On Chicago’s South Side, A community rises again

The barn serves as an entertainment and gathering spot, alive with jazz concerts, dance performances, farm-to-table dinners, yoga. The Harvest Dinner in September drew more than 300 people to the barn.

By Lori Rotenberk
Grist
Oct 14, 2019

Excerpt:

There are classes in carpentry, art, and cooking, all offered free to residents. There are 24 “you pick” beds of seasonal vegetables and herbs and a weekly farmer’s market. A carpentry training program has blossomed into a business where young people create tables, bookcases, benches, chairs, and tree swings that are sold in pop-ups throughout the city.

Some items are custom made in the Work-Shop, a greenhouse and community woodshop converted from a storage pod. Some are crafted from wood reclaimed from donated crating that was once used to ship glass. This is how it grows: “Students invite their families to see what they made, the audience become clients, and the landscape changes,” Pratt says.

That’s just the beginning. A foreclosed home has became the Think-Do House, a cozy hub for community meetings, workshops, and retreats. A large Sweet Water-made table takes up what would have been the living room and dining room, the walls covered in photos of residents and staff, and blackboards scrawled with think-do ideas. Wafting from the kitchen, where Mama Betty leads free cooking glasses for neighbors, is the smell of fresh tomato soup and herbs.

The Smart Pod is a learn and grow space, its first level used for education and inspiration, while a second is a hydroponic greenhouse. The R-N-D Park, spanning five vacant parcels, is a safe space to hold gatherings and memorials, or just a place to sit on a repurposed tree stump and ponder.

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