Education — Community Gardening

The North Chicago Green Youth Farm was started in spring of 2003 as a pilot program aimed at reaching out to youth in the underserved communities of North Chicago and Waukegan in partnership with the Lake County Forest Preserve District and Growing Power, Inc. The goal of the program was to teach the students through a paid work experience the value of healthy food and hard work and expose them to careers in the rapidly growing "green industry." Through the trials and tribulations of its flagship year, program staff observed that the students gained much more than was originally intended. The program has evolved from a one-acre plot in the Greenbelt Forest Preserve where 13 teenagers grew some vegetables to a full-fledged youth development program serving approximately 20 students per season with activities ranging from art workshops, to farmers' markets, to teambuilding exercises.