Urban farm helps students with autism

By Editor | April 29, 2024 |

Students working at Growing Solutions Farm are involved in every step of the process. (Photo courtesy of Maura McCarthy, Urban Autism Solutions executive director)

By HANNAH SPANGLER
FarmWeek
Students with autism and other related challenges are gaining essential life skills while learning lessons in urban agriculture.
The Growing Solutions Farm on the west side of Chicago is a 1.2-acre urban farm that started in 2013. The farm offers a unique learning environment for 16- to 22-year-old Chicago Public High School transition-aged students with autism and related challenges. Students working on the farm learn about urban agriculture while gaining transferable job and social skills they can apply to future employment or lead to meaningful lives as they transition to adulthood.
“We are providing much needed services for young people that have disabilities,” said the farm operations manager, Tucker Kelly. “This was a way to connect the student with employment that would hopefully make a huge change in a young person’s life.”
As students age out of the school system at 22, programs and services provided to them through public school are no longer available. If these young adults don’t have a plan, they potentially face significant isolation from the community.
The Growing Solutions Farm began as a pilot program for Urban Autism Solutions (UAS). Today the farm produces more than 70 different types of vegetables, fruits and herbs. The students are involved in every step of the process. Assisting at the farm helps them build community, prevents isolation and provides support that will guide these young learners into adulthood.
Students working with UAS learn safe food handling practices and how to build raised plant beds, prepare soil, tend compost piles and harvest and prepare food for sale. Additionally, students practice important job skills like following directions, communicating effectively with co-workers and supervisors, managing tasks and completing tasks. The program also requires students to take public transportation to the farm, adding another skill to their portfolio.
“Largely what we’re concerned with here are the occupational skills that are transferable to a job in a grocery store,” Kelly said. “We’re there to treat their time on the farm like an entry-level job. They’re expected to wear a uniform, greet us when they enter and follow multistep directions.”
Kelly said they also want the students to look out for each other. When a student needs help or forgets something they need to do, the hope is fellow students and colleagues can help get the student back on track. “That’s like the big shining, golden moment as a teacher when you’ve imbued students with the skills enough to be able to teach one another.”
Programming for the farm usually begins at the end of March and ends around Halloween. Primarily, produce grown is sold on-site or in an eight-box subscription. Produce is also donated to local food pantries and students can take home as much produce as they want to enjoy with their families.
During the school year, 50 to 70 students will help. Up to 25 students are paid during the summer months to continue working on the farm with extended school year programming. Younger students are also involved through summer ambassador programming, a partnership with Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council.
Growing Solutions Farm added a sensory garden in 2021 and expanded the garden further in 2022. Most recently, gas and electric lines were connected to their hoop house, providing further growing capabilities.
Kelly encourages anyone interested in learning more about the farm to stop by any day of the week.
The onsite farmstand is open on Wednesdays after Memorial Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Fridays from 2 to 6 p.m. All proceeds from the sale of their produce supports student programming.
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■ This story was distributed through a cooperative project between Illinois Farm Bureau and the Illinois Press Association. For more food and farming news, visit FarmWeekNow.com.