In 2022, the collective works of Sweet Water Foundation became that which you cannot undo.

We entered 2022 firmly rooted in Routine, Ritual, and Reflection…

The Sweet Water Foundation team started 2022 by honing in on the 3 Rs of Regenerative Neighborhood Development - Routine, Ritual, and Reflection - with a focus on rooting our practice in a way that cannot be unraveled. 

During the winter months, we practiced daily routines of cultivating life across three hoop houses and refined carpentry skills in the Work-Shop. We shared our routines with RND Research Interns during an intensive, weeklong virtual immersion in and weekly seminar classes that followed.  We hosted our annual Sankofa Living Memories Series centered on the themes of [Re]Membering, [Re]Generation, and [Re]Mediation and led virtual Seeding the Future lessons with a group of homeschool students and  3rd and 4th-grade students from nearby schools. 

and focused on [re]constructing Civic Arts Church into a dynamic arts + culture space. 

In partnership with PAC Leaders, exterior renovations of Civic Arts Church - including a complete roof replacement - were completed in the winter of 2022.  With a new roof and trusses in place, the SWF team was then able to tackle interior renovations through early spring that transformed the once-abandoned church into a dynamic arts + culture space for the community.  

We continued to build, cultivate, and transform The Commonwealth…

In spring, as the weather began to shift, the SWF team prepared structures and spaces at The Commonwealth for the upcoming farming season, field trips with nearby schools, and community events. Throughout the year, we continued the transformation of ‘wastes’ to resources, cultivation of crops across the Community Farm and gardens, and daily care of the site. 

This year, Sweet Water Foundation

• Transformed, beautified, and maintained ~400,000 square feet of land (~9 acres).

• Cultivated more than 3 acres of urban farmland across the Community Farm and Community Gardens, representing 210 rows of plants, 20 garden beds, and 20,000 plants.

• Fed 400+ local families each week during harvest season. 

• Nourished three hoop houses for year-round growing, feeding neighbors and team members during the winter months.

• Re-designed pallet chairs with a new aesthetic and used imperfect fractal lids to create new planter stands. 

and nourish ourselves and our community,…

In late spring, we opened our Seedling Market at RND Park & Meeting House, distributing seedlings to individuals across the network who grow their own food at home. Some of our regular marketgoers had never grown their own produce before this year and shared their success and excitement with us. SWF’s Wellness Wednesday routines picked back up with community members and regulars helping us prepare the rows, lay woodchips and soil, and transplant seedlings. 

As Seedling Markets shifted to Farmer’s Markets, the RND Park & Meeting House were transformed through a beautiful choreography of connections and abundance. This year, our Farmer’s Market became more than just a produce market. Visitors could peruse the local vendor stalls - SWF Honey and handcrafted goods - and express themselves by making art at the Civic Arts table, dancing, and playing drums. This year, double dutch was introduced at the market by local elders.

through education,…

The Commonwealth is rich in transdisciplinary and intergenerational education. Sweet Water Foundation recognizes that taking a holistic, intergenerational, and trans-disciplinary approach to healing our urban ecology is critical if we are to tackle our city and society’s greatest challenges. 

This year, we cultivated a transdisciplinary and intergenerational community of learners that worked together as builders, designers, farmers & gardeners, educators, artists, and organizational leaders to build community capacity and living memory across generations. 

Before the end of the school year, we welcomed students from nearby schools for hands-on field trips at The Commonwealth. During field trips, elders, professionals, SWF core team members, local youth, and college students were paired together, creating a dynamic environment and regenerative human ecology where learning is constant and connections are made across time, place, and discipline.

arts + culture, and…

As we entered summer and began welcoming neighbors, fellows, and visitors from near and far, The Commonwealth was a vibrant place to imagine, build, and create our future through arts + culture. From nature-inspired art activities during our weekly Farmer’s Market, to art making during field trips and virtual lessons, arts + culture were integrated into every aspect of SWF’s programming year-round with participants engaging in nature printmaking, natural dyeing, macrame, and more.

