How can I help/get involved?
I would like the Learning Center’s help to start a program for my community. What should I do?
My organization would like to partner with you. What should I do?
Who do you work with?
You’re based at a farm. Why do you have an urban initiative?
I’m an Angelic Organics shareholder. Aren’t I already contributing to the Learning Center?
What’s the difference between Angelic Organics and the Angelic Organics Learning Center?
Why did you change your name to Angelic Organics Learning Center?

How can I help/get involved?
Each year we rely on hundreds of people like you who give generously of their time, talent, and funds. Here are a few ways you can provide essential support for our work to build local food systems:

Make a gift
Volunteer
Attend a special event
Buy our farm goods
Give in-kind goods or services

Each year thousands of people like you participate in our educational programs to learn new skills and ideas that help build local food systems. Here are a few ways you can participate:

Attend a Learning Center program at our farm
Attend a Learning Center program in Chicago
Participate in our farmer training programs

I would like the Learning Center’s help to start a program for my community. What should I do?
Hundreds of kids, adults, and families visit our farm each year to learn new skills and ideas that they can incorporate in their own community. We work with more than 50 schools and community groups annually, many of whom visit the farm for custom-designed programs. We also work with directly with groups in their communities to help plan and implement programs.

To learn new skills and ideas at our farm, check out our On-Farm Programs.
For Chicago and Rockford based programs, check out our Urban Initiative.
For farmer training related programs, check out our Farmer Training Initiative.

My organization would like to partner with you. What should I do?
From community centers to schools, faith groups to farming organizations, food retailers to health clinics, the Learning Center recognizes that partnerships are a key strategy for building a local food system. We are interested in partnerships that help our current programs reach new communities, that bring new skills and resources to our programs, or that leverage our experience and resources for new educational opportunities.

To bring your organization to our farm, check out our Group Programs.
For Chicago and Rockford based partnerships, check out our Urban Initiative.
For farmer training related partnerships, check out our Farmer Training Initiative.

Who do you work with?
Since our founding in 1998, the Learning Center has linked diverse communities, sustainable farms, and urban gardens. We work with more than 4,000 people each year who want to help build a healthy local food system. Our programs attract an amazing diversity of people from across northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. We serve people from across the economic spectrum representing all ages and ethnic backgrounds.

Our on-farm programs serve individuals, families, and groups from the Illinois-Wisconsin stateline area, the Chicago metro area, and even around the world. Our farmer training programs work with beginning farmers, including young people recently out of high school or college, immigrants seeking to reconnect with their agricultural roots, older people seeking a career change, and everyone in between. Our urban programs primarily reach limited resource African-American, Latino, and refugee/immigrant communities.

Check out our list of current partners.

You’re based at a farm. Why do you have an urban initiative?
Angelic Learning Center was founded in 1998 in part to connect urban residents with local farms and increase their access to fresh, healthy food. Early on we worked with communities of immigrants and refugees from the Chicago-based Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, Latino families from Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, and families in need from the Cabrini-Green housing project.

During their visits to the farm, we learned about the need for fresh, healthy produce in low-income urban communities. We realized that training people to grow food in the city could increase the availability of fresh food and engage more urban residents in building a local food system.

In 2002, we piloted our first urban agriculture project with Northwest Community Center in Rockford. Our first Chicago project began the following year with Growing Home. We witnessed how urban agriculture could make a positive impact on both the individuals and communities involved. It didn’t take long before additional community groups began to seek our help with their own projects.

Today, through our Urban Initiative, we’re involved in community based projects that increase access to fresh, healthy food and improve quality of life. We offer hands-on learning at several urban growing sites in Chicago and Rockford to increase local food production and connect urban families with the land.

Learn more about our Urban Initiative.

I’m an Angelic Organics shareholder. Doesn’t that mean I already contributing to the Learning Center?

As an Angelic Organics CSA shareholder, you are showing your support for a healthy local food system. Thank you! The Learning Center does not receive a portion of your share payment. For more information, read below.

What’s the difference between Angelic Organics and Angelic Organics Learning Center?
Who We Are

Angelic Organics Learning Center: A nonprofit organization that helps urban and rural people build local food systems. We are the educational partner to Angelic Organics. We were founded by farmer John Peterson and a group of CSA members who wanted to use the farm as a resource for people to renew their relationships with land, farmers, and community.

Angelic Organics: A Biodynamic community supported agriculture (CSA) farm. We are dedicated to creating and forwarding an economically viable, organic, Biodynamic farm which nurtures its soil, plants, animals, and community of workers and enlivens the connection between people and the source of their food.

What We Do

Angelic Organics Learning Center: Offers opportunities to grow healthy food and a better quality of life, connect with farmers and the land, and learn agricultural and leadership skills. The Learning Center reaches more than 4,000 people each year through programs at partner farms and urban growing sites in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.

Angelic Organics: Grows vegetables and herbs for more than 1,350 member households from the greater Chicago area. We are committed to providing the freshest, most vibrant food possible to our customers.

How to Support Us

Angelic Organics Learning Center: Make a tax-deductible gift, volunteer, give in-kind goods or services, attend a special event, or buy our farm goods

Angelic Organics: Buy a CSA vegetable share or buy our film, books, and music

Location(s)

Angelic Organics Learning Center: Caledonia, IL and Chicago, IL

Angelic Organics: Caledonia, IL

Organizational Structure

Angelic Organics Learning Center: 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization

Angelic Organics: For-profit business

Year Founded

Angelic Organics Learning Center: 1998

Angelic Organics:1990

Website

Angelic Organics Learning Center: www.learngrowconnect.org

Angelic Organics: www.angelicorganics.com

Why did you change your name to Angelic Organics Learning Center?

We changed our name effective January 1, 2007, from "CSA Learning Center at Angelic Organics" to "Angelic Organics Learning Center" to more effectively communicate who we are and what we do.

Why did you choose Angelic Organics Learning Center?

• We wanted to keep Angelic Organics in the name to affirm our partnership with Angelic Organics and the credibility that comes with being associated with this nationally recognized community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm.
• We dropped “CSA” from our name to help reach new constituencies. The acronym CSA is largely an insider term in sustainable agriculture circles and did not advance our outreach efforts with people unfamiliar with its meaning. We believe that having a well known CSA — Angelic Organics — in our name will be welcoming to those who are interested in our work with CSAs.
• The new name acknowledges that our mission and programs are broader than CSAs. We empower people to create sustainable communities and build a local food system. We help urban and rural people grow healthy food, connect with farmers and the land, and learn agricultural and leadership skills. Our programs offer learning experiences and practical resources that promote CSAs as just one of several ways to get involved in the local food system.
• The new name is more inclusive of the diverse interests of people who participate in our programs. While we offer opportunities for Angelic Organics CSA members — people who buy produce direct from the farm — the bulk of our programs reach a much larger cross section of people from northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin. We recognize that partnerships between diverse communities are essential to a healthy local food system.