Building Opportunity from the Ground Up: Community and Environment on Chicago’s South Side with Quilen Blackwell

At the end of the day, one of the lessons we learned early on is, you know, life wants to live. And even in those vacant lots, like, there's still life, right? Because life wants to live despite what we will do.

INTRO - Gerry

Hi, I'm Gerry Ellis and welcome to The World We Want, The NAAEE podcast. Today we're exploring the very heart of what it means when we say community. And about what happens when people are given the opportunity to shape the places where they live. A lot of conversations about the environment focus on forests and oceans, wildlife, but often in distant places. For most of us, the environment is much closer.

It's the neighborhood around us, the vacant lot down the street, the air we breathe, the food we access, and the spaces where children learn, they play, and they grow up. My guest today is Quilen Blackwell, the founder of Southside Blooms and the president of Chicago EcoHouse. Quilen has spent the past 15 years working on Chicago's Southside, transforming vacant lots into gardens,

restoring abandoned buildings into homes, and creating opportunities for young people through work that connects community, environment, and economic possibility. But at the heart of Quilen's work is something much deeper, an idea. One that when people are invited to care for a place, given the tools to improve their environment in concert with their own lives, something else begins to change as well. That change has been celebrated nationally, including Quilen being named CNN's 2025 Hero of the Year. Recognizing Quilen's work reflects a broader vision that caring for the environment and caring for people are inseparable. Our conversation is about community, opportunity, healthy environments, and the idea that environmental work doesn't always begin in a distant wilderness. It begins on the block where you live. In this episode of The World We Want,

We begin on a block on the south side of Chicago with Quilen Blackwell.

Gerry

Hi, Quilen, and welcome to The World We Want. I am delighted that you are able to join us.

Quilen

Yeah, thanks Gerry. I'm really looking forward to our conversation here. Thanks for having me today.

Gerry

You know, I have to admit, I feel a little bit guilty that we're recording this in the spring. It's almost April. I feel like you should be out planting flowers or something. It's like you, I'm taking away that valuable time when you should be getting flower beds and all of that kind of stuff ready.

Quilen

That work is definitely getting done, you know, so thankfully we have a good team in place. So, you know, frees me up to do things like this while we make sure our tulips are being harvested and all our spring crops are going in the ground. So, you know, we've got quite the operation here of good people.

Gerry

Well, I wanna break that whole operation down, but first, congratulations on being named a CNN Hero of the Year. That's an amazing honor.

Quilen 

Yeah, thanks. Appreciate it. Yeah, I mean, it definitely was not my bingo card for 2025, but, you know, worked out that way. And, you know, it's really just shows like what our youth can do and our communities are capable of. Like we really look at it as being more of a, you know, an honor for the inner city in general. You know, for such a long time, you know, we've been kind of counted out. So it's really good to kind of get that national recognition, you know, for the South Side Chicago and beyond.

Gerry 

I wanted to start with your background, to talk about when you were a little kid. Like what was, because you're so, you seem so connected to community, so connected to the earth. So where did you grow up as a kid and how were you connected as a child?

Quilen

Yeah, so I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, go Badgers. And Madison, if you haven't been there, it's a great place. It's kind of like a nice mix of urban, suburban, and rural. We have four beautiful lakes. We got rivers, streams, forest preserves, double nine yards, as well as, of course, big college campus, state capital. So growing up, it was an ideal place for someone like me to live.

You know, my parents work good corporate jobs, you were able to eventually become homeowners. They're the first black family on our block when they bought a house, you know, on the north side of Madison. But I was very fortunate that my parents let me, you know, they really invested in me doing all sorts of extracurricular activities. So I would say the earliest, you know, memories probably was Cub Scouts in terms of me going outside and thinking about nature in a more meaningful way, you know, like we would go to Warner Park on the north side of and look for toads and frogs and tadpoles and learn about all these things. On the north side, there's this marsh called Cherokee Marsh. It's this big nature preserve. I would go down there all the time. That was really my personal sanctuary. There'll be sandhill cranes that would fly in there all the time. There'll be beavers, creeks, and streams. There's plenty of trails for you to walk and explore.

A lot of native flowers, a lot of goldenrod and New England aster and those kinds of things. Now, of course at the time I wasn't really paying attention to the floral piece of it, but you know, it was just like a really beautiful place for me to go biking, walking, you know, hang out with my friends in Cherokee Marsh. Yeah, I was very fortunate to grow up in a situation where I had pretty easy access to nature and not only that, it was safe access, something that I really did take for granted in my childhood. Like I grew up in a very quiet community. Biggest problem would be like, you know, someone hang a baseball into someone's yard and you know, maybe the dog's barking at you. You know what I mean? So like it was a very peaceful and prosperous upbringing that I had growing up. And you know, like I would also say like as a kid, you know, even though my hands weren't really in the ground as they are, like, you know, later in life and as they are today.

Quilen

Um, I did, I did like grow up sort of with like that appreciation for it. Um, and then, know, we grew up in a place like Madison, you know, you got people like fighting Bob LaFollette and these other people that are held as environmental heroes. You’ve got John Muir and all these people that kind of came through the whole Madison, Wisconsin pipeline. I grew up in Madison, you're also part of a larger environmental tradition that really was instilled in me at a young age. So yeah, well, I looked at myself as being someone who loved nature, loved being outside, loved biking, hiking, all that stuff.

Gerry

Was it your parents? Was it a teacher who kind of triggered that? Or was it just, you just wanted to be outside and they couldn't keep you in?

