I arrived in the South Side of Chicago anticipating tall buildings clustered together and people relaxing on stoops. Instead, the large, century-old single-family homes and sprawling lawns conjured visions of suburbia. Despite the frequency of blight, the wide tree-lined streets oozed tranquility. Yet within my first days in Chicago, segregation overwhelmed me. I quickly noticed that blacks and whites rarely mix and that the systematic neglect of black neighborhoods imprisons residents. I’d come to Chicago to pursue a project about the South Side's urban agriculture movement within the context of the city’s problems with food security. Around 384,000 people without transportation live more than a mile from a grocery store and have difficulty obtaining healthy options.
It became clear that the solution to food security requires more than just food. At grocery stores, I saw shopping carts overflowing with processed products, regardless of whether the store sold fruit and vegetables. Conversely, I visited community gardens and witnessed the profound power of gardening to inspire healthy living, reduce stress and connect those involved with a larger purpose. Yet the reality is that not everyone in the community is interested in gardening or buying healthy food.
Halfway through my first month of shooting, I met Orrin Williams, the director of the Center for Urban Transformation. After 30 some years advocating urban agriculture and sustainable communities, Williams is convinced that building chain grocery stores won’t fix the problems. Instead, Williams has devised a holistic community redevelopment plan. Williams seeks to convert abandoned buildings into locally owned businesses that will enable the community to thrive. These entities include: year round indoor gardens, health and exercise facilities, stress-reduction centers, healthy cooking schools, community centers, arts education centers, and, perhaps most innovative, a new model of small grocery stores that provide affordable healthy food and free onsite cooking instruction.
