Openlands' Englewood Work Featured on CBS 2 News

Community gardening isn’t only about what you plant—it’s also about friendship, dedication, and pride. For years Openlands has partnered with members of the Englewood community to help propagate these and many other benefits in a neighborhood known more for vacant lots and boarded-up houses than gardens filled with lush greenery. Reporter Derrick Young, who grew up in Englewood, created this powerful video segment, which aired on CBS 2 News, to help spread the good news.

All too often, when people see Englewood, they see crime, despair, and boarded-up houses. But there are also numerous gardens that are created and cared for by people in the community. At the garden at 5643 S. Hermitage Avenue, Jannodaca Walker and her fellow gardeners are growing more than the Italian green beans and tomatoes that are flourishing now. They’re actually creating community.

“This garden has really been a blessing to this community,” said gardener Cordia Pugh. “When we came here in April, on the start of this, this was actually a jungle.” Pugh organized her neighbors, who were looking for a place to garden. “We’ve come in to clean this garden space, level it, and then the vision kind of came together to start these raised beds,” Pugh said.

The goodwill goes beyond the garden. An elderly widow owns the old frame house next door. “What we had decided to do among our group was take up a collection to get paint, and we’ve also contacted one of the city organizations to get windows and get a new roof,” Pugh said. “She’s not participating in the garden this season, but she will be blessed by vegetables.”

Meanwhile, the gardeners have been blessed by Openlands, a conservation group that funds the project, because it believes in Englewood. “Englewood is such a gorgeous neighborhood. People don’t always realize that,” said Glenda Daniel of Openlands. “There are huge trees all over the neighborhood. There are lot of gardeners.”

Jannodaca says she’s in it for the long haul: “It feels good to know I planted this. You can tell everyone it feels good.” 

This article was excerpted with permission from the CBSChicago.com web site.

This amazing garden, involving 22 families growing food in their own raised-bed in a shared garden space, is supported by Openlands as part of its Homegrown Chicago Food Garden Network.