Throughout the year, SWF invites local residents, neighbors, and visitors to engage with nature through civic arts activities, including nature printing, macrame, nature weaving, natural dyeing, and handcrafted carpentry projects. This summer’s civic arts programming celebrated the “wild” plants that grow in abundance throughout the season. For many years, the White Mulberry Tree has been a special feature of summer civic arts at The Common|Wealth, and this year, the tradition continued with workshops dedicated to painting and dyeing with its berries.

Wellness Wednesdays emerged in Summer 2021 when the Sweet Water Foundation team and community members began sharing culinary traditions featuring the bountiful produce from SWF’s Community Farm every Wednesday during lunch. Since then, the practice has evolved into a collective weekly ritual during which we cultivate the land, engage in Civic Arts, and share a farm-to-table meal. This year, SWF hosted 20 Wellness Wednesdays, welcoming a broad audience of neighbors, visitors, Neighborhood Academy members, and people engaged in Sweet Water Communiversity. Each week’s gathering reflected the feedback and harvests of the land, celebrating the season from spring through fall.

Summer 2025 was a season of regeneration and abundance at The Common|Wealth. From early June through the end of August, summer was rooted in weekly routines, seasonal rituals, and Communiversity programming as crops flourished, new carpentry designs were produced, and civic arts workshops fostered new art practices using the plants of the season. Sweet Water Communiversity welcomed a cohort of local residents, undergraduate students, and recent graduates for an intensive 10-week summer program, joining the SWF team, Neighborhood Academy participants, and neighbors in the weekly rituals of Wellness Wednesdays, Neighborhood Market, and Civic Arts programming.

During Summer 2025, Sweet Water Communiversity embraced the theme of regeneration through propagation. Over the course of six weeks, Communiversity participants and visitors alike engaged in a deep exploration of regeneration by refreshing 10 beds in the Community Garden with basil.  Spaces across The Common|Wealth from the Shelf of Life to the Think-Do House Kitchen and Community Garden were activated as “Living Classrooms,” where techniques for propagation, plant care, and harvesting were shared. As the basil continued to grow, it was integrated into several different farm-to-table meals, a flavorful testament to the community’s growing knowledge and action.

This example embodies Sweet Water Communiversity’s approach to Regenerative Education, where knowledge and action are intertwined and applied toward the re-generation of the publics (public education, public knowledge, public health, etc).

Spring 2025 at The Common|Wealth was a time of growth, laying the foundation for an abundant summer season. Cooler spring weather delayed planting on the farm, while warm, indoor spaces like the Hoop Houses, Shelves of Life, Smart Pod, and Healing Garden Teahouse were bursting with seedlings ready to transplant as soon as the temperature warmed. Before long, the Community Farm and Gardens were bountiful with produce and seedlings ready for the launch of Well-ness Wednesdays & Neighborhood Markets and our peak summer season. Sweet Water Communiversity programming also thrived, with the RND [Re]Search Internship, Seeding the Future, and Neighborhood Academy programs in full swing throughout the Spring. As vital components of our practice, carpentry and Civic Arts were continually integrated throughout the season as we continued to cultivate The Common|Wealth and GROW the neighborhood.

From April 10 through April 12, members of the SWF team traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for a Communiversity Convergence with Values-Based Partner Sankofa Village Community Garden. 

The convergence began with an introduction to Sankofa Village’s after-school program. The following day, Sankofa Village hosted a Volunteer Day that featured a SWF Communiversity Build-It workshop. On the final day, SWF and Sankofa Village co-hosted a public event, “[Re]Generating the Publics,”  at the Carnegie Public Library of Pittsburgh in Homewood. The event engaged the SWF community, Sankofa Village community, SWF Values-Based Partners, and students/faculty from Carnegie Mellon University.

Read more about the Pittsburgh Convergence. 

Winter 2025 at The Common|Wealth was a productive period of refreshing spaces and new beginnings. From the launch of SWF’s Neighborhood Academy and the welcoming of a new cohort of RND Re-Search Interns, to the continued partnership with Beasley Academic Center through the Seeding the Future program and the Fifth Annual Sankofa Living Memories Series, Sweet Water Foundation has transformed the season into one of hands-on learning, creative exploration, and community building. We invite you to read more about winter at The Common|Wealth.

On March 27th - 29th, SWF team members traveled to Detroit, Michigan, for a 3-day Communiversity Convergence with Detroit-based Values-Based Partners. The Convergence started Thursday evening with a shared reflection on What Time Is It On The Clock of the World?, followed by a Build-It Workshop and work day on Friday at Feedom Freedom Growers. The Convergence closed with a tour of Freedom Dreams and a workshop about practices shared across Values-Based Partner sites on Saturday. 

This is the third annual Communiversity Convergence in Detroit – an early spring ritual of critical connections and community building. We invite you to learn more about the Detroit Convergence. 

