A new sustainability initiative is launching projects across Chicago's South Side in an effort to restore the local community.
Green Era Campus is a nonprofit organization that is transforming an abandoned brownfield in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood into a clean energy facility and agriculture center. The area had been contaminated for nearly 100 years — until Green Era Campus went through the remediation, revitalization, and restoration process to turn the nine acres of land into a community hub, according to a news release.
Now, the group is launching a series of projects to make the area a hub for renewable energy, job opportunities, educational programs, and small business growth. To help transform the land, Green Era Campus has partnered with other nonprofits, such as Urban Growers Collective, Green Era Educational NFP, and Green Era Sustainability.
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One of the main projects for Green Era Campus is to build a renewable energy facility to reduce pollution and encourage clean power options. With an anaerobic digester, the new facility will use organic waste to generate clean energy.
Green Era Campus also plans on creating urban farming initiatives that will grow more than 125 varieties of produce each year. The farming initiatives will train young farmers and support food entrepreneurs to promote financial security in an area that has historically been underserved.
"This is true change: a facility that can grow food, create energy and provide education and inspiration to young people and folks returning from incarceration — all happening within a community that represents the challenges we've been up against for the last 130 years," Green Era Sustainability Partners co-owner Erika Allen said.
By transforming a brownfield into a vibrant, eco-friendly community space, Green Era Campus is creating job opportunities for residents while also restoring the natural environment. As a result, the nonprofit is not only raising up the entire local economy but also promoting the health of the area's ecosystem.
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