GAGE PARK — About a dozen high schoolers will have the chance to get paid while learning about mutual aid, environmental justice and urban farming through a new program on the Southwest Side.
The Gage Park Latinx Council and the McKinley Park-based Neighbors for Environmental Justice are launching Sembrando Futuros, which is Spanish for “Planting Futures.”
Teens ages 15-19 will spend six weeks learning about each group’s mutual aid efforts and environmental justice organizing and will get hands-on farming experience at Tierra y Paz Farm in Back of the Yards, 5136 S. Laflin St.
Participants will get paid $20 an hour, said Antonio Santos, Gage Park Latinx Council’s executive director. The funding comes from the programming budgets of both organizations, he said.
Teens have until noon Friday to complete the application, which consists of a few questions about why they want to join and what they hope to get out of it. No prior experience is necessary. A link to the application is here.
The program is one to three days a week beginning Tuesday and will run until Sept. 16. The full schedule with times is listed in the application.
While this is a pilot program, Santos said he hopes it can grow to include more kids.
“It’s not only sitting down to learn about what we do, but giving young people the opportunity to have hands-on experience in every step of the process, from the planification, to the growing, to the distribution,” he said.
Santos said the program is available to kids across the city, not just on the Southwest Side.
“It’s part of our commitment to help young people in Chicago have things to do after school and in the summer while also learning earning a living wage,” he said.
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