Our Partners

In 2019, we partnered with Carle Foundation Hospital to provide fresh, nutritious vegetables to individuals visiting the Carle Mobile Health Clinic in low-income, food-insecure neighborhoods such as the Garden Hills neighborhood of Champaign. In 2020, in collaboration with both Carle and C-U City Farms, we took that effort one step further by launching the Mobile Market, a retrofitted bus that serves as a fresh and dry goods market to those in low-income communities. We’ve donated over 7,000 pounds of produce to this effort to date, and are currently working with our partners to expand and improve the Mobile Market’s reach in summer 2022.

Learn more about the Carle Mobile Health Clinic and Mobile Market here.

Common Ground Food Coop is Urbana’s local sustainable food cooperative. They sell local produce and bakery goods as well as many other sustainably produced groceries, and provide educational programming to engage community members in their local food system. We partner with Common Ground to sell some of our crops and to produce educational programs about healthy eating. We also donate plants to benefit their Food for All program and have been a recipient of their Round Up For Good Grant three times.

Learn more about Common Ground Food Coop here.

The Community Foundation of East Central Illinois is a philanthropic organization working broadly to improve quality of life for all residents of East Central Illinois. They’ve supported us in many ways throughout the years, and we’ve most recently enrolled in their Building Better Boards program to bolster the strength and accountability of our board and management structure.

Learn more about Community Foundation of East Central Illinois here.

Cunningham Township Supervisor’s Office works to provide a safety net for low-income households in Urbana by providing direct assistance to those in need and by financially supporting other local social service organizations. We’ve worked with them in numerous ways, including collaborating on events and supporting the CTSO community garden. Most recently, we’ve partnered to launch the Solidarity Gardens project to support gardeners in producing high-quality, fresh produce for those whose food security has been disrupted by COVID-19.

Learn more about Cunningham Township’s work here.

C-U City Farms, a project of Four Osprey, aims to bolster urban farming in Urbana-Champaign by supporting job creation in sustainable agriculture and procurement of local foods for those in need. We partner with C-U City Farms to provide food to low-income neighborhoods through the Mobile Market, as well as supporting their goal of broadening urban farming opportunities in town. We’ve donated over 7,000 pounds of produce to the organization to be distributed to residents of low-income neighborhoods through the Mobile Market.

Learn more about C-U City Farms here.

The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District works wonders to support the communal health of the Champaign-Urbana population, and we’re proud to partner with them in their efforts. We have partnered with CUPHD for the past 6 years on a Free Friday Market on Colorado Street, offering thousands of pounds of produce and hundreds of seed packets as well as hygiene supplies, basic homewares, and staple dry goods to over 100 local families. In past years, we’ve also worked with them to distribute hundreds of pounds of produce to WIC recipients and seniors as part of our “Share Thanksgiving Program,” graciously supported by our CSA members. We also donate starts to their Give-Back Garden to support healthy, nutritious food for their participants, and in 2020 we partnered with them to launch an ongoing Farm to School project.

Learn more about CUPHD here.

Daily Bread Soup Kitchen is Champaign-Urbana’s primary soup kitchen. An entirely volunteer-run operation, they feed over 200 guests daily with a hot meal plus a sack meal for later. Each year, we donate around 1,000 pounds of produce to Daily Bread to support their work.

Learn more about Daily Bread Soup Kitchen here.

We donate thousands of pounds of produce each year to the Eastern Illinois Foodbank for distribution through their participant agencies all across East Central Illinois. Our partnership with this organization helps the food we grow go even farther, to households as far west as Fayette County and as far east as the Indiana border.

Learn more about Eastern Illinois Foodbank’s work here.

Faith in Place is a statewide nonprofit that supports people of faith in developing a deeper connection and care for the earth. Faith in Place assisted St. Matthew Lutheran Church in founding our farm in 2012 and has been instrumental in supporting us ever since. We also support and promote the great work they are doing across the state.