We hosted our Fifth Annual Juneteenth Celebration on Saturday, June 18, welcoming more than 400 people to celebrate freedom + community. During the celebration, we honored our elders during our first-ever Elder Fashion Show entitled, “Walking in the Wisdom of Our Elders.

In the summer, we also began activating Civic Arts Church through arts + culture activities. More than 300 people visited Civic Arts Church for events including a performance by Kombelisa Mi, a Celebration of Life event, the 2022 Urban Ecology Global Fellows Final Presentation, Civic Arts Fridays, a 4-week African Dance class series with Mama Aissatou, and an End of Year art celebration with community members + family members. 

This year, we:

• Hosted 3 Virtual Community Events during the Sankofa Living Memory Series reaching a global audience.

• Hosted Fifth Annual Juneteenth Celebration at The Commonwealth welcoming 200+ neighbors, Values-Based Partners from across the nation, and artists to safely celebrate freedom and community.

• Welcomed 75+ visitors for our first musical performance in Civic Arts Church featuring Kombelisa Mi, an Afro-Colombian group from San Basilio De Palenque in Colombia. Civic Arts Church was transformed through the energy of their music.

• Summer 2022 Urban Ecology Global Fellows final presentation delivered virtually and in-person from the Civic Arts Church to an audience of more than 70 Values-Based Partners, family + friends, community members, and representatives from colleges, universities, and other educational partners.

• Hosted first 4-week Community Art + Culture Class in Civic Arts Church - African Dance Classes with Aissatou Whitney Bey and 3 drummers from Muntu Dance Company

• Hosted a Celebration of Life for an SWF Community Member in The Nave and outdoor space adjacent to Civic Arts Church.

• Reflection sessions in Civic Arts Church with more than 20 groups. During hands-on immersions, tours, and field trips, Civic Arts Church has been utilized as a final reflection place. Groups will gather in CAC to reflect on their visit/experience. 

• Installed the first art exhibit in Civic Arts Church, featuring work by the SWF team + community members.

health + wellness.

This year our bodies were nourished through food and connections to one another and the land. During the summer, we continued to welcome local residents, partners, and volunteers to plug into farm and garden work on  Wellness Wednesdays -  a day dedicated to promoting wellness in the community. After working outside, we shared a meal prepared by SWF team and community members using produce from the Community Farm. This weekly routine of working and sharing a meal with neighbors and visitors became a ritual that nourished the land, our minds, and our bodies. 

In 2022, our work [Re]generated across Generations as we convened Values-Based Partners from across the country…

After more than a year of planning, SWF hosted its inaugural Values-Based Partner Convening at The Commonwealth, welcoming more than 80 of its Values-Based Partners from across the country. The theme of the convening was [Re]Generate Across Generations. Partners, spanning multiple generations and disciplines, traveled from Detroit, Boston, Tucson, Wayne (West Virginia), Querétaro (México), Camden (Maine), and across Chicagoland to The Commonwealth to connect with each other, the land, and the values of Regenerative Neighborhood Development.

The convening was more than just a gathering. It catalyzed a series of connections and actions across the network far beyond The Commonwealth for the remainder of the year including

• Hands-on immersions and visits at The Commonwealth with team members from D-Town Farms,   Khary Frazier from Detroit is Different, and a member of the Respecting Culture & Earth Foundation from Accompong, Jamaica.

• Collaborative “Build-It” Workshops in Wayne, WV; Detroit, MI; and Worcester, MA to build carpentry skills across the VBP network via shared carpentry projects. 

• Convergence of multiple Values-Based Partners in Detroit in October as an extension of SWF’s Communiversity programming.

and cultivated learners and leaders via SWF’s Communiversity.

The Communiversity seeks to shatter the silos of traditional education systems through the intentional assemblage of diverse teachers, learners, and doers who engage in meaningful exchanges in which they think and do. In 2022, SWF welcomed a new cohort of Urban Ecology Global Fellows, hosted virtual and hands-on field trips with 100+ students from nearby elementary schools through Seeding the Future programming, co-facilitated courses with students and faculty from 3 universities, and conducted [Re]Search with RND Interns. This year, we also supported educators from NEIU during a Professional Development Immersion experience at The Commonwealth. 

