringing together many smaller-scale nonprofits that focus on
CLC CONNECTS
