From Harry Rhodes, Executive Director of Growing Home

I read with great interest Rick Telander’s recent series on Englewood in the Chicago Sun-Times. I thought it was a very well-written, insightful series. However, I was bothered by the overall message that nobody wants to live in Englewood anymore and that there is no hope for this community. The articles highlight the violence, the shootings, the crime. From these articles it sounds like there is no hope for Englewood, that nothing good is happening there, and that everybody who can is moving out.

While much of this is true, there is another side to this community.

Having worked in Englewood since 2005, I have had the privilege of meeting many Englewood residents who like and care about their community, and are doing great work to bring about change. A few examples of Englewood residents making a difference in their community include:

Ray Thompson - CEO of Thompson Community Relations Group, a community-centered and people-focused consultancy supporting local organizations and local people in their efforts to find solutions using their assets and capacities. Ray finds his peak passion in creating change in marginalized communities. Ray heads the Greater Englewood Urban Agriculture Task Force, working to create increased access to healthy vegetables in Englewood.

Cordia Pugh – Cordia is a long-time resident who started a family allotment food garden in the Englewood community. This is a group of over twenty Englewood residents who joined together because they wanted to grow food in their community. This year, the group joined with Growing Home and Openlands to start Hermitage Street Community Gardens. I visited in September and saw an abundance of food growing, and heard from these neighbors that this is how they feel they can change their neighborhood. They are now looking for more land in Englewood to start more gardens.

Fred Daniels – Fred is an Englewood resident who graduated from Growing Home’s job training program. He now works full-time for Growing Home at our Wood Street Urban Farm. Fred says that before he came to Growing Home he was confused, he didn’t know what he wanted to do, and tended to hang out on the street. That has changed, and he now brings home what he is learning. “I get to take what I learn here home, pass it on to my granny…She doesn’t have to tend to a garden because I’ll take care of it and grow things for her. My family is happy and I’m happy.”

Steven Casey – An Englewood resident who started “Fresh Moves,” a mobile produce market that delivers fresh food in N. Lawndale and Austin. After reading a 2006 report that mapped food deserts in Chicago, a group of community activists banded together to work on a solution. The answer? Put healthy food on wheels and bring it directly to people! Food Desert Action was able to secure a bus, donated from the CTA. The rest is history. They have been delivering food ever since, and the demand keeps increasing.

Asiaha Butler – Ay-Sha has started a local, community-mobilizing organization in Englewood called R.A.G.E. (Resident Association of Greater Englewood) Its mission is “to mobilize people and resources to force a change in the community by breaking down barriers to communication and promoting positivity through solution based problem solving. “ Ay Sha says: “As a resident of the Englewood community I am determined to promote inspirational stories that will help enrich cultural experiences in our village.”

I have seen the positive side to this community, with local residents working for change. Unfortunately this is not often seen in the press. When the media constantly highlights the problems of a community, I feel that this only adds to the stigma. I am not denying all the issues that were mentioned in the article, or pretending that they do not exist. Everything that Rick wrote was correct. I am saying that there is another side to this community; there are local residents who are working for change, who are using the assets that exist in their community to bring about that change.