Green Era Campus
The Green Era Campus is a high-impact project that will transform a vacant site into a vibrant green educational campus, and drive economic development in an underserved community. The campus will include facilities to recycle organic waste (inedible food waste) to produce clean, renewable energy and compost for local food production.
The project will also bring green jobs for low-income residents into the community. The borrower, Green Era Sustainability, LLC., prioritizes engaging minority- and women-owned businesses and hiring from “hard to employ” populations, such as ex-offenders, long-term unemployed people, people with disabilities, people lacking diplomas or specialized training.
Project: Community facility
This campus will include a bio digester to produce renewable energy and process food waste; a recycling facility; a 5,400 square feet storage building for compost storage and pick-up; three acres of land to be farmed by Urban Growers Collective (UGC); and 20,000 square feet of outdoor market space/community garden center. The project is anticipated to provide a strong basis for helping to promote healthy lifestyles and to ultimately help grow sustainable neighborhoods on the south side of Chicago.
The Green Era campus will promote local economic development by creating critically-needed, living-wage jobs available to a range of skill levels. It will also expand the landscape for new business and entrepreneurial endeavors to develop in food waste recycling, energy, landscape, and food production fields.