The Harvey Brooks Foundation Receives NICI Impact Grant to Combat Joliet’s Food Desert
For over 25 years, the Harvey Brooks Motivation & Development Foundation has been working to promote and contribute to community development and safety by providing educational programs and services that build character, develop life skills, and encourage self-esteem and self-sufficiency for at-risk individuals and families. The organization is also dedicated to tackling the southeast side of Joliet’s designation as a food desert by creating access to affordable and nutritious produce options.
Harvey Brooks will receive its third $100,000 Impact Grant from Northern Illinois Community Initiatives (NICI) to expand their youth, family, and community programs. This includes programming that uses their Eden Community Garden and Food Pantry as a focal point for nutrition classes and financial literacy lessons. The organization will also launch a youth entrepreneur cohort to market and sell the garden’s herbs. NICI is happy to contribute to Harvey Brooks’ vision of a healthier and more economically mobile community.
“What excites us is that NICI recognizes and appreciates that The Harvey Brooks Foundation has been working in the Joliet community since 1998, over 25 years, providing an array of scholastic, motivation and life-skill development programs for youth and their families to become more productive individuals.”
— Melvin Leach, Business & Community Liaison & Tempie Bates, Community Garden Coordinator