“Growing” Opportunities in Chicago

by Andy Angelos

The economic impacts of the Olympic and Paralympic Games - as mentioned in a previous post - can be summarized into three categories: the creation of world-class facilities; recognition through global media coverage; and the influx of jobs, training, volunteerism, and funding for community development. Job creation and training are arguably the most important economic vestige of the Games - providing incentives for families to relocate and prosper in the host city for decades after the event.

Job creation and learning valuable life skills, however, are not reserved exclusively for momentous occasions as illustrated by Chicago based Growing Home. The non-profit social enterprise provides business and agriculture training for homeless and low-income residents of the city. Growing Home currently maintains three farm sites in Illinois, which are staffed by interns who cultivate and sell organic produce during a seven-month training program. All proceeds are reinvested into the program for improvement of training and maintenance of the farms.

Growing Home Administrative Director Rebekah Silverman graciously provided additional insight concerning the organization and also offered some advice for Chicago’s Olympic/Paralympic Bid. “One of our main goals is to help every intern find full-time employment or enter another training program by the end,” said Rebekah. Participants typically graduate remarking on the opportunity “to break away from the poverty cycle” and “build self-esteem by doing work that has real objective and results.” The life-changing self-esteem boost has resulted in a 68% employment rate for Growing Home participants, with others returning to receive their GED or additional education.

The job influx presented to Olympic host cities would be ideal for Growing Home graduates with newly minted business and agricultural skills. Silverman, however, impresses the need for the City to embrace candidates with employment barriers: “Folks like our program participants, who have some barriers to employment - [would] need to have support of the city. Not necessarily just the city with a Capital ‘C’ but also the Chicago community.”

To learn more about Growing Home visit their blog. I also hope to reconnect with Rebekah and team for a tour of their revamped Wood Street facility in the near future. Stay tuned!