Giving Compass' Take:

• In Chicago, El Paseo Community Garden and Urban Juncture’s Build Bronzeville initiative are improving the land, building a sense of place, and strengthening community ties. 

• How can donors find and support community efforts like these? What could a project of this nature look like in your community? 

• Learn about growing environmental advocates through community gardens. 

For almost a decade, Paula and Antonio Acevedo have poured their sweat and more into what was once contaminated land in Chicago’s industrial neighborhood of Pilsen.

Their work and that of others has transformed the lot into El Paseo Community Garden—much needed greenspace that instills pride, stewardship, and a sense of community.

About 30 blocks south in Bronzeville, Bernard Loyd, his colleagues, and neighborhood residents use re-purposed shipping containers to spark community development as part of Urban Juncture’s Build Bronzeville initiative.

El Paseo and Urban Juncture are creative placemakers, an emerging movement of organizations seeking to solve community needs by bringing residents together through arts and culture.

“All that we’ve accomplished proves that community gardens can be so much more than veggies,” said Paula Acevedo, who co-directs El Paseo with Antonio. “Our land acts as a community space that provides the opportunity to not only grow healthy food but become an active member of the community and learn from one another.”

Sharing knowledge, she said, also helps bridge cultural and generational gaps.

Read the full article about land, place, and communities at MacArthur Foundation.