NeighborSpace gardeners and plots of land

Generating food, beauty and safety for neighbors in Chicago

By Yusuph Masanja, Co-Facilitator, Global Alumni Network

Goldin Global Fellow from Chicago, Robin Cline, serves as Assistant Director of NeighborSpace, the only nonprofit land trust in Chicago that preserves and sustains gardens on behalf of dedicated community groups. NeighborSpace has helped neighbors and community groups protect over 120 outdoor sites, transforming them into places where people gather to play, to grow food together, and to organize around issues in their neighborhood.

NeighborSpace continues to help community groups identify outdoor sites that can be turned into community garden spaces. They partner with early community organizations, early childhood teachers, seniors, and families in turning potential unused sites into gardens and creative gathering spaces. Especially now in the time of COVID, these outdoor spaces are more and more used as places for free haircuts, food distributions, COVID tests, and community meetings.

NeighborSpace continually works to support more growing and gathering space, and you can help with this New Year’s goal of adding 100 garden beds to NeighborSpace sites across Chicago, by visiting this Crowdfunding page to help NeighborSpace reach this goal before the 2021 growing season.

For Robin, the motivation to dive into this work comes from the goal to encourage urban people to reconnect with nature, themselves, and their community. Robin believes that if you set the right conditions for people to understand a series of processes, like that of a plant ––from seeds to fruits––it helps them understand the importance of how connected we are.

"How can we create opportunities for people to have physical connections to shared public spaces that then prompt them to have in-person connections with their neighbors?"

/Robin has recently graduated from the Visual Collaboration course which was offered by the Bigger Picture Academy. Having been inspired by this collaboration tool, she is considering applying it to support processes by which the garden leaders conduct their community building vision. Robin is mobilizing resources to provide these leaders with access to computers and the Mural application in order to learn and start using Visual Collaboration methods.

Furthermore, Robin finds inspiration from the stories of Goldin Global Fellows. The stories motivate her to keep up the good work despite challenges faced from time to time.

"Hearing other people’s stories of salvation and struggle fuels the work I am doing. We are doing non-profit work that sometimes feels invisible."

Robin adds: "The sharing of stories is so 're-storying' which is so restorative, I feel like that's an important part of the Goldin Global Fellows connection- to support each other in serving others."


March 2015 Newsletter

It's been a long winter, but we finally see hints of spring as the light changes ever so slightly. And each day we see more than a hint of our work making a difference in the communities we partner with.

Watch a brief video overview of this newsletter: 

New Community Leaders Taking Root

Participants in one of the Gulu ESPERE Workshops.

GULU, UGANDA – In January and February, two new workshops were conducted in Uganda, using the ESPERE Methodology first developed by our colleagues in Colombia. These workshops catered to the specific needs of the local participants and served teachers, former abductees, young mothers, street children and those directly impacted by regional conflict. A full report with photos chronicling the unique partners, setting and community members in Gulu can be found within the full story here.

With program co-creator Lissette Mateus Roa overseeing the work, and Global Associate Denis Okello coordinating on the ground from Uganda, ESPERE is in a great place to continue its growth in this region and Denis reports that there are two upcoming workshops which will "draw on the human spirt, connect those looking to build a better future and prove that ESPERE's cornerstone concepts of forgiveness and reconciliation rise above the legacy of hate."

 

[quote]Each successful attendee of the Workshops will carry forward the accomplishments and lessons learned from their participation to benefit their communities at large. We have several more Workshops already underway."[/quote]

- Denis Okello, Goldin Institute Uganda

 

Concern Worldwide Honors Mimi Frankel

GI Advisory Board member Mimi Frankel (far right).

CHICAGO, USA – We had the honor of seeing our long-time Advisory Board member, Mimi Frankel, accept a Humanitarian award from Concern Worldwide. Mimi's outstanding accomplishments reflecting justice, compassion and generosity in her work and daily life were officially recognized at a Chicago event attended by several hundred supporters to social causes around the world. For us, it was a confirmation of what we have long known about Mimi: she is a woman who will bring all her energy and devotion to raising awareness for the issues she believes in, especially ones which allow women to lead in solutions to benefit their communities.

Brave Leadership for Peace

Dr. Anayatin coordinates relief efforts in Mindanao.

MINDANAO, PHILIPPINES – We can't say enough about the ongoing work of our Global Associate in the Philippines, Dr. Susana Anayatin. Despite recent increases in violence in Mindanao, she continues the struggle for peace in Mindanao and Susana leads by example in her daily life as a teacher, environmentalist and organizer for the peace movement.

Already several times this year Susana has reported on the personal impact of the conflict and loss of lives to colleagues and friends, but this only makes her redouble her efforts to the cause of peace. While the story begins to get the attention it deserves from the established press here in the west, we have known how important it is to tell the story from Susana's perspective - and we will continue to do this while supporting the important work making a difference in Mindanao.

Promoting Gender Equality at the UN

Colleague Michael Di Maria (far right) at the UN gender equality conference

NEW YORK, USA – Recently, our newest Advisory Board Member, Akif Irfan was in attendance at a United Nations event exploring the issue of gender equity amongst young people in developing countries. Akif skillfully connected our ongoing work in places like Haiti with the conference's themes, while building relationships with colleagues interested in the same leadership initiatives, like Michael Di Maria of the Lions Clubs International Foundation.

Haitian-American Connections

Elsie Hernandez - Founder and CEO of the Haitian American Museum of Chicago

CHICAGO, USA – We continue to find inspirational leaders in our own backyard and last month we were excited to interview Elsie Hernandez - the founder and CEO of the Haitian American Museum of Chicago (HAMOC). Elsie put her dream of building a museum on hold for over ten years while raising a family, but her determination and vision have paid off with the launch of the Haitian American Museum in Chicago. An entire community now has a voice and the city at large has a new museum that helps all Chicagoans understand and celebrate Haitian art and culture. Elsie is just the type of local leader with an international reach that we love to partner with and feature for others to learn from.

Next Newsletter

Watch our next newsletter for an exciting progress update from our partners around the world. Can't wait until the next newsletter? Get your Goldin Institute fix by jumping onto our Facebook Page for the latest news as it happens.

Sincerely,
Srilatha Lakkaraju - Newletter Coordinator