Quilen

Yeah, so I would definitely say I started with my parents. My parents grew up in Milwaukee, in the inner city. So they moved to Madison to really escape, you know, a lot of the dangers of the inner city in Milwaukee, and they want their kids to have a better life. So, but I don't think they weren't like intentional about like, he we want our kids have a love of nature. You know, I think for them, they just wanted their kids to just have a wide range of experiences that they didn't necessarily have growing up. You know, they're really big on us having our own identity, pursuing our own passions in life. So yeah, like, I mean, they gave us like a wide range of experiences from sports to the arts, to music, to nature, right? Yes, like definitely along the way I had teachers who were really passionate about that. I've had, you know, like with, you know, with Cub Scouts, you know, like our Scout Master was really big on, you know, learning how to build a fire and that kind of thing. I would say like overall, like I'll say it started with my parents because they're the ones who really set me up to have those experiences and to be able to meet some of those people who were more passionate about nature. And then from there, I really was just part of a larger ecosystem that really helped to shape me and form me in ways that at that age I didn't really appreciate or I kind of took for granted. And it was very easy to think that everyone was kind of having those kinds of experiences. I do remember being a kid just thinking, oh, this is the way life is for everybody. And it really wasn't until eighth grade when my dad forced me to volunteer at this community center and you know this is a community center that had a lot of refugees from the Vietnam War at that time so was like a lot of Southeast Asians, lot of Hmong, Cambodian, Laotians where I really began to see like oh not everyone's life is so you know idyllic right. So and then that's really where I began to get more of a heart for service hearing the stories you know from these refugees and these immigrants families that like you know were war-torn and had to escape all sorts of whores that, you know, I knew nothing of. Like that really just kind of gave me a different perspective of life. And my dad worked in IT, you know, I had a major insurance company in Madison. In his free time, he would do community organizing work. He's very big on community service. We used to have this thing called Rhythm and Booms like at on 4th of July, where, you know, the community on the north side would gather and we'll watch the fireworks. But like afterwards, there'd just be trash everywhere, right?

Quilen

And my dad would make me and my siblings go out there and be a volunteer and just clean up after the 4th July fireworks show. You know, so my dad was really the one who really kind of like instilled that ethic, that work ethic around community service, around giving back. So yeah, like that's really kind of some of the big forces early on in my life that kind of helped to lay foundation of who I became later.

Gerry

Speaking of giving back, I saw you were in the Peace Corps. Is that right? Yes. That's an interesting giving back process. Talk to me about that and how that influenced your thinking. I think all of us know that if we can engage in another culture, you talked about the immigrants, engaging with another culture usually opens a lot of windows and doors to the world.

Quilen

Yep, entirely.
 

Quilen

I was actually the first person in my family to live overseas. And I first heard about Peace Corps when I was a junior in high school. So, you know, in my high school, they would bring in different people, different speakers. And I just remember like, you know, someone came in talking about the Peace Corps and, you know, I don't remember their name. I don't remember country they were in. The only thing I remember was just feeling like, wow, this was a very profound experience where you get an opportunity to serve your country at an early age, you know, at a young age.

You get to go to this far away place for a couple of years. It just like really resonated with me as a young person, you know, that this could be a great sense of adventure, right? So it really wasn't until I got to college, you know, I went to University of Wisconsin, that I began to think more seriously about the Peace Corps. At that time, it really was, you know, I was thinking like, okay, what I'm going to do after I graduate. And I just really felt a strong need. I really wanted to give back to my country. I did feel strongly about that, but I didn't want to do the military, because I'm not a soldier. Like I definitely knew I wasn't cut out for that. I knew I wanted to go overseas. Specifically, I wanted to be in a different culture that was diametrically, you know, opposed to like sort of the Western world. Because I wanted like my worldview to be challenged in a pretty strong and meaningful way. And I wanted to be able to, like any young person, I wanted to travel. And in the Peace Corps, I checked all those boxes. So yeah, I got placed in Thailand. I was in Northern Thailand.

in Lampang, which is near Chiang Mai in the mountains, community-based organizational development volunteer. So basically I was just doing community development work with farmers. And yeah, that experience was, I mean, it's one those things where I came in thinking I was going to be able to like leave my mark and be able to like make an impression. And boy was I wrong. Like the people of Thailand and the people in my village, like they gave way more to me than I ever could have given to them. And it did, like it really was like a very clarifying and edifying experience for a young 20-something at that stage of my life.

Gerry

That was actually where I was going to go with the question, was what you thought you were going to do in those communities versus what ended up happening.

Quilen

I mean, I thought I was going to save the Thai people. That's what I thought I was going to do. You know, like I thought was going come there and be able to save a bunch of poor third world villagers and, you know, show them like, hey, how you can make some money and how you can live better. And, you know, all those, you know, youthful, naive dreams of grandeur, right? I think, and you know, so the first year for me was actually very hard in the Peace Corps. I remember I got off the plane thinking like, okay, did I make a mistake? You know, because I quickly realized, wait, the next time I get on plane back home, it's going to be two years from now. And is this really what I want to do? But, know, at that point I was, I was committed. A lot of people, so the thing about the Peace Corps is a lot of people quit, right? Like, you know, they don't kind of talk, they don't tell you that when they're recruiting you. But, you know, within the first like two or three months, like a third of our group, went back home. They just couldn't hack it. And it's tough, like, you know, like they throw you out in the middle of nowhere. So you basically do two months of training. You're like staying in a homestay.

Uh, and it's, very uncomfortable. You don't know the language or teaching the language, you know, very quickly. Um, you, you, you don't know the culture. You know, one of the things that I like in the first few months, I really realized like, okay, is this, you know, is this like gut check time, right? Like, it's like, okay, like, why am I doing this for the right reason? Part of me, like, this also was a test of my faith because, I'm a Christian and, you know, I did look at this as like, Hey, you know, if, I really believe in taking up my cross and following Christ, like, well, this is a great opportunity to practice that because, you know, like all of my safety nets back home are gone, right? I'm like living with villagers, I'm eating crickets and fish and, you know, all these other things. You know, I'm like starving for like a McDonald's burger and that kind of deal. It really just sort of forced me to like clarify what was my real why, you know. For a lot of people, like they're like, hey, you know what, is, I bit off more than I could chew.

