Proviso Math and Science Academy, 8601 W. Roosevelt Rd. in Forest Park, was ranked among the top 10 public high schools in Illinois this year, according to U.S. News & World Report’s annual rankings of schools across the nation.

The magnet school was ranked 8 out of 670 public high schools in Illinois and 261 out of 20,548 public high schools in the country that U.S. News reviewed — good enough for a Gold medal.  Go to full article

You are invited to the 2018 Healthy Food Access and Economic Development Summit on June 7, 2018 (9:30am-4:00pm), a one-day, invitation-only event to explore the link between healthy food access and economic development. Also, please help us spread the word by passing along this information (event flyer linked here) to health, economic development and food system stakeholders that you think would be interested in attending.

Event Details:
Date/Time: Thursday, June 7, 9:30am-4:00pm. Add to calendar.
Location: Epiphany Farms Restaurant, 220 East Front Street Bloomington, IL 61701. 
The Epiphany Farms Restaurant prides itself on practicing sustainable, environmentally-friendly farming techniques, as well as educating the local community about sustainable farming practices. Read more.
 
REGISTER HERE. There is a $30 registration fee (a number of scholarships are still available – see below for more information), which includes a delicious and healthy “Farm to Fork” light breakfast and hearty lunch.  
 
We hope you can attend! Please contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
 
Check out the updated list of fantastic presenters, including:

• Chicago Botanic Garden/Windy City Harvest Apprenticeship Program - Kelly Larsen, Operations Director, Chicago Botanic Garden
• gitm Foundation - Kim Keenan, Program Manager, Education/Research Director
• Grow Greater Englewood - Anton Seals, Jr., Lead Steward (Executive Director)
• HSHS St. Mary’s Hospital/Mary’s Garden CSA Program - Kimberly Luz, Division Director of Community Outreach
• IFF - David Desai-Ramirez, Executive Director, Southern Region
• Legacy of the Land - Amy Randazzo, President/Bookkeeper
• Rush University Medical Center - Christopher M. Nolan, Manager, Community Benefit and Population Health
• UIC’s Chicago Partnership for Health Promotion - Angela Odoms-Young, Associate Director
• University of Illinois Extension - Jessica Gadomski and Dale Kehr, Extension Educators, SNAP-Ed

 
Scholarship information: With support from the CDC-funded Illinois Prevention Research Center, we are now able to offer a number of scholarships to cover registration costs ($30) to help broaden participation by groups that would otherwise be under-represented at the meeting. We encourage health, food system, and economic development stakeholders from rural communities and those serving low-income communities to apply. You will be able to indicate if you need a scholarship on the registration form.
 
We hope you can attend! Please contact [email protected] with any questions or concerns.
The 2018 Healthy Food Access and Economic Development Summit is supported by County Health Rankings & Roadmaps, a collaboration between the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

Chris Epps, PP4H's garden manager, is a graduate of the Chicago Botanic Garden's urban agriculture education and jobs-training initiative call the Windy City Harvest.  Chris's story, and his successful work with the Giving Garden, is featured in the Spring 2018 Botanic Gardens member magazine.

Read the full article here.    chris_epps_kg_spring_2018.pdf