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Erika Allen, the Founder & CEO of Strategic Development and Programs for Urban Growers Collective and the President of Green ERA Educational NFP and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners joins the Green Business Podcast.
Listen to host Eric Dye & guest Erika Allen discuss the following:
- We have been hearing a lot of buzz about Green Era Campus. What inspired this huge undertaking?
- What is Green Era’s mission?
- What will the Green Era Campus offer to the local community?
- We hear that the campus includes an anaerobic digestor. What is an anaerobic digestor and how does it make Chicago a more sustainable city?Â
Erika Allen, Founder & CEO for Urban Growers Collective, President of Green ERA Educational NFP, and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners
Erika Allen (she/her) is the Founder & CEO Strategic Development and Programs for Urban Growers Collective and the President of Green ERA Educational NFP and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners. Previously, Erika founded and was the Director of Growing Power – Chicago for 15 years from 2002 to 2017. Allen 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 for the Community Food Navigator project.
Erika Allen’s 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 on the City of Chicago.
Erika has dedicated her professional career to public service, developing sustainable community food systems and advocating for just and environmentally friendly food policies. After receiving her Master’s degree in Art Therapy from UIC, she became the Projects Director of Growing Power and expanded this Milwaukee-based nonprofit and land trust by founding the Growing Power – Chicago branch. Since then, she has fostered numerous urban farms within the city, using the opportunities to teach young people the value of locally grown food, introducing healthy and diverse food options into food deserts, and creating jobs for individuals in low-income neighborhoods. Her drive to establish self-reliant, urban farms that grow food and nourish communities requires not only skill and expertise, but passion and dedication as well. Her work embodies two core values of UIC – diversity and service, in particular to the Chicago community.
Erika has and currently holds several public service positions. Erika has been appointed by IL Governor J.B. Pritzker to the Illinois Agriculture Equity Commission. She serves on the Illinois Leadership Council for Agricultural Education (ILCAE). Erika serves on the Illinois Committee for Agricultural Education (ICAE) and was most recently elected as Vice-Chair. Erika is a member of the Olive Harvey College Urban Agriculture Advisory Council. She served as Chicago Park District Commissioner from 2012-2017. She serves on the Black Food Sovereignty Advisory Circle, City of Toronto, Canada. Erika was appointed in 2021 by the Biden Administration to join the Farm Service Agency Committee for Illinois. And she is also a Co-Chair of the Food Equity Council for the City of Chicago. Erika is the Co-founder and board member of the Chicago Food Policy Action Council and continues to serve on the boards of Grow Greater Englewood, the Leadership Council for Growing Home, and is a founding advisor for the Community Food Navigator project.
Erika is a 2023 Chicago Foundation for Women Impact Award recipient. Erika received an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago in December 2022. Erika was the featured cover story in the Citizen Hyde Park Weekly newspaper, Dec.14, 2022 edition. Her accomplishments have earned her the Good Eating Award by the Chicago Tribune, an appointment to the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force, and a fellowship at the Post Carbon Institute. Additionally, she was the recipient of the Mother of the Environment for Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2009 by the Women’s Environmental Institute and honored by Family Focus in 2006 for her work in community food systems. Most recently, Erika was also recently awarded the 2022 James Beard Leadership award in June 2022, celebrating her visionary work in creating a healthier, safer, and more equitable and sustainable food system.
She is the Co-Founder & CEO with a focus on Strategic Development and Programs for Urban Growers Collective (UGC), which operates 8 urban farms across 18 acres primarily located on Chicago’s South and West Sides. Urban Growers Collective cultivates nourishing environments in Chicago’s historically disinvested communities, seeding pathways to freedom while supporting residents’ health, economic development, healing and creativity through urban agriculture. Erika is also the President of Green ERA Educational NFP and Co-Owner of Green Era Sustainability Partners, who along with UGC are strategic partners in the 9-acre Green Era Renewable Energy and Urban Farm Campus in Auburn Gresham. Erika Allen’s 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 on the City of Chicago.
Websites: https://www.greenerachicago.com | https://www.urbangrowerscollective.org
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