An innovative collaborative effort has launched in the Village of Oak Park to build a more sustainable community. The Cross Agency Sustainability Exchange (CASE), a project funded by the Oak Park River Forest Community Foundation’s PlanItGreen initiative, brings together Oak Park River Forest High School District 200 (D200), Oak Park Elementary School District 97 (D97), […]
Everything Local 2025: Fertile Ground fo...
The Illinois Farm to School Network (IFSN), a program of Seven Generations Ahead’s (SGA), has been hard at work making it easier for farmers and schools to connect so they can get sustainable and healthy food in more school cafeterias. This year’s Everything Local Conference proved to be fertile ground for growing farm to school […]
Lake Michigan School Food System Innovat...
For Immediate Release Contact: Colleen Feeny , Senior Operations and Program Director, Seven Generations Ahead colleen@sevengenerationsahead.org Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub Opens Grant Applications in Illinois to Revolutionize Our Region’s School Food System Application opens on February 14; interested grant applicants can now register for launch event Oak Park, IL, Jan. 30, 2025 — […]
A ‘Core’ Memory: The Great Apple Crunch
Imagine the roar of the crowd at Wrigley Field, but this time it’s not for a home run. It’s the collective crunch of hundreds of students biting into crisp apples for the Great Apple Crunch! On Wednesday, September 18th, Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) spent the day at Wrigley Field, along with representatives from the USDA, […]
Students and Farmers Celebrate Apple Sea...
Teachers and students from around Chicagoland will celebrate the beginning of the school year and Illinois orchard season with fun and educational programming before the afternoon Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field Wednesday, September 18, as part of Education Day.
Illinois Sees Four Organizations Receive...
Illinois Sees Four Organizations Receive Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub Grant Building More Local, More Nourishing, More Loving School Food Systems in Illinois Oak Park, Illinois – Four Illinois organizations received funding from the Lake Michigan School Food System Innovation Hub to create more local, nourishing, and loved school meals across the Lake […]
SGA and Partners Talk Trash
On Tuesday, June 18th, Seven Generations Ahead’s (SGA) Zero Waste Schools (ZWS) team and partners held a webinar covering the ins and outs of waste reduction in school kitchens and cafeterias. The webinar, titled “School’s Out… Let’s Talk Trash!” gave 94 attendees from around the country insights into key waste reduction strategies for schools and […]
SGA Gets Firsthand Look at Cutting-Edge ...
Recently, SGA’s Zero Waste Schools (ZWS) staff had a behind-the-scenes tour of Lakeshore Recycling Services’s (LRS) Exchange Material Recovery Facility (MRF). An MRF is a facility that sorts, cleans, and packages materials that are then sold to be made into new materials. SGA was fortunate to have Joy Rifkin, LRS’s sustainability Manager, educate us about […]
C4 Communities Look for Solutions as Loc...
As the climate crisis intensifies, Chicago and its suburbs are growing more and more susceptible to severe flooding. On June 12th, Seven Generations Ahead (SGA) hosted a meeting for community leaders in the Cross-Community Climate Collaborative (C4) to learn about strategies for flood mitigation and share ideas for collaborative solutions. SGA and C4 were also […]
SGA and Other Experts Share the How and ...
Photo credit: Hainesville, Illinois Last month, Seven Generations Ahead’s (SGA) Jen Nelson and Becky Brodsky, along with other composting experts, shared about the progress being made in Illinois around community, residential and school food scrap composting at Go Green Illinois’ May meeting. The meeting had 75 registrants from nearly 30 communities across Chicagoland and beyond. […]