2025 Winter at The Common|Wealth

Winter 2025 at The Common|Wealth was a productive period of refreshing spaces and new beginnings. From the launch of SWF’s Neighborhood Academy and the welcoming of a new cohort of RND Re-Search Interns, to the continued partnership with Beasley Academic Center through the Seeding the Future program and the Fifth Annual Sankofa Living Memories Series, Sweet Water Foundation has transformed the season into one of hands-on learning, creative exploration, and community building. This winter has also seen the refresh and reorganization of spaces through innovative carpentry and design modules, all contributing to The Common|Wealth as a regenerative neighborhood node. We invite you to read more about the winter at The Common|Wealth.

SWF Communiversity Programming

Despite the colder weather and reduced outdoor activities, the Communiversity was vibrant this winter. In January, we launched the Neighborhood Academy, welcomed the Spring 2025 cohort of RND Re-Search Interns, and continued Seeding the Future programming with Beasley Academic Center. Through these diverse programs, Sweet Water Foundation is solidifying The Communiversity as a transformative institution on Chicago's South Side.

Neighborhood Academy Launch

In mid-January, SWF launched the Neighborhood Academy, an intergenerational program connecting local residents, including homeschool families, with educators, SWF team members, and partners.  This program builds upon the fall Community Building Workshops, providing hands-on learning across all aspects of Regenerative Neighborhood Development, from food cultivation and health and wellness to carpentry and policy analysis. The group meets twice weekly at SWF’s bio-dynamic campus, The Common|Wealth. 

RND Re-Search Program

In January, SWF welcomed seven interns to the Spring RND Re-Search Program. The cohort comprises undergraduate students from four colleges and five countries, bringing a diverse range of interests and experiences spanning arts management, environmental studies, sociology, anthropology, architecture, international relations, urban studies, data science, computer science, and economics. 

Seeding the Future

In January, SWF resumed the 2024-2025 Academic Year Seeding the Future (STF) program with Beasley Academic Center, a local elementary school less than a mile away from The Commonwealth. The SWF team met with the classrooms virtually in January to prepare students for the upcoming engagement at The Common|Wealth in February. In February, SWF welcomed Beasley students to Civic Arts Church for the third Annual Sankofa Living Memories Civic Arts Project. This year, the art project blended watercolor techniques with collage to create a night sky with student profiles that gaze up at the community constellations, alongside a Harriet Tubman quote:  “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” Rhonda Long, a featured artist in the Constellations & Throughlines exhibit, co-led the work-shops in the newly regenerated Civic Arts Church basement.  

Winter Civic Arts Programming

In February, SWF hosted the Fifth Annual Sankofa Living Memories Series. This series embraces the practice of Sankofa, drawing on the knowledge and wisdom of the past and bringing it into the present in order to build a more radical and imaginative future. Over three Fridays, SWF hosted virtual connections reaching an international audience of more than 100 participants. 

This February’s Sankofa Living Memories Civic Arts Project was based on SWF’s inaugural exhibit in Civic Arts Church, Constellations & Throughlines. Participants, including the SWF Team, Neighborhood Academy, Seeding The Future students, and other members of the SWF Community used watercolor techniques to create a night sky background with stars, alongside a cut-out illustration showing each person’s profile, alongside handwriting the Harriet Tubman quote. 

Carpentry + Design Across The Common|Wealth

The first few months of the year were also a time for refreshing spaces across The Common|Wealth, establishing organizational systems that enable modular use and strengthen connections between spaces, and programming. The SWF team created “modules” - standardized parts or independent units that can be used to construct a more complex structure - that facilitate the organization and inventory of tools and supplies. These modules are designed and built with specific tools in mind - from Civic Arts tools like paintbrushes and pencils to carpentry tools such as tape measures and drills to farm tools such as rakes and shovels. The module systems across The Common|Wealth speak to each other, simplifying use, organization, and inventory across spaces. For instance, similar modules were created in Civic Arts Church and the Think-Do House basement to hold Civic Arts tools, and the Farm Can and Farm Shed for farm tools.