I'd rather go back home, right? Like my why wasn't compelling enough to keep me through this. You know, for me, just sort of like after frankly, I got humbled. It really just came down to do I really love these people or not, right? And you know, if I really love these people, then I'm gonna be willing to adapt. I'm gonna be willing to push through. I'm gonna be willing to, you know, try to live life the way they live life and not just to be, you know, kind of stubborn about it.

Quilen

And to be honest with you, like it did help, like sort of being a minority in the U.S., you know, I was already used to like having to adapt. I was already used to not necessarily having things go my way all the time, right? Those skills I learned in the U.S. being a, you know, a minority here actually came in handy, you know, over there. But yeah, like I learned, you know, like one of the biggest things that really stuck out to me, like right away when I got placed at the site is how even though it's a poor country, you know, you don't see just like homeless people in the villages everywhere, right?

Like you don't see like this hardcore poverty that you see in a place like Chicago or Detroit. I quickly realized a big reason for that is because people put more value in the relationships because they don't have a huge safety net like we have here, right? You know, there isn't unemployment that's gonna pay for things if you lose your job. There isn't, you know, Medicaid and Medicare, right? So in Thailand, all you have is each other if you're in the village. So if you're not you know, looking out for each other's interests. If you're not trying to help, you know, like help each other out, then like when you're in need, people are going to help you out, right? Even the way they went about their business, like, you know, it's like a team effort. The community would come out, they'll work in the rice paddy, I'll just go out there with them. Wasn't this, hey, I need to basically build my little small business. You got your little small business and we're all kind of competing against each other. You know, it's like, no, it's a very collaborative communal effort because everyone needed to live off the land. Everyone sustained themselves off the land. And it really wasn't a different cadence. It was like sun up to sun down. Wasn't this nine to five, like, hey, you go really hard for eight hours and then you go home and you crash. Basically worked with the season of the day and the seasons of life. And being a young American at that time, like that really challenged my perspective, my identity, my professional identity, what work looks like, how I should view time. How I should view seasons. And then over time I began to realize, oh, this is actually more in tune with the rhythms of the earth, right? And that this is actually the way mankind has lived for most of human history. And even today, like most of the world still lives according to the seasons of spring, summer, planting, harvesting, right? So when I came back from the Peace Corps, like that really shifted my mindset.

Quilen

And it made it a lot easier for me not to just like hop back in the rat race, right? So yeah, Thailand really, I mean, I'm very grateful for the time I had there and the people, you know, who were patient enough to deal with, you know, my immaturity and my learning curve and those things. But it really did make me a better person. It made me way more patient, it helped me like really slow down. Be like the middle of the day and, you know, we'll have like a two hour lunch and I'll be like, come on guys, it's only 30 minutes, no going back to work.

But like they got the work done, you know, and that's like their minds, the mindset is like, you just work until it gets done. You know, you only need to rush and actually made sense because like they're not trying to wear themselves out. Farming is very labor intensive. It's very, it's very hot and humid in a country like Thailand. So yeah, like, you know, it really was humbling for me. It challenged a lot of my preconceived notions about the world. It expanded my horizons in terms of you know, not just looking at the world through a very American centric lens, but you know, maybe a little bit more of a global lens. It was an amazing experience, but it's not for the faint of heart, but it's well worth it. You know, I definitely would not be who I am today if it wasn't for the Peace Corps.

Gerry

How big was the village you were in?

Quilen

Yeah, so the actual village I lived in probably is no more than a couple hundred people. So it is very small.

Gerry

So they were very connected to the land around them. Because one of the things that's really interesting to me about environmental education or nature-based education is sense of place. It sounds like growing up, you had a really strong sense of place, but a very different approach to that sense of place than what you discovered and learned when you were in Thailand.

Quilen

Oh yeah, totally. I mean, you know, so yes, like growing up, mean, that's a very astute point you're bringing up. You know, cause like growing up in Madison, like, yes, I was in nature, so to speak. But you know, when you're in the urban environment, especially in a first world country, you know, I'm not thinking about, my food comes from, you know, the farm or there's not this consciousness of, hey, my direct livelihood, my direct material wellbeing is tied to the land I'm walking on, right?

And so it's very easy to just live your life like, let me focus on getting good grades. Let me focus on getting into a good school. Let me focus on getting a good job, get a good house. And the environment just sort of feels like almost like a necessary. When I was in Thailand, definitely like have vivid recollection of like basically coming face to face with this idea of like, no, my provision is coming from this land. Cause it's all around me. Like everyone, like the culture’s built around it, the lifestyle, the traditions, the holidays, like everything is because of the place and the land that they're in. I began to start seeing it more as, no, like this is actually essential to the wellbeing of every human being, how we steward the land, right? How we take care of the land, right? You know, like even the idea of, you know, they'll plant like different crops throughout the season, because they don't want to undermine their, you know, nutrient base, right? You know, so they do rice, they do corn, they do beans.

And I'm like, okay, like there's a rhyme and reason to this. And they're really like focused on trying to adapt their lifestyle so that it's basically working with mother nature and not against her because they understood and understand that, you know, that's how they can assure their own wellbeing and their own prosperity. And the reality is like, it used to be like that in the United States, you know, that's everything I began to realize when I was out there. You know, I got my degree in history.

Wait a minute, that’s  actually how our country was built. Our country was built like through, obviously a very agrarian society, farmers and ranchers, like those are the people who really paved the foundation for our nation. People who lived similar to what you see in developing countries, lived with the earth, who were out in the forest, who would scavage, would hunt, and really this idea of like this industrial world that we live in is very, very new. It's very recent.

