Our Partners

The Aspen Courts Community Garden serves the Aspen Courts community in Urbana. We support this garden with plant starts and other resources, and provided educational garden programming for children in the neighborhood in the summer of 2024.

Champaign County Farm Bureau is a peer practitioner in agricultural education in Champaign County. We’ve collaborated with Agriculture in the Classroom staff to bring their activities to our farm and utilized many of the Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom teaching resources.

Learn more about Champaign County Farm Bureau here, and Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom here.

The Champaign Park District manages parks and recreation opportunities across the City of Champaign. We’ve worked together on the Solidarity Gardens collaborative, for which they have provided park space and leadership support.

Learn more about the Champaign Park District here.

We’ve partnered with Cloud Mountain Kombucha, a kombucha brewer in Urbana, to provide their delicious drinks at our events. We’ve also sold produce to them in the past that’s been used in some of their award-winning kombucha flavors!

Learn more about Cloud Mountain Kombucha 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.

Learn more about Common Ground Food Coop here.

We love partnering with local nursery and landscape supplier Country Arbors to provide beautiful flowers and other annual ornamental plants for our Plant Sale each year! They also create the mixed hanging baskets that are always a hit. 

Learn more about Country Arbors here.

Cunningham Township Supervisor’s Office works to provide a safety net for housing-insecure and 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 Come and Eat! Garden at their office. Most recently, we’ve collaborated on the Solidarity Gardens collaborative, which supports gardeners in producing high-quality, fresh produce for themselves and others, increasing food security in our community one garden at a time.

Learn more about Cunningham Township’s work 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 collaborated with CUPHD for the past 7 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 produce to WIC recipients and seniors as part of our “Share Thanksgiving Program,” graciously supported by our CSA members. We also donate plant 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 produce to Daily Bread to support their meals.

Learn more about Daily Bread Soup Kitchen here.

We are honored to be in community with DREAAM, a community impact organization that seeks to provide mentorship and support to young men and boys of color. Through several programs, they aim to give young men opportunities for transformative experiences and address the effects of gun violence on the community. We partner with DREAAM on educational and recreation activities when it is appropriate.

Learn more about DREAAM’s work 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 support a community garden serving Habitat for Humanity home residents with plant starts and other resources.

Learn more about Habitat for Humanity’s work here.

Healthy Champaign County is a collaborative group of health and wellness professionals, community service providers, and other university and community groups dedicated to addressing the major health needs in Champaign County. As a member organization of this group, we have helped each year to organize the Feeding Champaign County Food Summit, now in its 3rd year, which brings together a wide variety of members of our local food system to assess and explore solutions to barriers to healthy food access in Champaign County. 

Learn more about Healthy Champaign County here.

The Humanities Research Institute (HRI) supports interdisciplinary learning projects for scholars and students in the social sciences, arts, and humanities at UIUC. We have partnered with HRI to develop a graduate-level research assistantship program to research and develop recommendations to support evidence-based wellness activities through the USD116 Farm to School Program. Traci will also speak as part of one of HRI’s public events this year.

Learn more about HRI’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 New American Welcome Center of the University of Illinois YMCA supports immigrants and refugees in our region in accessing resources and community. We’ve partnered with them to translate informational materials and on events that appreciate the diversity of agricultural backgrounds in our community, including as part of their annual Welcoming Week celebration.

Learn more about the New American Welcome Center here.

We have collaborated with several professors at our local community college to offer educational farm tours to their classes. We love inviting local students to our farm!

Piato Cafe is the leader of the quick and easy local food scene in Urbana-Champaign. They operate a food truck, organic “food nanny” meal deliveries, and catering service that prominently feature locally grown and produced feed in their great meals. We’ve partnered with them in the past on a host of events around the community.

Learn more about Piato Cafe 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.

