Chicago Botanic Garden

The Chicago Botanic Garden will implement its "Food as Medicine" project through the Windy City Harvest program to address the need for healthy, fresh food in food-insecure Chicago communities. In coordination with two health clinic partners, the Windy City Harvest program will launch a produce prescription program aimed at making fresh, affordable produce available to more than 100,000 low-income residents. Produce will be sold at below-market rates at community markets and the Farm-acy health corner store, incentivizing prescription patients to return with vouchers. In return, the Farm-acy staff will expand training programs in urban agriculture to serve additional at-risk youth and ex-offenders, preparing those communities members for gainful employment. More broadly, the larger museum community will benefit from this model example of how a botanical garden can engage communities in issues of health and wellness.