Growing Green Together

Our Mission

Our Core Work

Vibrant Lands restores degraded urban land with native plant–centered, climate‑resilient landscapes that double as teaching gardens and community food forests. We work alongside residents and partners to transform vacant lots, parks, schoolyards, and other underused spaces into thriving neighborhood assets.
Our mission is to restore healthy relationships between people, land, and local ecosystems by creating outdoor spaces that are both beautiful and deeply functional. We design and steward landscapes that support biodiversity, food production, mental health, and community connection, using our nonprofit model to advance climate resilience, equity, and long‑term human and environmental health.

Native habitat and climate resilience

We create and restore native prairies, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, and tree‑filled green corridors that cool neighborhoods, absorb stormwater, and provide habitat for birds and pollinators.

Productive foodscapes and community food forests

We design edible gardens, food forests, and community foodscapes that reflect local cultures and priorities, building community‑governed food production and local food sovereignty.

Stewardship training and education

We equip youth, congregations, park stewards, and neighborhood leaders with skills to design, plant, and care for these spaces through workshops, youth crews, and on‑site training.

Vibrant Lands Inc. is a Chicago‑based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing biodiversity restoration, ecological health, and food sovereignty in urban communities. Supporting our work helps turn vacant and under‑resourced urban land into thriving green spaces that sustain both biodiversity and local food access—discover our work, get involved, and grow with us.

Who We Are