Riggs Beer Company is a peer farmer of ours that we frequently partner with to host events, including our 10 Year Farmiversary in 2022. Riggs Beer Company is a farm and brewery with a taproom/beergarden in East Urbana that creates classic, delicious beer flavors with grains grown on their land.

Learn more about Riggs Beer Company here.

The Savanna Institute runs demonstration farms, educational events, research projects, technical support services, and farmer partnerships throughout the Midwest to support farmers in introducing agroforestry methods to their farms for increased resilience and biodiversity. We’ve worked with the Savanna Institute to design and plan our expanded alley-cropping operation at our new production site, which will improve our farm’s sustainability and climate resilience while allowing us to produce more highly-requested, healthy, local foods for our customers and community feeding partners.

Learn more about the Savanna Institute here.

St. Matthew Lutheran Church founded our farm along with Faith in Place in 2012 to ensure that healthy, locally grown food is available to everyone in our community, especially those at an economic disadvantage. They continue to support our work, and our Community Classroom is located on their campus.

Learn more about St. Matthew Lutheran Church here.

The Student Sustainable Farm at the University of Illinois is a peer farmer of ours, and we frequently work with them to access farming resources and support each other’s work. We also serve as a field trip site for sustainable agriculture courses at the University of Illinois, so that students have the opportunity to observe multiple styles and practices of sustainable agriculture.

Learn more about the Student Sustainable Farm 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 participate in the indoor Winter Farmers’ Market that they manage, and have  presented sessions as part of their Farm Beginnings trainings to train new farmers. We have also partnered in the past on food access 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 partner with Extension to support their SNAP-Ed and Food and Nutrition Education Program initiatives, and work together in support of local food system development. In 2025, we will also be collaborating with Master Gardeners and 4H on an educational project in our Community Classroom.

Learn more about the University of Illinois Extension here.

The Urbana Free Library is a wonderful resource for anyone in our community seeking information, resources, or opportunities to engage. We especially love their Seed Exchange, a permanent seed swap where anyone can pick up seeds for their garden or donate seeds they’ve saved! We’ve partnered with the Urbana Free Library in the past on events, as well.

Learn more about the Urbana Free Library here.

Urbana Head Start is a Head Start school directly adjacent to our original site on the campus of St. Matthew Lutheran Church; their students can watch us work the field from their playground! We’ve partnered to provide monthly free vegetable markets for Head Start families and staff, and provided taste tests and field trips to Head Start students.

Learn more about Urbana Head Start here.

Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center is a hub of the Urbana community, supporting young people in building academic and social-emotional skills through their afterschool and summer programs. We’ve supported Mrs. Mitchell’s Garden at UNCC with plant starts and care help, and will be providing monthly educational sessions to their 3-5th students this year.

Learn more about Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center here.

Urbana Park District operates parks all over Urbana and hosts hundreds of community events, fitness and wellness programs, environmental education programs, and kids’ activities each year. They also operate rentable community garden plots at Victory Park and Meadowbrook Park. We’ve collaborated with Urbana Park District to provide plants for some of their activities, as well as educational field trips for their summer camps, and we also work with them on the Steering Committee of the Solidarity Gardens initiative.

Learn more about Urbana Park District here.

Urbana School District #116 is the public school district of Urbana and currently operates 10 schools for children in the community, including 6 elementary schools, a middle school, a high school, an Early Childhood Education Center, and a special education school that serves youth residing in Cunningham Children’s Home. We have collaborated with numerous teachers, administrators, school food service staff, family liaisons, project coordinators, and others at USD116 to provide field trips and educational opportunities for their students, provide our local produce to be used in their cafeterias, and support the development of a comprehensive Farm to School program and wellness activities in the district.

Learn more about Urbana School District #116 here.

A ministry of Wesley United Methodist Church in Urbana, Wesley Food Pantry operates weekly food pantries at two locations in Champaign-Urbana, feeding hundreds of community members each week. We donate produce to their food pantries weekly.

Learn more about Wesley Food Pantry here.