Cultivate Collective

Cultivate Collective’s mission is to unite education, wellness, sustainability and economic vitality to drive meaningful, multi-generational impact in our LeClaire Courts community on Chicago’s southwest side. In the fall of 2023, we will be opening the doors to a six-acre neighborhood learning and wellness hub that will include comprehensive community facilities, resources and programming, including a health care center, fresh foods store and café, teaching kitchens, community gardens, wellness facilities, neighborhood walking trails and green spaces, and a three-acre urban farm. The Academy for Global Citizenship’s nature-based and innovative Head Start early childhood center and K-8 public school will also be housed on-site, enabling a cradle-to-college pipeline that is fundamental to the Purpose Built Communities model of ending intergenerational poverty. The project is on track to be the first in the state to achieve full climate resiliency through on-site net-positive energy production, battery storage, and net-positive water.

Cultivate Collective's six-acre development that will serve as a catalyst for the neighboring 34 vacant acres and future mixed-income housing development, all of which are located on the former LeClaire Courts Chicago Housing Authority site. The $75 million investment will generate greatly needed economic and community development to the city’s under-resourced southwest side. Our vision is to serve as a model and national demonstration site for driving the future of resilient, equitable and vital communities from within.