What is Community Grain Shares:
Community Grain Shares (CGS) is a program of the Chicago Bread Club. CGS supports emergency food programs and aid farmers by repacking and distributing locally produced bulk grains & beans. CBC partners with local organizations to sell CGS to support this model into the future. The goal of CGS is to increase access to local quality grain in Black & brown communities that often have financial or geographic barriers to access, while supporting grain farmers during the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond.
Via the Community Grain Shares Project we provide our community with culturally significant local grains. Access to local grain is not easy financially or geographically on the south & west sides. There is a demand for things like cornmeal, grits, oats, beans, corn (for masa), & flour mixes for things like pancakes & muffins. We partner with and support local farmers who can provide these grains and blends.
How to get involved:
Volunteer
Volunteers are educated on our mission, vision, and values. Volunteers support bread club meetings as well as provide invaluable assistance with data collection, advocacy, and communications.
Volunteer to Pack Grain
Volunteer as a Distribution Site
Donate:
To support the work of growing this base and creating the first centralized space for black and brown people in the RGE, as well as launch our racial advocacy, economic equity, and educational goals we are seeking to grow a $225,000 seed fund to hire two persons, fund travel and bread club meeting expenses, expand our educational offerings, and further advance our mission. Through the support of individuals, foundations, and other catalytic believers, the Chicago Bread Club will be the first co-created community for Black and brown people currently in, and seeking to enter, the Regional Grain Economy.
Join us as a Farmers or Millers:
Farmers are integral to CBC because they allow for the public to have staple crops and seed that are grown in the regional area.There are currently nine farms/millers throughout the Chicagoland region supplying the Chicago market, all of whom are white. We are looking to support the freedom farmers in the region, the black and brown farmers who are looking to step outside of colonized, racist practices in farming, particularly in the diversification of their crops with grain.
Bread Club Members:
Chicago Bread Club members are persons who join our bread club meetings, work intentionally with us to further our mission, and form the core public-facing constituency for our work. They include freedom farmers, the current grain farmers, home chefs and bakers, home brewers/distillers, professional chefs and bakers, people looking for food and food-preparing education, and eaters.