Little Village Environmental Justice Organization
LVEJO's Comite Primavera (Spring Committee) is growing backyard and community gardens in Chicago's Mexican-American neighborhood. Their newest site is at Amor de Dios United Methodist Church, whose twice a week food pantry serves 600 families. The on-site garden will provide fresh produce for the pantry while Comite members teach safe, effective methods of growing good food in the city.
The Learning Center is helping group members to modify their extensive agricultural skills for the city and Chicago's northern latitude. Partnership with the Learning Center offers neighborhood gardeners connection with local examples and resources, including field trips to see vermiculture at Pacific Garden Mission, Earth First Farms organic apple orchard in Michigan, and our partner Angelic Organics CSA farm.
Workshops and meetings in Spanish increase gardeners' access to new information and methods, like season extension using low and high tunnels, Biodynamic soil building, organic methods of plant care, and goats milk soap & cheese making. Many group members say they hope to farm again, if they can access land for enterprises including vegetables, poultry, sheep, and goats.
Several years ago, LVEJO surveyed retail access to organic produce, soy products, and whole grains in neighborhood stores. Unlike many lower-income communities of color, la Villita can claim many stores of all sizes selling fresh fruits and vegetables, which remain daily ingredients in home-cooked meals. However, the younger generation is losing connection to the traditional diet and skills their parents and grandparents brought to this country. Latinos' risk of Type 2 diabetes is almost double that of non-Hispanic whites in the US, and obesity is increasing.
The Comite Primavera presents a "Feria de la agricultura" each spring, with educational displays and information for the whole community. Gardeners also participate in LVEJO's holiday Mercado de artesanias (Craft Bazaar) in December. They manage two gardens on local schoolgrounds and are planning more ways to integrate them with teachers and their classes. With LVEJO's Open Space committee and Learning Center assistance, the Comite is preparing to develop a sizeable urban farm in a new city park at the former Celotex site.
LVEJO's Coordinator Kim Wasserman was one of 32 members appointed to the Illinois Local Food Farms and Jobs Task Force in 2007. LVEJO and the Learning Center together organized one of the state's Listening Sessions for residents of the neighborhood. Kim presented LVEJO's vision for their neighborhood's food system at the 2009 Chicago Food Policy Summit.