Quilen

Just started making me realize like, no, I'm not like to preachy or whatever, you know, maybe just are like realize at that time, like, oh, wait, maybe we're doing it wrong. Maybe the whole like nine to five rat race actually isn't the best life design and the best career designer career approach. What are the long term effects of this because it is historically relatively novel thing. Because that's the other thing like when I was in Thailand, I was kind of surprised at like, you know, frankly, like how how healthy people were like into old age. You know what I mean? Like even things like that, right? Where I'm like, whoa, like this guy's like 75 years old and he's still out here like working the plow. And you come to the U.S. and like a lot of people who 75 are like sick and out of shape and you know, in nursing homes and that kind of thing. To answer your question, yes, I did see a clear dichotomy, you know, not just in terms of, okay, this is what it's like in the U.S. when you're sort of like living within a certain contexts of nature, but I just sort of began to see like how it does affect your entire lifestyle. It affects like the relationships you have, the way you interact with one another, right? You know, the way you grow old and the way you age and whether you're going to age gracefully or you're going to age like sickly, right? So these are like a lot of the questions I had in my head. And you know, observations I was making like, you know, at 22, 23 years old, looking back on it, like this really was, it was a huge gift, right? For me, I want to be someone who's like active, who's like living, you know, our nature, who's, you know, like the like the people I saw in Thailand, like I want to age in a way where, you know, yeah, I'm 75 years old, I'm still strong, I'm still, you know, like working the land, or I'm doing something that's physical, right?

And I got like, like healthy and happy relationships, not just with my family and my grandchildren, but like my neighbors and that kind of thing. So, I mean, it's similar to, you know, once again, like how there's seasons in, in, in, you know, throughout the year, there's seasons through nature, like there's seasons of your life, right? And that's something too that I learned at that, you know, in Thailand was, okay, I need, like, I need to think about my life, like my lifespan in terms of like stages and seasons, right? Cause that's how nature works. When you're older, it's not that you retire and you go off to some retirement home and you sort remove yourself from society. It's like, no, it's a different season, it's a different life stage. And it just means your contribution to the larger ecosystem looks differently, right? So maybe that means I'm spending more time with my grandchildren, right? To help out my kids. Maybe that means I'm like mentoring, right? You know, whatever thing you can do to give back, you know, like that's the season for that, right? Because, you know, like now I'm married, I have three kids, they're younger and I don't have bandwidth for, you know, those kinds of things at this stage of my life, right?

But I think people should think more about is, when you look at, when you observe nature, when you observe different species of animals and insects, when you look at the rivers and the land, it's more than just a good public policy thing, right? Because I feel like in the West, everything's about programs and institutions and policies. And it's like, no, it's a whole ecosystem, right? And there's a lot that we can learn about the way we are even living our lives, the way that we're approaching our relationships, the way we approach work just by observing the way an ant interacts with its colony, right? The way that a bee is interacting in its hive and really gleaning those insights to apply to our own lives, right? I even like me, I'm in the flower business, we grow flowers. And like one of the things that I take from growing flowers is, you know what? The time that you actually shine is actually very short. You put in all this work to grow something beautiful like peonies. I love peonies by the way.

Quilen

Right? You know, you'd plant them, you'd know, you'd put in all that work only for like three days for them to really shine, for them to really blossom. And that's how most of our lives are. You know, a lot of your lives is it's preparation, right? You know, you think about the first 30, 40, 50 years of your life, it's preparation. And then maybe, you know, do you play your cards right? And things go your way. You'll be like that peony where for a few years, your life really shines bright. But then after that, you know, it fades away.

And then it's just things, know, so for me, I'll look at the peony and I think to myself, okay, well, if I only got like a very short window to shine bright, I better try to make sure I shine as bright as possible. You know what I mean? You know.

Gerry

So you come back from the Peace Corps, life in Northern Thailand to the South Side of Chicago, take me on that journey.

Quilen

Yeah, so I get back in 2009, you get back to the U.S. and whatever, your family's welcoming you and all that, but you quickly realize they didn't think you did anything special, right? Because for the last two years, I'm having this amazing life-changing experience, but everyone back in Madison, they've been living, they've been doing the same corporate thing, living their normal life, right? So there was a big transition period. I come back to Madison, I'm looking, and this is also 2009, which is the height of the Great Recession.

So it's not like there was like a ton of jobs. So it took me about six months to get a job as a community organizer. I do that for about a year. It’s like actually one of those stimulus funded jobs. So it was only like, they only had funding for like 10 months and then they had to let me go. So after that I ended up driving like taxi cab. What actually started drawing me to Chicago was ministry school in the West side of Chicago. And so in 2011, that's when I actually decided to relocate. And then that's what gets me into the whole Chicago world, right? I did not have an interest in the hood at this point of my life. I was more just focused on doing school. I was living in the suburbs, the Western suburbs of Chicago. I was actually trying to avoid the West side Chicago like the plague. And it really wasn't until, you know, 2013, when I started tutoring at a school in Englewood because of, you know, the work I was doing at my ministry school, when I began to really get more of a heart for the inner city, you know. So I'm going down there, I'm like, tutoring math and English and that kind of things. I'm building relationships with the youth, getting to know their stories. I mean, their parents. And I'm really beginning to see the hardships, right? I mean, first you see the physical hardships with like all the vacant land and blighted buildings, but just like the stories of brokenness, right? Like the kids who don't have an active dad in their life because he's in jail or he got killed in some gang turf war.

Moms who may be strung out on drugs or moms who are trying to piece it together and they're working like two or three jobs, right? So for me, like this is a situation where, you know, it's kind of, you know, like a slap in the face, right? Cause number one, obviously this is like a predominantly Black community. I'm looking at these kids and I'm thinking to myself like I could be anyone these kids, right? Like I was very fortunate that I didn't grow up in this situation. I was very fortunate I did have like very active parents and very active father in my life.

Quilen

So I just started thinking to myself like, man, if I was one of these kids, I would hope that, you know, if a guy like me came around that he would care enough to try to help me out. Right. Because like I didn't choose to grow up in a situation I did, you know, just for whatever reason, that's the way it worked out. And then of course I started thinking about like my family history, started thinking about, you know, like what my parents like had to escape, you know, to, give me and my siblings a good life and you know, even like my grandfather and my great grandfather was like a sharecropper. And, you know, so just started thinking about, you know, that larger history of this, the basic, shoulders that I'm standing on, you know, who helped me to be in a position where, you know, frankly, like it’s a choice. Like I could have chose not to be here, right. And I could chose like the easier path and frankly, a more comfortable path. And then I also just started thinking about the larger sweep of African-American history. I started thinking about, you know, people like Booker T. Washington and the Tuskegee Institute.