Humans of Sweet Water… Meet Charles Pryor.  Charles is a passionate and accomplished jazz musician, trumpet player, artist, teacher, homeschool educator, and father from Chicago’s South Side. Charles’s connection with Sweet Water Foundation (SWF) began when SWF Executive Director Emmanuel Pratt witnessed the captivating dynamism of Charles’s jazz performance on 53rd Street in Hyde Park. Charles and his son first visited The Common|Wealth for Well-ness Wednesday in early June 2024, and soon after performed a memorable set at SWF’s Seventh Annual  Juneteenth Celebration. 

This February, Sweet Water Foundation hosted its fifth annual Sankofa Living Memories Series. The Sankofa Living Memories Series embraces the practice of Sankofa, reaching back to the knowledge and wisdom of the past and bringing it into the present to build a more radical and imaginative future. The series featured three sessions that focused on [Re]Membering, [Re]Generation, and [Re]Mediation. Read more about this year’s three-part Sankofa series.

Fall 2024 at The Commonwealth has been a period of recalibration and renewal of our routines, rituals, and reflections in preparation for the close of 2024 and the year ahead. Weekly Farmer’s Markets have continued in full swing with vibrant produce, featuring music by Human-in-Residence, Charles Pryor, and new Civic Arts activities such making smudge sticks and designing Prop Blocks. The SWF team has also been working hard to ready the land, spaces, and structures at The Commonwealth for the impending winter ahead by reconstructing and repairing hoop house infrastructure and organizing indoor spaces to accommodate work and programming over winter. 

The fall season of Sweet Water Communiversity programming was jam-packed as we welcomed a new cohort of RND Research Interns, launching Community Building Wednesdays, are co-leading a college course on Artificial Intelligence and urban design, and delivering hands-on arts, cultural, and Urban Ecology programming to more than 100 students from across the Chicagoland area and the world. 

On Thursday, September 26, an intergenerational group from the Oneida Nation joined Sweet Water Foundation (SWF) for a Convergence at The Commonwealth that included shared labor on the Community Farm, a farm-to-table meal, a tour of The Commonwealth, and a Civic Arts Talk and Workshop in Civic Arts Church. The Convergence underscored the importance of storytelling, sharing knowledge, and the profound possibilities inherent in values-based practices focused on the regeneration of land and ecosystems. 

Summer 2024 was jam-packed with weekly rituals, special events, visitors from across the globe, and a lot of hard work amidst a hot Chicago summer. Sweet Water Communiversity was in full swing, welcoming neighbors, youth, a new cohort of Urban Ecology Global Fellows, and Values-Based Partners to The Commonwealth and engaging the community in the weekly rituals of Wellness Wednesdays, Friday Market, and Civic Arts programming. 

On August 7, 2024, Sweet Water Foundation hosted renowned scholars and historians Imani Perry and Robin D. G. Kelley at The Commonwealth for the second Civic Arts Talk. The August session focused on reclaiming image and identity through the lens of freedom dreaming. How can we dare to freedom dream?

On July 11, Sweet Water Foundation (SWF) hosted Rick Lowe for the inaugural Civic Arts Talk at Civic Arts Church, marking the launch of a new Sweet Water Communiversity series focused on Civic Arts. This series brings together artists, academics, and community members to share their work through talks, performances, and workshops, fostering a rich exchange of ideas and critical connections at The Commonwealth. 

On Wednesday, June 19, Sweet Water Foundation celebrated its Seventh Annual Juneteenth Celebration at The Commonwealth. For the second time, Juneteenth was hosted at Civic Arts Church, welcoming 200+ neighbors, Values-Based Partners, and friends from around the globe who joined us to celebrate freedom and community. We invite you to read more about the celebration.

On March 7th - 9th, SWF team members traveled to Ann Arbor and Detroit, Michigan, for a Communiversity Convergence. The Convergence began with SWF and members of the Values-Based Partners network engaging in a public lecture at the University of Michigan followed by a Build-It Workshop and community gathering at Freedom Dreams the next day. This was the second annual Communiversity Convergence in Detroit - a new March ritual and an important community/network-building and reconnection point. We invite you to learn more about the Detroit Convergence.

This spring has brought varied temperature swings, which has meant plenty of time to balance indoor and outdoor activities. In March, Sweet Water Communiversity welcomed its first groups of the year from near and far to The Commonwealth for immersions, ranging from a few hours to a few days with the SWF team. Students from Howard University, Lake Forest College, and Chicago Public Schools spent part of their spring break cultivating life alongside the SWF team and Community. We invite you to read more about the immersions at The Commonwealth.

On April 5 and 6, members of the SWF team traveled to Pittsburgh, PA, for a Communiversity Convergence with Values-Based Partner Sankofa Village Projects and emerging university partner Carnegie Mellon University. The two-day convergence catalyzed new relationships at Sankofa Village Community Garden through a series of Build-It Workshops that engaged community members and students/faculty from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh.

This February, Sweet Water Foundation hosted its fourth annual Sankofa Living Memories Series. The Sankofa Living Memories Series embraces the practice of Sankofa, reaching back to the knowledge and wisdom of the past and bringing it into the present in order to build a more radical and imaginative future. Similar to previous years, the series featured three sessions that focused on [Re]Membering, [Re]Generation, and [Re]Mediation. Read more about this year’s three-part Sankofa series.