The South Side of Chicago
The glacial retreat that lasted from about 26,000 to 13,000 years ago left behind the ecological landscape that would become the South Side of Chicago. Between The Park Ridge moraine along the Lake Michigan coastline and the Valparaiso Moraine to the West (making a “U” along the lake, heading north through the Western Michigan coastline), a mix of prairie, wetlands, and forest took shape. The Potawatomi and other Native people navigated the South Branch of the Chicago River and the Calumet Rivers, created temporary settlements along the banks while fishing and hunting the habitats, and used the low-lying land as portages for generations prior to White settlement. Though residential, commercial, and heavy industrial development has characterized the built environment in the past two centuries, a renewed push to stabilize the prairies, wetlands, and ecological balance in the Calumet region and greater South Side has been underway in the last two decades. A focus on environmental justice and creating sustainable-minded communities is charting a new path forward where a more ecologically South Side is possible. A network of urban farmers, businesses, organizations, and restorative green spaces has gradually emerged and continues to expand with sustained community support.
Plant Chicago (Back of the Yards)
Housed in a former early 20th century firehouse, the non-profit is focused on sustaining and providing education on the circular economy in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. In addition to educational programs ranging from aquaponics to vermicomposting, the Saturday farmers market is a great way to access locally grown food, drop off compost and food scraps or alkaline batteries that they will recycle for free, and catch occasional live music.
Jonathon Pereira, Executive Director
“Plant Chicago’s mission is to cultivate local circular economies. So explicit in that is we’re working on waste and economic issues together. There’s a business framework than can and should operate while supporting regenerative systems without over-extraction or exploitation of people and resources. With our work, because we are so hyper-local, I’m constantly reminded of how much is already happening in the circular economy space. We’re in the Southwest Side of Chicago, where there are a bevy of repair shops along Ashland Ave., shops recycling car batteries, so there are models for how that’s happening. Every industry needs to figure that out.”
Antique Taco (Bridgeport)
Ingredients from the tacos and dishes are sourced from local vendors such as Closed Loop Farms and Miller Farms, and the food scraps from the kitchen are composted. All carryout disposables are compostable as well.
Ashley Ortiz, Owner
“It’s an important part of our business model. One of the biggest things we do since we started in Bridgeport is we compost. We compost everything on the backend, in the kitchen where we know everything that’s supposed to be going into the bins. For our take out business, we’ve been very intentional about the products that we use. We want everything we use to be compostable. We’ve been able to source all compostable disposables. With dining in we’re trying to not serve with disposables.”
Rick Ortiz, Owner
“We have a more efficient menu and try to streamline to reduce waste. Our micro greens are Closed Loop farms, all our chicken is from Miller Farms. We’ve been working with the same local mushroom distributor for quite some time - Herber Valley Mushrooms. Our seafood vendor is a smaller vendor on the South Side.”
Manjani (South Shore)
The vegan and vegetarian restaurant sources from several local farms, including Eden Place Farms, Mother Carr Farms, Black Oaks Center, South Merrill Garden, Sweet Pea Farm, Urban Growers Collective, and Windy City Harvest, uses compostable takeout containers, and even utilized reclaimed wood on the ceiling and interior doors.
Tsadakeeyah Ben Emmanuel, Owner
“There are 3 things that we focused on in terms of sustainability. One is using local ingredients from local farmers as much as possible. The second was using recycled materials to renovate the space that we’re using. The third thing is just hiring local. We found in the interviewing process that there were a lot of people from this neighborhood that were working far away, which is a tremendous waste of time and resources. As much as we can, we hire folks that can walk to work.”
Growing Home (Englewood)
The workforce development non-profit provides environmental education and onsite, urban farming training for participants who have faced employment obstacles. Fresh, organic produce from their farms can be purchased at their farm stand at 1844 W. 59th St. on Thursdays from 11:00am - 5:00pm or at the 61st Street Farmers Market in Woodlawn.
Ezra Lee, Farming Program Manager
“We are an urban farm and employment training center. So what that means is we use high production certified organic farming as a tool to teach people transferable employment skills. In 2006 the program and organization really became focused on centering itself on Englewood. So we acquired of piece of land from the city of Chicago in 2006 with the understanding we would develop an urban farm site. People can engage through the farmers markets, through volunteering, they are welcome to donate, attend community events, and we’re always searching for employment partners.”
61st St. Farmers Market (Woodlawn)
Operating under the non-profit Experimental Station, the seasonal. indoor and outdoor market features local vendors from Chicago (Phoenix Bean Tofu, Star Farm, the Urban Canopy, and Growing Home) to farms in Illinois (Gorman Farm Fresh Produce) and Southwest Michigan (Ellis Family Farms and Mick Klugg Farm).
Jenny Yang, President of Phoenix Bean Tofu, Vendor
“We source the soybeans from a local agent. We buy local from maximum 450 miles away, mostly from Illinois. We produce our tofu in a traditional way where we soak the beans until they’re sprouted. And we send the okara (extracted, solid scraps) back to our farmers for to feed animals on the farms so nothing is wasted.”
Soul Veg City (Greater Grand Crossing)
The vegan and vegetarian soul food pioneer has been been serving the community for over 40 years as Soul Vegetarian East and Original Soul Vegetarian. With the new rebranding and remodel, Soul Veg City continues providing in-house crafted plant-based dishes and juices.
Go Green Community Fresh Market (Englewood)
The community focused market with the organizing and backing of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) has been providing quality, fresh food since its opening in 2022. The market carries a variety of locally made items from Soul Vegan, coffee roasted from nearby Kusanya Cafe, and pastries made in-house.
Carver 47 Food & Wellness Market (North Kenwood)
Housed in the non-profit and arts-focused CPS high school, Little Black Pearl, the cafe and market uses all compostable and recyclable containers and cutlery, sells reusable and sustainable kitchen items, and is a Too Good to Go business participant, connecting residents with unused food that would otherwise go to waste.
Mamie and Emmett Till-Mobley House Museum and Theater (West Woodlawn) - COMING 2025
The Till House was designated a Chicago landmark in 2021 after the environmental justice and sustainable development focused non-profit Blacks In Green purchased the home in 2020. The future, net-zero museum and theater will be powered from renewable energy and serve as the tourism component of the Sustainable Square Mile pilot program.
Naomi Davis, Founder & CEO
“Our vision is self-sustaining black communities everywhere. Our mission is to reinvent that walk to work, walk to shop, walk to learn, walk to play village where African-Americans own the businesses, own the land, and live the conservation lifestyle.
The outcomes are to create a buffer of resilience - the neighborhood experiences itself as buffered from the vicissitudes of the climate crisis and to increase household income among black residents. The sustainable square mile is specifically designed to be a whole system solution.
We encourage and eagerly invite folks to be with us at our events. We always have great food and beverages. We definitely believe in the value of fun. We want to make sure people come spend time with us.”