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A Chicago Farmer Earns Recognition from the James Beard Foundation

Laurell Sims of Urban Growers Collective is the first farmer to be chosen for the fellowship program. Urban Growers Collective

“Right now, more than ever, feeling a sense of connection to other women who are struggling with their business because of COVID is so bolstering and fortifying to my spirit,”

By Naomi Waxman
Eater Chicago
Oct 27, 2020

Excerpt:

Sims, of Urban Growers Collective in Bridgeport, is the first farmer to be chosen for the fellowship. Her team, along with Urban Grower co-founder Erika Allen (the daughter of Milwaukee-based urban agriculture pioneer Will Allen) offer programming for youth and adults including basic growing techniques, job training, and new farmer incubation. There are currently over 200 teens in the program.

“We don’t want all those kids to be farmers but we do want them to know there are places for them in the food industry,” Sims says. “There are so many outlets for being a part of that system as a consumer or if you make it your career — you have power there and you can help influence it.”

The collective is planning to relaunch its Fresh Foods Mobile Market program, a produce market inside a bus that organizers shut down in March because of the pandemic. Sims says the fellowship classes are helping her learn how to scale the market as the team works to relauch with wider range of offerings, including prepared items and meals like salads and fruit cups from local Black-owned food service company Chi Fresh Kitchens, as well as items from other Black-owned companies that produce soaps, toilet paper, beans, rice, and more. They hope to have the new bus operational by November.

“That brought me to the application: we’re diversifying this bus, which is almost like a small bodega, but we’re adding a food element,” she says. “It’s like a mini-restaurant with cooking demos and education. We made that case and they let me in!”

Read the complete article here.