The Williams Family
Denise Williams is a mother of three living in North Lawndale. Before connecting with UTN, her family’s diet was dominated by fast food and packaged goods — not because she didn’t want to feed her children better, but because a full-service grocery store required a 40-minute round trip on public transit that she couldn’t always manage around work schedules and childcare.
When UTN’s community farm stand launched two blocks from her home, everything changed. “I started buying fresh greens every week. I learned how to make things my kids would actually eat. My youngest stopped complaining about stomach aches.” Within a year, Denise had joined UTN’s nutrition education workshop program and was sharing what she learned with other parents in her building.
Marcus and the Career Pathway
Marcus, 22, had been out of work for eight months when a neighborhood outreach worker told him about openings at Metro Farms. He applied, expecting a temporary gig. Three years later, he’s a senior farm technician, managing growing systems and training new hires.
“I was embarrassed about where I was in life. This place didn’t judge me for that. They just asked what I could learn. Turns out I could learn a lot.” Marcus recently enrolled in a community college program in environmental science — a direction he credits entirely to his work at the farm.
The Seniors at Ogden Gardens
At the Ogden Avenue senior center, residents had been increasingly isolated following the pandemic. UTN launched a therapeutic gardening program that brought a small growing station into the center’s common room. Seniors tend the plants, harvest herbs for communal meals, and gather weekly to share what’s growing — both in the planters and in their lives.
“This is the thing I look forward to every week,” said one 74-year-old participant. “I have a reason to get up and get dressed.”
Why Stories Matter
Data tells us about scale. Stories tell us about meaning. Both are necessary to understand what transformation looks like — and to sustain the motivation to keep building it.