And, you know, I sort of think about like all these like trailblazers who could have chosen easier, more comfortable path, but they didn't, you know, because they cared, right? For me, like that moment was a very big turning point in my life. This is why, you know, I was able to have all these blessings and all these privileges was so that, you know, for a time such as this, where I could come to a place like Englewood and be used in a way to create some, you know, opportunities for people who really need it and really give back, you know, to the very communities that, you know, my family came from and, many of the great African American leaders came from and try to bring some healing, right? So that's, you know, that's how I ended up here in Chicago and on the South Side.

Gerry

Hi everyone, I'm Stacie Pierpoint, director of communications at the North American Association for Environmental Education. Thanks for tuning into The World We Want: The NAAEE Podcast and this incredible conversation with Quilen Blackwell. Our podcast is all about shining a light on change makers like Keelin, who are using education to improve the world around us. At NAAEE, we're working with educators around the world to create a healthier and more sustainable future for all of us. You can learn more about our mission and how to connect with and support us on our website at naaee.org. And of course, we'd love to hear from you. Email us at podcast at naaee.org. If you feel inspired by what you've heard, share this episode with educators, family, and friends who might enjoy these uplifting conversations. And don't forget to rate and review our podcast, and while you're at it, subscribe to The World We Want. It really helps us out. Thanks for listening. Now back to Gerry and Quilen.

Gerry

Let's jump to now, the flower gardens and that whole concept behind Southside Blooms and what you're trying to do there.

Maybe give a tiny history of a brief history of that, which I find I'd love to do a long history of that. Speaking to a history major, to me it's fascinating what you did there. So let's talk about that a minute in these vacant lots, because no matter where I walk around my own neighborhood, I keep seeing vacant lots and thinking, how would I take that over? Describe that process to me because I think it's really fascinating and especially in the place you did it.

Quilen

Yeah, so guess backing up. You know, those who don't know us, you know, me and my wife, we started Southside Blooms back in 2014, originally started Chicago Eco House, which has a mission of using sustainability to alleviate inner city poverty. And then, you know, later we opened up Southside Blooms as a flower shop. But the whole impetus behind Chicago Eco House in the early days and even today was to really try to create some sort of economic solution.

Sort of the number one problem that people talked about was the lack of career opportunities, the lack of jobs, the poverty. For those of you who aren't familiar with the inner city, it's not necessarily the most pleasant place to grow up or to live in. It's a lot of violence, a lot of crime, a lot of drugs, about 50% poverty rate, 25% unemployment rate in my neighborhood, gangs, it's pretty gang infested.

People's lives are shattered, right? So it's open suffering in the hood. Now with that said, there's also a lot of beautiful aspects. People try to look out for one another, are very easy to get to know, they're, go down the block, people say hi, they'll talk to you, they'll hang out on their stoop, that kind of thing, offer you a grilled chicken off their grill, that kind of deal. So it's a lovely place as well. For Hannah and I, we were really laser focused on how can we really create an anchor industry on the South Side of Chicago and something that could be scaled to inner cities across the country. And we land on flowers after doing a lot of trial and error. It took us about three years before we really settled on flowers as being the thing that we're gonna go all in on. The reason why we picked flowers is because, you know, in a place like Englewood, there's tons of vacant land and we were thinking like, okay, we could just find something that we could grow as a cash crop, right?

And the floral industry, about 8% of the flowers you see in the United States come from overseas. It's about a $35 billion a year industry. So we figured if we could basically grow those flowers in the actual market that, you know, we could maybe divert a lot of that wealth that's currently going overseas to our own neighborhoods, our own cities. The other thing that was very attractive about it was the fact that many of our youth are inherently creative people and forestry is inherently an artistic endeavor.

Quilen

So we felt like it was something that we could train them on. And then, you know, in terms of the environmental aspect of it, we wanted something that, you know, we could do that didn't require us having to, you know, install like water, a water tap or, you know, having to get a power bill to get electricity. With flowers, you know, we're able to use solar and, you know, rainwater catchment systems for irrigation because it's not food. So we're not held to the same standard as food. Having like a certain quality of water and food safety handling, all those things are out the door. We don't need to worry about any of that. And the reason why that's important is because when you're in a built environment, and even though there's a lot of vacant land, the vacant land is interspersed within the built environment. So it's not like...

Gerry

Sorry, I'm glad you pointed that out because at first when you say, you know, there's a lot of vacant land, it's not like it's a big fields and forests.

Quilen

Exactly, yeah. So you know, yeah, so you're still working within like a, you know, an urban community. And just like you said, it's like, we're talking about is like, yeah, like a vacant lot that squeezed between like, you know, two apartment buildings, that kind of deal. So we're not farming on the broad acre. And the other thing with flowers is there's a lot more choices, right? Because it's artistic, you know, people aren't as particular as they are with food. You know, because, you know, there's only so many types of food that people are willing to buy.

But with flowers, you really got an infinite number of choices, you know, which means that, you know, we can get pretty creative with what we grow because every vacant lot is different, right? Every vacant lot has different soil. So, you know, if we're in a vacant lot that maybe say has like high levels of lead, because maybe there was a building that got knocked down there that used to have a lot of lead paint, it gets in the soil, et cetera, et cetera. Maybe we grow something like sunflowers, right? You know, something there that can like naturally remediate the soil over time.

