Your Community
There are many groups and organizations throughout Lake County working to feed their hungry neighbors and educate communities about the importance of eating fresh food. There are also countless ways to support these groups as they do this important work.
Local Community Organizations
ASD Foundation, Inc./EGGceptional Abilities
To custom design a program for those on the ASD spectrum to provide meaningful responsibilities and tasks related to the care of egg laying hens while promoting independence, real life job experience, and engendering self-worth in a controlled and supportive environment.
Beacon Place
Beacon Place is a neighborhood community center in Waukegan with programs for children and families that focus on academic growth, improved health, and building the skills that allow individuals and families to see their own path to a brighter tomorrow.
Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago
Catholic Charities fulfills the Church’s role in the mission of charity to anyone in need by providing compassionate, competent, and professional services that strengthen and support individuals, families, and communities based on the value and dignity of human life.
Chicago Botanic Garden Green Youth Farm
We cultivate the power of plants to sustain and enrich life.
CLC Campus Farm
The mission of the College of Lake County Horticulture Department is to provide high quality, accessible, affordable education addressing the science, art, and business of horticulture, sustainable agriculture, landscape design, and natural areas management.
CLC Horticulture Department
The mission of the College of Lake County Horticulture Department is to provide high quality, accessible, affordable education addressing the science, art, and business of horticulture, sustainable agriculture, landscape design, and natural areas management.
Contemporary Farmer Inc.
Contemporary Farmer Inc. connects home growers to resources, community, and nature to grow their own food. Through personalized coaching in our private consultations, we spread awareness of regenerative agriculture practices to farmers, gardeners and home-growers of all ages, scales, and skill-levels. By offering products from local farm businesses who share our ethos, we prepare a new generation of contemporary farmers and foster a network of collaboration throughout urban, rural, and suburban areas.
Outside of teaching bilingual workshops and building gardens with our clients, we sell microgreens at farmers markets across the city grown at our headquarters in Back of the Yards. We have on-going collaborators with the Morton Arboretum, Greentown Grows in Waukegan, Enlace, DePaul College Prep, and four farmers markets across Chicago. Learn more on our website!
Contemporary Farmer Inc. ayuda a conectar a los agricultores domésticos con los recursos, la comunidad y la naturaleza para cultivar sus propios alimentos. A través del entrenamiento personalizado en nuestras consultas privadas, difundimos el conocimiento de las prácticas de agricultura regenerativa entre agricultores, jardineros y cultivadores domésticos de todas las edades, escalas y niveles de habilidad. Al ofrecer productos de empresas agrícolas locales que comparten nuestra meta, preparamos una nueva generación de agricultores contemporáneos y fomentamos una red de colaboración en áreas urbanas, rurales y suburbanas.
Además de impartir talleres bilingües y construir jardines con nuestros clientes, vendemos micro-cultivos en los mercados de agricultores en Chicago que cultivados en nuestro centro de producción en Back of the Yards. Tenemos colaboraciones con Morton Arboretum, Greentown Grows en Waukegan, Enlace- Chicago, DePaul College Prep y cuatro mercados de agricultores en Chicago. Obtenga más información en nuestro sitio web.
Eden Restoration Project
The Eden Restoration Project is a simple concept: Grow More Food.
Through our programs we are challenging the current food distribution model.
We install community free access food gardens. We teach how to easily grow food with little resources.
We are teaching how to harvest seeds and be creative in growing food.
We have established an online Farmer’s Market that opens access to anyone that would rather buy
local healthy produce from their local farms than food that is void of taste and nutrition and travels thousands of miles.
Fremont Township Community Garden
Our mission is to maintain a beautiful, productive, organic garden that will demonstrate sustainable gardening techniques, while providing educational and service opportunities to our local residents and fresh produce for our food pantry.
Gardeners of Central Lake County
We organize and lead many activities within the community of Central Lake County. These include involvement in the annual Green Living Fair in Libertyville, maintaining the beautiful Cook Park Rose Garden in Libertyville, partnering in the Libertyville Community Gardens (leased vegetable garden plots), hosting our annual plant sale and organizing an annual garden walk featuring private gardens within Central Lake County.
