Empowering Change: Job Training and Food Justice with Erica Allen
Erika Allen is the CEO for Urban Growers Collective, President of Green ERA Educational NFP, and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners. Urban Growers Collective is a Black- and women-led non-profit farm in Chicago, Illinois working to build a more just and equitable local food system. They provide hands-on job training and create economic opportunity for youth, and beginner BIPOC farmers.
Urban Growers cultivates eight urban farms on 11 acres of land, predominantly located on Chicago’s South Side.
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Erika Allen
CEO
Erika Allen is the CEO for Urban Growers Collective, President of Green ERA Educational NFP, and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners. Her work exemplifies a strong commitment to sustainability with her dedication to the eradication of environmental injustice and promotion of regenerative, urban agriculture within Chicago. Her commitment to the public sector through the promotion of sustainable agriculture, forging economic opportunities for low-income individuals and creating access to healthy food has made a strong and considerable impact. Erika has dedicated her professional career to public service, developing sustainable community food systems and addressing structural racism and its inherent barriers to justice.
Previously, Allen founded and was the Director of Growing Power – Chicago for 15 years from 2002 to 2017, and was a Chicago Park District Commissioner from 2012 to 2018. She is the Co-Founder of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, serves on the Board of Grow Greater Englewood and Leadership Council for Growing Home, and is an Advisor and Stewart for the Community Food Navigator project. Allen has been appointed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker for the Illinois Leadership Council for Agricultural Education (ICAE) for a 3 Year term (2022-2024), and was selected in 2022 by the Biden Administration to join the Farm Service Agency (FSA) Committee for Illinois. Allen holds a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and her MA in Art Psychotherapy from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She received an Honorary Doctorate … Read More
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