During the month of February, Sweet Water Foundation hosted 3 virtual events as part of our Sankofa Living Memories Series. This year, the series welcomed an intergenerational audience to [Re]Member, [Re]Generate, and [Re]Mediate. The three events uplifted the wisdom of elders and ancestors, and demonstrated creative and regenerative ways to share and preserve their memories and practices.

On Friday, November 19, 2021, a second grade classroom from Beasley Academic Center visited The Commonwealth for SWF’s first in-person field trip since the COVID-19 Pandemic began. The visit included a mapping activity of The Commonwealth followed by a session where they designed a growing neighborhood.

Sweet Water Foundation kicked off 2022 ready to re-engage students and families in the Seeding The Future program. The team has connected with educators from nearby schools to plan virtual and in-person programming in the spring and is continuing to create and refine lesson plans for the upcoming year. In early January, SWF also launched a Homeschool Club to engage families not enrolled in one of SWF’s partner schools.

Last fall, the Sweet Water Foundation Communiversity launched the RND Research Internship Program to expand its existing model of student engagement with colleges and universities and begin building a foundation from which both academic and community-based partners can collectively produce scholarship and creative works and engage in action on the ground.

Mama Aissatou, as she is affectionately known, has been a member of the Sweet Water Family since 2018. She grew up nearby where The Commonwealth is now located and has seen the neighborhood change throughout the years. Every year since she first visited The Commonwealth, Mama Aissatou has grown Jamaican pumpkins on the Residents’ Farm and Community Farm and has recently begun cooking for the team and visitors once a week. Mama Aissatou is also a dancer and performer who has performed in SWF Juneteenth Celebrations.

On Wednesday, October 27, Sweet Water Foundation celebrated the official opening of We the Publics...from Bounded Rationality to Unbounded Possibilities, the second exhibition in the Thought Barn. The SWF team was joined by ~30 members of the SWF community for an evening of reflection, dialogue, and a farm-to-table tasting of collard greens and black beans prepared by SWF Global Fellow, Ali Kleiche.

With the new school year in full swing and schools providing in-person instruction, Sweet Water Foundation excitedly relaunched its Seeding The Future program this fall with nearby neighborhood schools. SWF has begun in-person and virtual programming and distributed soil, seedlings, journals, and seeds to bring their lessons to life.

On Saturday, September 25, Sweet Water Foundation welcomed the Association of Black Psychologists Harambee at The Commonwealth. More than 30 psychologists, educators, parents, and neighbors participated in the event which included tours of The Commonwealth, art-making activities, and, of course, food. The participants also connected with old and new friends and had an opportunity to learn more about the Association of Black Psychologists.

Patrice Patterson is a local resident, SWF Value-Based Partner, co-founder of Mama Moore’s Smart Garden, and founder of BeYOUtifully Abundant. She has been activating a community garden on Chicago’s South Side since 2018, and has been connected with Sweet Water Foundation since 2019. Sweet Water Foundation is excited to introduce Patrice, her involvement with our Values-Based Partner Network, our connection with Mama Moore’s Smart Garden, and her experience as an entrepreneur. We invite you to read more about Patrice.

Sweet Water Foundation’s Urban Ecology Global Fellowship offers an alternative to traditional internships, providing a unique “Communiversity” setting in which undergraduate and graduate students and recent grads are grounded in hands-on work and authentic community engagement as they grapple with academic theory in the face of real world problems and solutions.

Summer 2021 at The Commonwealth was jam-packed and full of vibrant arts, cultural, and educational programming that engaged a diverse and intergenerational audience of local residents and learners, leaders, and artists from near and far.

Cultivating fresh, locally grown food is an essential part of daily practice at Sweet Water Foundation. Learning to cook the bountiful harvest that we cultivate is equally important and, this summer, became a new and exciting ritual of the Urban Ecology Apprenticeship program. Each week, Urban Ecology Global Fellows and Apprentices partnered together to prepare farm-fresh meals for the entire team and lucky volunteers and visitors who happened to be onsite.

n early May, Sweet Water Foundation launched its Seedling Market, providing seedlings to neighbors, gardners, and partners across the City of Chicago. As the unseasonably warm weather continued, and the two hoop houses still full of produce from the winter, Sweet Water Foundation shifted from seedling distribution to launch its Weekly Farmer’s Markets with locally grown produce earlier than previous years. Every Friday from 12:00-2:00, new and returning visitors stop by RND Park and Meeting House at The Commonwealth for seedlings, sunflowers, and produce.

Nearly every week, Sweet Water Foundation receives a phone call or email inquiring as to whether the SWF team would be interested in acquiring materials destined for landfills. Because transforming ‘wastes to resources’ is at the heart of SWF’s practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development, SWF seeks first to utilize the vast waste streams of the city for materials as we grow the neighborhood. Read on to learn more about a few examples of the transformation of ‘wastes to resources’ at The Commonwealth.

Humans of Sweet Water… Meet Mama Afua. Mama Afua is an Afrikan Warrior, healer, and builder. She first visited The Commonwealth before the COVID-19 Pandemic and has been a regular market-goer ever since. More recently, she has been volunteering her time every week to pull weeds, transplant, and seed. Mama Afua is an integral part of the SWF Family who brings a vibrant energy to The Commonwealth every time she is onsite. Read on below to learn more about Mama Afua.

On Saturday, June 19, 2021, Sweet Water Foundation hosted its Fourth Annual Juneteenth Celebration at The Commonwealth. Being mindful of the continued need to protect the health and safety of the community, the 2021 Juneteenth Celebration was not broadly advertised and, instead, shared by word-of-mouth with neighbors, market-goers, and active partners across the network. The event welcomed more than 200 individuals from near and far to create, build, and celebrate freedom + community.

This year, Sweet Water Foundation has very creatively and effectively illustrated the meaning of its visionary practice through the physical manifestation of Regenerative Neighborhood Development (RND). Their practice engages in the important work of rehabilitating, repurposing abandoned spaces and places, and restoring vibrancy and meaning to the South Side of Chicago, an area historically dismissed by city planners and capital investors. Read this reflection by Victoria Pratt Davis about the Sankofa Living Memories Series.

Before the flurry of spring planting and onset of SWF’s peak farming and programming season, the SWF team worked hard to design + build a new suite of carpentry products that will be integrated into SWF’s daily practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and lessons for upcoming apprenticeship cohorts, and, in the future, available for sale to neighbors and visitors, alike.