A highlight of The Communiversity in 2022 was SWF’s emerging partnership with the Center for Cities at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning Cornell (AAP).  In fall 2022, SWF co-designed and co-led an Inclusive Urban Development course taught by Cornell AAP Lecturer Mitch Glass and cosponsored by the Cornell Mui Ho Center for Cities and the Department of City and Regional Planning.  As part of the class, 10 planning, architecture, and landscape architecture students traveled to Chicago in September for a "dis-orientation + re-orientation" session at The Commonwealth in September, followed by an immersive trip to Detroit to learn from, listen to, and support SWF’s Detroit-based Values-Based Partners.

The semester challenged traditional pedagogical approaches, which far too often commence with the study of theory and/or examination of problems in isolation.  Instead, Inclusive Urban Development students first explored the historical context of the communities with which they were to engage and practiced deep listening with the people who live there and are rooted in daily practice. The immersive nature of the course and time shared build upon the emerging paradigm of reflective, creative practitioners bridging the gap between theory and practice.

This year, The Communiversity grew as we:

• Welcomed 8 Fellows representing 5 universities (Yale, Cornell, UCLA, USC and RISD) and 5 majors (Architecture, Urban Design, African American Studies, Printmaking, Solar) for the 10-week Urban Ecology Global Summer Fellowship. 

• Delivered the Summer 2022 Urban Ecology Global Fellows final presentation virtually and in-person from the Civic Arts Church to an audience of more than 70 Values-Based Partners, family + friends, community members, and representatives from colleges, universitIes, and other educational partners.

• Engaged 100+ educators, students, and families in virtual and in-person Seeding the Future programming during the spring, summer, and fall.  SWF has worked with two nearby schools to deliver in-person and virtual lessons with 2nd and 4th grade students.

• Continued developing Seeding the Future Lesson Plans that focus on plants (life cycle, water cycles, soil composition, and seasonality, energy). The lessons are flexible to accommodate both virtual and in-person experiences and various grade levels.

• Hosted a three week virtual [Re]Search convergence with RND Interns. The January Immersion paired interns with SWF Core Team members, Fellows, and Apprentices for a period of disorientation and reorientation.

• Hosted two RND Interns and one Cornell faculty member at The Commonwealth for a spring break convergence. 

• Delivered the RND Intern Final Presentation virtually to 50+ participants.

• Co-facilitated 3 courses with Cornell University, Northeastern University, and University of Michigan - engaging 60+ Students.

• Hosted 15 graduate students from Cornell University for a 3.5 day hands-on immersion at The Commonwealth

• Hosted 10 educators from NEIU for a Professional Development immersion.

In the fall, as the needs on the farm began to decrease, we shifted our focus to Workshop Wednesdays, offering adult carpentry classes to SWF community members, civic arts activities with young neighbors, and hands-on professional development immersions with educators and community practitioners near and far.

Workshop Wednesday activities included the construction of interlocking ponies, a relief printing workshop, and basic introduction to power tools in the Work-Shop. These smaller-scale workshops were designed to share other elements of our work that are integral to our practice of Regenerative Neighborhood Development and gave our team an opportunity to refine their skills in leading workshops.

As we enter 2023…

In November, the SWF team began production flows in the Work-Shop in preparation for a series of installations in 2023 through which we will share our work and practice far beyond The Commonwealth. From early November to early December, more than 250 pieces of furniture were built -- a feat that has never been accomplished by our team. 

In 2023, we will commence a new reality. Sweet Water Foundation looks forward to building beyond The Commonwealth while still remaining firmly rooted in our practice and values, as we will formally launch arts + culture programming in Civic Arts Church, welcome new students through The Communiversity, and continue building The Commonwealth. 

There GROWS the neighborhood. 

None of this would be possible without the SWF Team + Family…

and the tremendous generosity of our Supporters and Partners, whose time and financial, material, and professional resources were invaluable.