2019 was a year of Re-Rooting…

via Routine, Ritual, and Reflection

At the onset of 2019, Sweet Water Foundation had reached a point of critical evolution, a point at which our work had moved beyond a mere demonstration of what is possible to the establishment of a new normal. This year, we intentionally sought to re-root the community through a return to the Three R’s… Routine, Ritual, and Reflection.

In 2019, we formalized a decade of educational programming, community outreach, and daily routine via the launch of Sweet Water Academy - a 21st century redux of the Academy. We continued to ritualize the transformation of The Commons from “blight” to light via the practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and urban acupuncture. We also took time to reflect and re-root people in community via arts + culture, memorials, and celebrations.

December 2019 marks Sweet Water Foundation’s 10th Anniversary and the close our most successful year yet. This year, the fruits of a decade of labor culminated in recognition via the Joyce Award, Leaders for a New Chicago, and a MacArthur Fellowship, and our work was featured in the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial.

Sweet Water Foundation is just getting started. In the next 10 years, we hope to expand our footprint to 10 city blocks, seeking to build 100 new homes and rehab countless others. 

READ ON BELOW TO SEE THE IMPACT OF OUR WORK IN 2019.

We transformed “blight” to light, …

In 2019, Sweet Water Foundation continued to build out The Commons as a new model of neighborhood development and demonstration of potential futures for the City of Chicago and beyond via projects that included:

• Rehabilitation of [Re]Construction House,

• Hand-raising the RND House, a modular timber frame pavilion, which was activated at the RND Park for 6-weeks before installation at the Chicago Cultural Center for Sweet Water Foundation’s contribution to the 2019 Chicago Architecture Biennial,

• Design and construction of the RND Meeting House, a truss pavilion

• Transformation of 5 vacant lots into a new, vibrant community park known as the RND Park.

• Redesign and construction of an expanded Lightbox Theater + Gallery to nearly double year-round programming space in the Thought Barn, and

• Building two Hoop Houses to allow for year-round growing.

carefully stewarding the urban ecology of The Commons and investing in its people.

We launched Sweet Water Academy...

to inspire and ignite the next generation of Urban Ecology leaders…

Sweet Water Academy is a neighborhood development and urban ecology academy that formalized the wide-ranging portfolio of education and outreach programming we have cultivated and honed over the past decade. 

The work of Sweet Water Academy includes an Immersive Cohort (formerly the Apprenticeship & Outreach Program), Integrated Programs that deliver hands-on workshops and experiences in collaboration with values-based partners, and Catalyst Programs that spark the imagination via Urban Ecology Field Lessons, Tours, Workshops, and Volunteer Days.

and bring 21st-Century skills to learners of all ages.

Sweet Water Academy also engaged an intergenerational community of learners that taught each other practical skills such as Canning, Yogurt Making, and Beekeeping to pass on practical and eco-logical knowledge and skills from generation to generation.

Most importantly, we [re]rooted people in community through arts + culture…

and connected people with one another and their shared environment.

Via a curated series of design + build projects, cultural experiences, and arts programs, SWF began the process of restitching the cultural fabric of the community. The Commons became a hub for workshops, events, and performances led by both local and international artists, including the Urban Bush Women Community Sing, Onye Ozuzu and Project Tool, DJ Kwest_on, Jeghetto, and Chicago International Puppet Theater Festival.  

In 2019, SWF launched the Humans-in-Residence program. Humans-in-Residence are lifelong learners, artists, practitioners, and contributors of all ages and talents that engage in an immersive and generative experience with lasting impact. SWF has welcomed Humans-in-Residence with backgrounds ranging from architecture to screenprinting and artmaking to movie production and dance.

2019 HUMANS-IN-RESIDENCE

• Aaliyah Christina | Curator and Performer, Project tool

• Daniel Salomon | Architect, Sweet Water Foundation

• Michelle Nordmeyer | Printmaker, Hyde Park Art Center

• Dr. Jen Rae | Artist-Researcher, Fair Share Fare

Together, we practiced Regenerative Neighborhood Development…

At Sweet Water Foundation, our work is more than a mission, it is a practice.  Sweet Water Foundation practices Regenerative Neighborhood Development, a creative and regenerative social justice method, that creates safe and inspiring spaces and curates healthy, intergenerational communities that transform the ecology of once-blighted neighborhoods.

and celebrated a decade of transformative work that is rewriting the story of Chicago’s South side.

In 2019, the Humans of Sweet Water brought the Radical Imagination of our community to life to restory the past, present, and future of Chicago’s South side and, in the process, brought forth a new symbol of a new Chicago.

During SWF’s Second Annual Juneteenth Celebration on June 22, 2019, Sweet Water Foundation introduced The FIFTH Star to the Chicago Flag. The four stars of the Chicago flag each represent a significant moment in Chicago's history - Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, and the Century of Progress Exposition of 1933-34.

The FIFTH Star represents the many untold histories and truths as a reconciliatory platform for new beginnings. 

We’re just getting started!

There GROWS the neighborhood!

None of this would have been possible without the support and dedication of the SWF Team + Family, ...

visitors from near and far, …

SELECT SPECIAL GUESTS, CONTRIBUTORS, AND INTERNATIONAL VISITORS

• Adrienne Blackwell | Architect, Canada

• Akin Omotoso | Actor and Director, Nigeria

• Alistair Hudson | Whitworth & Manchester Art Gallery, UK

• Construct Lab | Germany

• Daniel Wizenberg | Journalist, Argentina

• Danny Glover | Activist, Actor, and Film Director, USA

• Eric Liu | Citizen University, USA

• Mestre Cobra Mansa | International Capoeira Angola Foundation

and the generosity of our partners, supporters, and donors.