By The Hand Club For Kids opened the doors on a permanent home for its youth-led produce market, Austin Harvest, located at 423 N. Laramie Ave on Chicago’s west side. Austin Harvest’s permanent building—supported by partnerships with Jewel-Osco and Flowers for Dreams—will support year-round access to fresh produce and flowers for residents of Chicago’s west side while creating immersive entrepreneurship experiences for students from By The Hand Club. Austin Harvest is mission-driven and entirely student-led. By The Hand Club high school students from neighboring CPS schools are responsible for all aspects of operations, including budgeting, ordering, and staffing and inventory management. Students receive an educational stipend for their work as well as valuable business, marketing and customer service skills they can leverage in their future careers. Mentorship and collaboration with leadership at Jewel-Osco provide students the resources they need to successfully run their business while positively impacting the Austin community. Austin Harvest’s permanent building features 2,200 square-feet of space and an open-air patio that serves as a community gathering space. The new building is equipped with state-of-the-art refrigeration units, enabling the students to offer a broader selection of produce and seasonal offerings while reducing costs. Austin Harvest will operate Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., and students will continue hosting a variety of special events and pop-ups to engage the neighborhood throughout the year. For the latest news, information and calendar of events, please follow Austin Harvest on Instagram (@austinharvestfreshmarket).

Photo Credit: By The Hand Club for Kids