Illinois – Fair Food Project: Building Capacities for Community-Based Food Systems

Despite Illinois’ role as a major agricultural producer of commodity crops, half a million people in northern Illinois suffer food insecurity every year. In Chicago, one of the nation’s largest and most prosperous cities, an average of 88,000 residents per week seek emergency food assistance.

The Fair Food project will involve partnerships with seven community-based organizations that are committed to urban garden projects that will serve low-income youth and adults. With resources of training, seeds, livestock and small-scale infrastructure, this project will result in seven communities transforming the way 1,290 families access healthy food, generate income and reinvent regional food systems.

Here is an Interest that supports Heifer International’s urban agricultural projects:

Rector & Neill Families Urban Agri Interest

Heifer Honduras

A new project will strengthen rural micro-enterprise in Honduras. Heifer’s intervention in favor of small farmers sparked the beginning of rural microenterprises that market surplus production and added value products. Led by small farmers, these rural enterprises lack the skills and resources to become successful, innovative businesses that support families and communities.

This project will strengthen nine rural microenterprises born from Heifer projects. These cooperatives will improve the nutrition and income of 883 families by generating jobs and marketing added-value products from honey, dairy, organic manure, seeds, pork, fish and weaving.

The following Interests provide long-term support for Heifer International projects that provide small farmers the training and tools to lift themselves out of poverty:

Honduras Country Interest
Honduras: Sarita Irias Interest
Honduras: Tim & Gloria Wheeler Interest
Honduras: Carrie & Robert G. Whitfield Memorial Interest
Honduras: Sievert & Peterson Interest

Heifer Ecuador

Unsustainable farming practices in the provinces of Los Rios and Guayas in the southern coast of Ecuador have severely affected local farmers’ ability to make a living off agriculture. Monocropping, indiscriminate water use and intense chemicals deteriorate the local environment at a rapid pace. Rural and urban families struggle to afford local healthy and nutritious food.

A new project working with small farms and promoting local markets will involve 290 families who will learn about farm diversification and water management to improve nutrition; generate surplus produce to increase household income; and build organizational capacity through leadership training for 120 community leaders, who will then share their knowledge with 1,200 people.

These Interests provide sustainable support for new projects that will improve the nutrition and earning ability of small farmers in Ecuador:

Ecuador: Eduardo & Nancy Sotomayor Interest
South America Country Interest