The people and organizations who make this possible
HVP does not do this alone. A small set of funders, community partners, and institutional collaborators carry the work from one classroom to the next. Here is who stands behind the program.
Six organizations, six kinds of support
Each partnership is scoped differently, but the throughline is the same: direct investment in students, teachers, and the neighborhoods HVP serves.
Montrose Food Mart
Chicago neighborhood grocer we partner with to source fresh produce for community distributions, packing bags of greens, herbs, and seasonal vegetables for families at HVP school events.
Pilot Light
Chef-founded national food-education nonprofit we partner with to integrate hydroponic growing and food literacy into core classroom subjects, bringing chef-led learning into the same lessons as math, science, and social studies.
Aetna Better Health of Illinois
Health plan whose sponsorship launched HVP’s first four school gardens on Chicago’s South and West sides, part of broader work on community food access and youth wellness.
Gardeneers
Chicago school-garden partner we collaborate with so students can move between outdoor raised beds and our indoor hydroponic towers, growing and eating fresh produce year-round.
The Evolved Network
Community partner that connects HVP into Chicago schools and neighborhoods, helping us place systems where they will reach students who need them most.
Chicago Student Refugee Coalition
Student-run 501(c)(3) supporting refugee and low-income youth as they settle into new schools and communities. We partner with CSRC to co-host classroom events and bring HVP workshops into schools they already serve.
Aetna Better Health of Illinois and Augustin Lara Academy
Augustin Lara Academy is an elementary school in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood. HVP onboarded Lara in 2023 as one of its first school partners, one of three Chicago schools Aetna Better Health of Illinois generously sponsored that year.
Aetna’s sponsorship funded the install and the launch event: a live chef demonstration, hundreds of bags of fresh produce distributed to families, and a cooking workshop built around ingredients the students were already growing in class.
What carried the program forward at Lara after the launch is the students themselves. Under lead teacher Alejandro Gomez, they founded the Tonantzin Hydroponics Club, a student-led organization that maintains the growing system and runs day-to-day operations. The club is proof of concept for HVP’s goal of durable, student-driven ownership: a program that keeps going after HVP is no longer the outside hand on the system.
Build something together
Every institutional partnership is custom-scoped. If your company, foundation, or community organization wants to support HVP, the fastest way forward is a 30-minute intake call.