The State of Illinois and Green Era Announce $32M Investment in New Renewable Energy & Urban Farming Campus on Chicago’s South Side
State of IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
Published: August 7, 2020
The State of Illinois and Green Era Announce $32M Investment in New Renewable Energy & Urban Farming Campus on Chicago’s South Side
Governor JB Pritzker joined Green Era and members of the local community today to announce an unprecedented investment bringing a new urban farming campus to Chicago’s south side. Made possible with a $3 million investment by the State of Illinois, the $32 million Green Era Renewable Energy and Urban Farming Campus will transform a vacant brownfield site in the Auburn-Gresham community creating a new model for how sustainable energy can generate economic development.
The Green Era Renewable Energy and Urban Farming Campus project will leverage $2 million in Rebuild Illinois Shovel Ready Sites (RISRS) funds, making way for access to fresh food and renewable energy, 240 construction jobs and 47 permanent jobs for the community, as well as hundreds of contracting opportunities.
"For years, this project has been a brilliant proposal on paper lacking the funding to get off the ground - and the brownfield where we now stand has been vacant for decades more," said Governor JB Pritzker. "But this is a project that incorporates renewable energy, food production, availability of healthy foods, and climate-smart job training. It's exactly the kind of 21st century vision that deserves our investment, and that's why the State of Illinois is providing $2 million in funding to launch construction this month, setting Green Era up for completion in the spring of 2022."
“With the advent of COVID-19, which has had a disproportionately negative effect on minority communities, the timing of this project could not be better to promote an equitable recovery in a community that has too long experienced disinvestment and job loss,” said Michael Negron, Acting Director of the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
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