For many of us, the planting and gardening that we start to do around springtime is a hobby that might just affect ourselves or our families and friends.

But Erika Allen uses gardening and urban farming to have a major impact on the lives of thousands of Chicagoans.

Back in 2017, Allen founded the Urban Growers Collective, which operates seven farms—most of them on Chicago’s South Side—as a way to create jobs for youth and the formerly incarcerated, eliminate food deserts, and spread economic security and justice through the communities it serves.

Allen stops by the studio for more on her organization’s efforts to create economic opportunity and food security through urban farms on Chicago’s South Side.

GUEST: Erika Allen, co-founder and CEO, Operations of the Urban Growers Collective, board member at the Chicago Food Policy Action Council, former commissioner of the Chicago Park District

LEARN MORE: Urban Growers Collective