Grayslake Greenery Garden Club
Club objectives: Horticulture interest and education, creative expression, home and civic beautification, environmental protection, scholarships and membership promotion.
GreenTown Grows
GreenTown Waukegan is a group of citizens—working under a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation—to grow healthy food, without herbicides or pesticides, to feed low-income families. We also promote the concept of urban farming and help to plant other community gardens.
Lake County Audubon Society
The mission of the Lake County Audubon Society is education, conservation, and restoration of natural ecosystems, focusing on birds, other wildlife, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity and the earth’s biological diversity.
Lake County Beekeepers Association Illinois
The purpose of the Lake County Beekeepers Association (LCBA) shall be to promote interest in honeybees and beekeeping by encouraging good beekeeping in Lake County Illinois and the utilization of honeybees for pollination of agricultural crops. This purpose will be accomplished through the dissemination of information and education about bees and beekeeping.
The Lake County Beekeepers normally meet on the first Thursday of the month. Informal questions and discussions at 6:30, Formal meeting at 7PM. (See Calendar Page) Meetings are generally held at: State Bank of the Lakes, 50 Commerce Drive, Grayslake IL 60030
Individuals interested in bees and/or beekeeping are invited to attend our meetings. The Lake County Beekeepers Association is an affiliate of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association.
Liberty Prairie Foundation
We work across Lake County and the region to incubate and mentor beginning sustainable local food farmers, provide fresh food access in underserved communities, educate and inspire youth, connect farmers with land, and shape policy that affects our local food system.
Mindful Waste
Our mission is to eliminate food waste through education, prevention, and recovery.
Northern Illinois Food Bank
The mission of Northern Illinois Food Bank is to lead the Northern Illinois community in solving hunger by providing nutritious meals to those in need through innovative programs and partnerships.
Roberti Community House
The mission of Roberti Community House is to nourish, educate, and empower community members so that they can acknowledge, appreciate, and actualize their individual strengths and talents.
Round Lake Area Garden Club, Seed Library & Food Forest
The mission of the Round Lake Area Garden Club is to create learning opportunities, develop a safe space where the community can harvest freely, increase access to plants and seeds, provide education to help people grow their own food, and expand knowledge of what is edible in the community.
Smart Farm
Smart Farm is an educational garden for the Barrington area and nearby communities. Adults, children, and students learn about their agricultural heritage, organic gardening, the slow food movement, and best practices for living “green,” sustainable lives.
Solid Waste Agency of Lake County (SWALCO)
The purpose of the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County, Illinois is to implement a regional approach to solid waste management which addresses the economic, political and environmental issues in Lake County as follows:
- Implement the Lake County Solid Waste Management Plan.
- Facilitate an efficient, reliable and environmentally sound waste disposal system.
- Advise and assist SWALCO members regarding solid waste management issues.
- Educate the public regarding implications of solid waste management options.
- Identify, evaluate and disseminate information regarding techniques to reduce, reuse and recycle the amount of solid waste generated.
University of Illinois Extension
Food access is a key component of our unit working with schools, farms, and community gardens to help all residents with healthier food options.
Our 4-H youth works with all aspects of life skills to include food related, gardening, robotics and more.
Waukegan Park District
The Waukegan Park District is committed to providing parks, facilities, and leisure opportunities to our culturally diverse population through leadership with community involvement, dedicated staff, and sound management.
Waukegan Wellness
Waukegan Wellness is a connector that empowers human beings and promotes health and wellness to the Greater Waukegan area.
Waukegan Wellness aims to be a hub for all your questions. Health is not just one thing, we are here to connect you to the right people and places. Allow us to assist on your journey and make your health goals a reality.
Waukegan Wellness is a connector that promotes awareness to health by partnering with businesses, organizations, and people to build a healthy and happy community. Waukegan Wellness defines health as a state of being in complete physical, mental, financial, and social wellbeing.