Self Sufficiency Alliance

The Self Sufficiency Alliance helps communities become more self-sufficient through developing resilient local food networks through community and school gardening programs. By providing science-based food education, children can better understand where food comes from while also creating healthy habits that encourage them to eat more fruits and vegetables. Additionally, we provide material curriculum for students, educational resources for professionals, and ongoing support for built and existing gardens to connect to local food networks.

We help communities and schools with the installation and maintenance of an edible garden. Partnering with various organizations, we provide an in-depth educational curriculum for youth and adults to help the understand what it takes to grow their own food. Services include hands-on youth instruction, soil education, garden design and planning, garden installation, and maintenance. In addition to traditional gardening, we also teach indoor garden methods such as hydroponics and aeroponics.

Now it is time for us to expand from school gardens to a full-service urban farming social enterprise. We want to install a vertical container farm on the southside of Chicago that provides fresh produce to local businesses, provides seedlings to clients, and donates excess produce to food banks/shelters. Vertical farming allows growers to provide fresh, healthy produce to their local area 365 days of the year. Our social enterprise in partnership with our educational gardening program will provide opportunities for youth to be exposed to agricultural tech and STEM.