That's great, you but you're in a, you know, maybe it's a lot that is shady, you know, now you can grow stuff that maybe likes the shade, but there's just so many, there's so many choices that we have with flowers. And then even within each species of say, sunflowers or tulips or, you know, daffodils, there's so many varieties you can choose within that, right? So, you know, from an environmental standpoint, it really was a no brainer for us, like, you know, our, we don't use any synthetics, fertilizers. You know, everything is, you know, we just use like organic composting that we do from our own in-house efforts. Like all of our flower shop clippings, you know, get composted, they go back onto the farms. We have chickens at our eco-house location, you know, and all of our food scraps will go to the chickens and they do their thing and that goes back to the farm. You know, it's a nice little circular economy, if you will, in terms of like our inputs and outputs. But all of this was designed to basically just create jobs for our youth so that they're not, they're not like on the streets, they have a viable alternative to street life. And you know, like, yeah, we have a lot of, you know, young men and women who are working for us, who otherwise would be in the streets, but instead they're in the flower shop, they're on the farms, and they're being productive, they're being creative.

Quilen

And the best part for me personally is, you know, the world sees that they have something to offer, right? They see that, you know, lot of these kids that many people saw written off as just being dangerous and criminals, you know, now they're going to do your wedding, right? You know, going to the Field Museum and in your most intimate moments, the moments that you're going to remember forever, you know, here comes kids from the South Side Chicago delivering your bridal bouquet, delivering your boutonnieres. And like, that's the part I love the most because it's building bridges. It's in a city like Chicago where the neighborhoods are pre-segregated based on race and ethnicity. It's really cool that the one thing that we all can agree on are flowers. I haven't met anybody who says, you know what, I hate flowers. I can't stand a flower. You know what I mean? So it's a natural way to bring healing and to bring communities together that otherwise wouldn't talk to one another.

Gerry

I wanna tease that apart a bit, because I am really fascinated by, there must have been a moment when you're there, this has got to be as alien a world to you as it was going to Thailand. In fact, it almost seems like you would be more welcomed in Thailand initially, because you’re novel, you're a black American coming, young American coming here to do this stuff, how sweet is that, you know, but we'll welcome him in and…

Gerry

where you show up in some vacant lot in the South Side of Chicago and it's like, dude, what are you doing?

Quilen

I see you're asking all the tough questions. You know, I like this, this is fun.

Gerry

I cannot imagine that. I really, I want to know what that felt like for you to walk in there.

Quilen

It's true. know, like in some ways it was actually easier in Thailand because you know, in Thailand I was like a novelty, right? You know, not only was I an American, I was a Black American. And so I was like, this novelty is very easy for me to be able to get into like different circles because you know, people are curious. Southside Chicago definitely was not like that, right? Or it's not like that. And even though I'm Black, you know, it's like, okay, well, I'm not from here. It's, you know, the moment I talk they could tell like, you know, hey, you're not, you're not from Chicago, right? You know, had kids would tell me like, oh, I didn't know they made Black people like you, right? So there definitely were like barriers I had to overcome. You know, like, feel like, I feel like the biggest difference between say like Thailand and the South Side Chicago is like in Chicago, it sort of felt like, you know, it felt like I had to, I had to prove myself. Like I had to prove that like I was for real. I had to prove that, you know, I was willing to actually put myself in a frying pan. You know, like there's a lot of testing.

Whereas in Thailand, like that wasn't the case. Like I didn't feel like I had to prove myself. I didn't feel like I was being tested like every single day. I think like, you a lot of people quit because, you know, they sort of felt like, okay, like the hardest part is like adapting, you know? And in, you know, in a place like Englewood, like I definitely had to adapt, but it did more feel like, okay, I got to prove my mettle, you know? Like what kind of man am I? And I need to show these people that just because I'm from Wisconsin doesn't mean I ain't tough, right? Doesn't mean that I can't hang with y'all. I had to have more of an edge, you know what I'm saying? Over time, there are definitely days where I'm like, I don't need this, you know what I mean? Like, hey, these are your problems. If you're gonna give me the third degree, well, hey, deuces, good luck, right? I just remember just thinking like, okay, praying and talking to God and being like, God, you sure? You you sure this is what you need me to do? You can't. Well, then and then you got to throw on top of it. You know, my wife is white, right? She's a, she's a Mennonite from Kansas. So that's the other bit too, right? Where it's like, okay, who's this guy think he is? You bringing this white woman in here, you know, she would get harassed. You know what I mean? Cause you know, we're coming in, we're like the happy go lucky young interracial couple. You know, I think a lot of people thought that, okay, this is just,

Quilen

they're going be gone in a couple of years, right? There's no way they're going to stick this thing out. I think like after a while, both Hannah and I were like, you know what, maybe this is actually an opportunity because most people, you know, do only do it for a short period of time and then they'll leave. So if we can basically lean into this instead of being, you know, offended by it, you know, maybe this is actually how we could win some hearts and minds here, right? So, you know, one of the things that we did was this thing, you know, that we called like our cookie offensive, you know, where Hannah put those Mennonite baking skills to work and she made like her chocolate chip cookies and you know, we went door to door just handing out cookies to people introducing ourselves, you know, we would have like cookouts and just invite all our neighbors and you know, the reality is, you know, the adults did not show up, you know. The only people who showed up were kids. So, you know, people are like, okay, well, you know, how are you able to build this whole flower social enterprise? Well, it started with like preschool kids and elementary school kids because they're the only ones willing to give me and Hannah a chance. So you just work with what you got. So the kids would come and we would start, we set up a little basketball hoop in our backyard. We would grow vegetables and do little cooking classes with them. We have our little eco club with our chickens and we'll take the eggs. But it's all just around, I mean, kids from the ages of four to nine or 10.

We opened up our home, they'll come into our house, we'll do like homework club and all this stuff. But we ended up discovering is like that's ultimately how we ended up winning over our neighbors. Because they saw like how much love we were showing their kids. And you know, the kids would run back and be like, oh, we did this today at Quilen and Hannah's house or we did that and blah, blah, blah, blah. And it really is softened them, you know. And you know, like, I mean, it wasn't like instantaneous, but you know, like over time, like people began to not necessarily treat us, you know, with the cold shoulder, you know, all of a sudden it's like, oh, they know my name, they know Hannah's name. Then eventually, you know, they would start coming over and we formed like a little block club, you know, but it really did start with like just really showing love to the young kids and I love them. Like, you know, they're willing to try new things, they're willing to experiment with us, they're willing to, you know, like whatever, as long as it's fun, you know, they're willing to try it, right?

