An elder plants Jamaican pumpkin seeds on the SWF Community Farm, 2022.

An elder plants pumpkin seeds in a field.

SWF Global Urban Ecology Fellow practices hand wood carving, 2022.

A person's hands grasp a tool as they practice carving.

Elementary students engage in SWF’s Seeding the Future program during a field lesson at The Commonwealth, 2022.

Six young people with notebooks are sitting in attention to a discussion leader.

Corporate volunteers meet SWF team members and fellows in the community garden, 2022.

More than two dozen people stand facing one another in a large circle in a community garden. 

Live performance by Kombilesa Mi at Civic Arts Church, 2020.

A musical ensemble is on stage at the far end of an interior performance space. The space, full of audience members, is open to the outdoors.

The Results of a Regenerative Neighborhood Development

Initial rendering of the vision for Civic Arts Church. 

An architect’s drawing of a building.

Photo collage with handwritten reflection on the history and potential future of the abandoned church that would become Civic Arts Church.


Q4P1

Students exit after a concert in Civic Arts Church.

Q4P9

Attendees of SWF’s National Values-Based Partners Convening engage in dialog on the Community Farm.

Q5P1

Elders walk the ‘runway’ at the “Walking in Wisdom” Elder Fashion Show at SWF’s Fifth Annual Juneteenth Celebration. Photo credit: Sweet Water Foundation, 2022.

Q5P3

Global Urban Ecology Fellow shows off DJ skills after the final Summer Fellow presentation.

Q4P8

Live performance by Kombilesa Mi at Civic Arts Church.

Q4P7

Macrame installation for the inaugural show in Civic Arts Church.

Q4P6

Visitors enter the Thought Barn, which is framed by sunflowers on the SWF Community Farm.

Q3P1

SWF team members care for winter crops grown year-round in the hoop houses on the Community Farm. Photo credit: Sweet Water Foundation, 2022.

Q3P3

SWF team member drafts a hand drawing of a recent SWF furniture design.

Q2P1

SWF Global Urban Ecology Fellow harvests carrots.

Q1P2

Dancer performs at SWF’s Fifth Annual Juneteenth Celebration.

Q1P4

An elder views Landscapes of [Re]Construction, in SWF’s Gallery at [Re]Construction House. The mixed-media collage is now part of the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Q1P6

SWF Urban Ecology Peer Mentor shares a tomato harvest.

Q1P7

Civic Arts Church

Community members outside Sweet Water Foundation’s RND [Regenerative Neighborhood Development] Park & Meeting House.

Six people are outside a park and meeting house

Re-generation and Re-storying with Sweet Water Foundation

Artists as Catalysts

Artists as Catalysts Navigation Image

Beyond Incarceration

A side profile of a Black poet who is wearing glasses and a hat with a feather hat pin.

Civic Engagement

Civic engagement navigation image - A large crowd of people who are far away and anonymous

Evolving Higher Education

A vertical image of an Indigenous person who is sitting on a chair in front of a backdrop.

Expanding Public Knowledge

Expanding Public Knowledge Navigation Image

Monuments and Memory

A large statue of a confederate general is covered in markings and graffiti. 

Multivocality

Five people stand together in a group photo. They are laughing and smiling.

Power of the Word

Five colorful neon signs hang on the wall with messages that include, "Freedom cannot wait," "Brown owned," and "America is for Dreamers."

Public Places‚ Public Stories

A group of Indigenous Maskoke people stand and sit in the wooden frame of a structure in a woods

Puerto Rico and Its Diaspora

In a vertical image, a black leather vest is adorned with colorful pins across the front of it. Embroidery on the vest reads: "Felícitas "La Prieta" Méndez" 