Learn more about Faith in Place here.

The First Followers Reentry Program works to support our community members who have recently been released from prison. They run peer mentoring and job training programs to support at-risk individuals in the community, and we’ve partnered with them to support vegetable gardens at their education and training center.

Learn more about First Followers’ work here.

Habitat for Humanity of Champaign County works tirelessly to provide housing and support services for our neighbors in need. We have partnered with them to support the creation of a new community garden at the corner of Hill and Romine Sts. in Urbana. We’ve donated vegetable plants to kickstart their garden’s growth, as well as supporting them in planning their efforts going forward. We’re excited to see them grow!

Learn more about Habitat for Humanity’s work here.

The Illinois Stewardship Alliance is a statewide group of growers and eaters that works to support a more just, regenerative, and locally-built food system in Illinois. We support and promote their advocacy and policy work and have helped to launch the Local Food Farmer Caucus, an alliance focused on amplifying the political and personal voices of local, small-scale farmers. We have also received grant funding through their Illinois Farmer Resilience Fund to improve our infrastructure and year-round production capacity.

Learn more about the Illinois Stewardship Alliance here.

Jubilee Café provides a weekly hot, homemade meal and gathering space on Monday evenings for any and all individuals in Champaign-Urbana who want to come. We provide regular donations of fresh local veggies to help their chefs create meals for nearly 100 people each week!

Learn more about Jubilee Café here.

The Lierman Neighborhood Gardens, at the corner of Washington and Lierman Sts., serves the Lierman Street community with gardening space and food distributions. We support Lierman Gardens in their work by supplying them with starts early in the season and engaging with them through the Solidarity Gardens initiative.

Learn more about Lierman Neighborhood Gardens here.

Prosperity Gardens is a nonprofit garden project affiliated with the City of Champaign Township that provides sustainable job training and employment opportunities as well as producing high-quality, affordable vegetables for low-income individuals in Champaign-Urbana. We’ve worked with them on many projects to address food access and insecurity, including working to develop multiple mobile market models locally. We’ve also worked together on on-site job training and through the Land Connection’s Champaign Farmer’s Market.

Learn more about Prosperity Gardens here.

Randolph Street Community Garden is a neighborhood garden in the Randolph and Neil neighborhood of Champaign. The Garden, run by the inimitable Dawn Blackman and other stewards, provides growing space to gardeners of many cultures from the local neighborhood. We partner with Randolph Street Garden to supply them with starts in the early season and support and promote their events.

Learn more about Randolph Street Community Garden here.

The Red Herring Restaurant is a project of the Channing Murray Foundation. They deliver meals to those in need through the Bucket Brigade. We partner with them to help provide local, organically-grown veggies for their meals.

Learn more about the Red Herring Restaurant here.

Learn more about the Bucket Brigade here.

Silver Hearts Community develops community building and advocacy for residents of the Silverwood neighborhood, a low-income and majority rental neighborhood that neighbors our farm. We support and promote their monthly food distributions and have in the past partnered with them to provide fresh veggies alongside their Thanksgiving meal distribution.

Learn more about Silver Hearts Community here.

The Land Connection is an Illinois nonprofit organization that works to preserve and protect farmland and ensure that healthy, local food is made available to everyone within the community. We have proudly participated in their Champaign Farmer’s Market since it began, and have also presented sessions as part of their Farm Beginnings trainings that train new farmers. We have partnered in the past on food acherecess and equity projects and continue to support and promote their advocacy work.

Learn more about The Land Connection here.

The University of Illinois Extension office in Champaign works to engage and support the local community by sharing the skills and knowledge of University experts. We’ve partnered with the Extension office frequently to support the work they do to teach gardening and cooking skills to community members. In the past, we’ve provided CSA shares to their Market to MyPlate program, which allowed nearly fifty SNAP and WIC recipients to receive a weekly box of veggies along with relevant cooking and nutrition instruction.

Learn more about the University of Illinois Extension here.