Urban Farm Grows Opportunities For Former Inmates, Veterans

CHICAGO (AP)--An agricultural program in Chicago is providing transitional job training to former inmates and veterans at a new urban farm.

Windy City Harvest Corps is a 14-week Chicago Botanic Garden program. The program helps previously incarcerated individuals and veterans find full-time employment in the agriculture industry.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the Harvest Corps is managing Farm on Ogden, which promotes healthy food habits in the North Lawndale neighborhood.

The new 20,000-square-foot (1,858-square-meter) facility will provide training to more than 100 people in its first year. It's also expected to aggregate more than 177,000 pounds (80,287 kilograms) of produce annually.

Harvest Corps Coordinator Joan Hopkins says program participants work full-time and are paid bi-weekly. They are taught skills, including planting, harvesting, post-harvest handling, record keeping, landscaping and overall workplace safety.

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