Quilen

And this is like an environment where it's a much different relationship with nature, I'll put it like that. People weren't necessarily looking at nature as like, hey, let me go stroll outside. I grew up in Madison. I mean, the relationship with nature here is more, hey, be careful because you can get shot and killed. Or you want to do a vacant lot and there's needles there and make sure you don't step on anything that could potentially get you an illness. So here, like the relationship with nature is more you stay inside because it's dangerous, it's dangerous outside, right? So it's actually like a big deal, you know, that the kids would come over and they felt safe. They felt safe at our house, they felt safe in our backyard. And you know, it wasn't like anything extravagant, right? Like our backyard is pretty small, but it was enough. It was enough to get started. It was enough to like get kids, you know, experiencing what it's like to grow their own food, right? Experiencing animal husbandry. You know, we would grow like strawberries and grapes and raspberries and we kind of talk about like fruits. Hannah would make pies, like she would love to make like mulberry pies and that kind of thing, right? So, you we just started what we had and you know, we were really just determined and like, yeah, the kids were really the key at end of the day.
 

Gerry

Two elements that are at the core of this podcast, which are The World We Want and environmental education. How have you seen that change in these children? I mean, these kids who, their environment was elements that most of us wouldn't wrap the word environment around. But yet it was, and it is an environment. It's a human created, human caused environment.

You talk about leads in the soil. So it's not necessarily the environment that most of us would think about when we use that word. How have you seen the kids connect to nature, connect to the environment most of us think of when we use that word because of the gardens, because of your engagement in that community?

Quilen

Yeah, that's great question. You know, so this is a thing like, you know, God doesn't create junk, you know, and even in a place like Englewood, the vacant lots, the cities that try and give them away, right? And, know, to most people, like they're worthless. But at the end the day, one of the lessons we learned early on is, you know, life wants to live. And even in those vacant lots, like there's still life, right? And that's the same thing with our youth. So you know, I think like, you know, in terms of how we've sort of seen and how we're able to connect them to their, to their world, is that, you know, we're able to basically take their interests, which was making money, right? And then tie it to their environment, which were these vacant lots. And once they began to see that, wait a minute, it's the same deal like in Thailand, right? Like once we were able to make that connection that, Hey, you know, what I need for my material well-being is already here in my environment. I just didn't see it, right? Until they come into like a program like ours and they're like, oh wait, yeah, you can grow flowers. You can sell them and you can make money. It basically reignites like an interest that they didn't even know was there, right? A lot of times I think like, you know, we kind of get caught up in the hype of, if you will, of like a place like say Chicago, you're like, oh my gosh, it's like dangerous. This, that, the other thing.

But at end of the day, human beings are pretty simple and pretty basic, right? And we all kind of want the same thing, you know? So it's really more of like tapping into that basic human need and that basic human instinct to want to connect with life, right? To want to connect with nature. Like it's already there, you know? It's just more of, okay, can you get a little creative about adapting it for that person's environment, right? Because, you a lot of times when people come in, I think like, you once again, you know, at the risk of getting a little preachy here.

But like a lot of times people will come in and you'll see like these groups, know, they mean well, but you know, they're like coming to a place like Englewood and be like, oh man, there's trash everywhere. You need to pick up the trash, right? Or oh man, like, hey, you know, you're not recycling, you know, shame on you. You need to recycle, right? And if you're like one of these kids, you know, you put yourself in their shoes and you're just trying to survive. All you're hearing is, oh, okay, basically these outside environmental groups, you know, they just think like, I don't got my act together.
 

Quilen

Right, they just, you know, I'm just hearing negative affirmation like over and over and over again, right? All I'm hearing is you look at me, you think I don't care about my neighborhood. I don't care about the trash, whatever, right? But the reality is they actually, they do care, but it needs to be done in a way that is relevant for their, you know, their circumstances, right? Because, know, like frankly, if you live, like where I lived in Madison and we're picking up trash, the Rhythm and Booms at the 4th of July.

That was a privilege. know what I mean? Like all our, you know, like the community, you know, all of our needs were met. Most of us had really good jobs. You know what saying? We we weren't like scared for our lives. So it was a privilege to actually go out there and pick up trash. We could care about that because that's how good our community was. That's how peaceful it was. That's how prosperous it was, right? But if you're not in that situation and you're just trying to like get through the day, you're just trying to like, you know, get to school without, you know, being harassed or being shot, maybe picking up trash isn't the highest priority on your bucket list, right? You know, once we're able to really kind of tap into that, then yeah, kids like we're like, yes, I'm about this. Like, yeah, and then, you know, we'll start having situations where, you know, kids are going down the street and they're telling me, hey, Quilen, you know, like I saw like golden rod growing in this vacant lot. Is that something we could use for like the centerpieces for this wedding? You know what I mean? Like they get it. They start making those connections, right? You know, or they're walking down the street and they see like a mulberry tree.

And they're like, hey, you know what? Like there's mulberries on my way to school and I just plucked some and ate it and it was good. The reality is like nature is there regardless of whether we wanna acknowledge it or not, regardless of how it even looks. And nature wants to live, like life wants to live. I remember our went to Lowe's, we bought a bunch of mustard greens and this and that, and we just planted it. At first it looked like nothing was working, right? And we're like, my gosh, like, is this gonna fail? We don't know what we're doing.

And then, you know, there's like a big rain and then next thing you know, everything starts coming up, right? And it wasn't because of us, you know what I mean? Because we didn't know what we're doing, right? It's just because like life is in that seat and regardless of mistakes that mankind may make, life will still find a way. And that's one of the things that we learned along the way with this journey is, yeah, sure, you're in an environment like Englewood, like the South Side Chicago, where mankind's messing up, right? There's all sorts of mistakes.

Quilen

You know, we can fight all day about why that's the case, but the reality is, yeah, there is trash on the ground. There's cracks in the sidewalk, right? You know, there's lead in the soil. There's all these things that has happened to make the environment seem like it's, you know, it's shame on you, right? But despite all of that, guess what? The grass will still grow. Sunflowers will still come up, right? You know, you'll still see crests come up, right? You'll still see tulips grow in the ground, right?

Because life wants to live despite what we'll do. And then once you realize that, it becomes a lot easier to be like, you know what, let me just tap into what mother nature is already doing. And then, you know, as you nourish it and as it grows, then yeah, over time, it turns from this nasty, dangerous, vacant lot into this prosperous solar flower farm that's creating jobs for young people. And it's also creating a robust ecosystem for like the birds and the bees and you know, the pollinators and all the stuff that, you know, the good environmentalists love, right? But it really did start with wanting to show love to people in an environment that was kind of hostile, you know what I mean? When most people think of environmental education, they're not thinking of the crack house on the South Side Chicago, right? But that's what we're doing it at, you know what I mean? These are the kids we're working with. And you know what, frankly, they're sort of putting a lot of environmental programs to shame because they're having more impact than like a conventional program, right? But just because of the environment that they're in, it's more conducive to it because there's that desperation that doesn't exist like when I was in Madison, like we weren't desperate, you know what I'm saying? You know, and when you're not desperate, you know, you get a little complacent and you know, you get a little status quo. But like when you're in a place like this, like no, there's that hunger, there's that desire. When those kids first came to our house, part of the reason why they would come is because there was no other option. There wasn't a YMCA they could go to.

You there wasn't a Boys and Girls Club. You know, there wasn't a Cub Scout or Boy Scout. None of those things were options. So when you're desperate, you know what I'm saying? You'll show up to the strange interracial couples house and play with their chickens in the backyard. You know what I mean? You'll be willing to try new things that could maybe pop into something cool, like a South Side Bloom. So yeah, that's basically what happened. And that's how the youth have basically been transformed.

Gerry

Typically the last question that I ask is, what is the world you want? You are building the world you want. It's almost a ridiculous question to ask you. But what I do want to ask you is, if you could envision this when you began, what would it look like today versus what it is? And if you can envision this another 15 years into the future, what do you want it?

Quilen

So yes, definitely when we started, I envisioned this being way more conventional. We envisioned this being more almost like a transitional like house kind of situation where we did some cool, you know, eco projects and you're just trying to like connect them to jobs, you know, like, know, whatever, like a solar company, this, that, the other thing. Yeah. Versus like what it is today where basically it's a large scale community social enterprise, right? Like that definitely was not something that I would think was even possible to be honest with you. Nowadays we're like a multimillion dollar organization. We, you know, we have two flower shops, you know, one on South Side, the West side, you know, we have about, you know, 10 acres of farms across the South and West Sides, you know, between everybody who's on our payroll. It's over 50 people who work here. It's not like a insignificant operation these days, right? Yeah, like I definitely did not see that coming. So in terms of the next 15 years, I don't know. I mean, I think what I would like is the issues of the hood become history, you know. Hopefully flowers sort of becomes that new anchor industry, you know, in hoods all across America, and maybe beyond, so we can like literally stop the bleeding like that's why I hope. But you know what, because of the way the last 15 years went, I have no clue, you know, and that's one of the things I want back to my Peace Corps days. I don't think too much about that. You know, I'm just enjoying every day as a gift, because there's been so many opportunities that you can't plan for.

I just got to keep my hand on the plow and just keep doing the work that I feel led to do. And I know like, once again, this is kind of going back to sort of living more in sync with the rhythms of nature, but in the West, we want to have these 15 year plans, 20 year plans. Everything's scripted and that's just not the way it works. You know what I mean? You don't know, right? And that's the thing, when you look at nature, a lot of stuff is just serendipitous and you just roll with the opportunities that you get.

And you deal with the challenges that you face. And that's really the way we kind of plan and we live our life. Like there's a general vision, there's a general direction that we're headed. I don't have a concrete plan. There's not some grand master strategy that we're working out here. I'm really just trying to live the way that the Thai people are living in the villages. Just taking it day by day, trying to work with your neighbors, work with their community, take advantage of the opportunities that come, deal with the challenges that come your way,
 

Quilen

and try to have a smile on your face through it all.

Gerry

We started this podcast and I said, it's spring and to keep you from planting, it feels like this whole project is sort of spring. If we're looking at those seasons we talked about over the course of our life, it feels like this is almost the spring and you're still looking forward to what kind of, what things bloom, what peonies are out there on the horizon. No, what you're doing is fantastic. Do you and Hannah just sometimes just stop and pinch yourself?

Quilen

No, I mean, I feel like there's just so much left to do. And, you know, we live here. you for those of you who know, like we live in Englewood, you know, so I think like for me, it's more of, you know, I look out my window and guess what? I still see suffering. We're just getting started. And I feel like until, you know, I can look out my window and, you know, I can really see, you know, what I saw when I grew up, you know what I mean? You know, like a very happy, healthy, prosperous community. So, I mean, look, I get why. People think it's a big deal. No, like from me and Hannah's perspective, like this is what we feel like is what we've done so far, since the drop in the bucket. Because there's still a lot of kids out here dying. There's still a lot of suffering, you know, there's still a lot of poverty. There's still, I mean, we have like, what, almost 300 kids on our waiting list. You know what I mean? And when you have that kind of situation, well, how can we basically get more of those kids in our program, more of those kids in our shop, but how do we create more jobs, right?

That's what I spend a lot of my time thinking about is, how can we get more customers, right? know, how can we, how can we compete with like 1-800 Flowers and these big boys so that all those kids who want an opportunity to work here can have that opportunity to work here. So no, definitely, definitely not thinking about pinching myself. This isn’t a, it's not victory lab time, nowhere, nowhere close.

Gerry

Still building that world you want.
 

Quilen

Yeah, exactly. Yes. Could I, before we wrap up, could I just say one more thing?

Gerry

Go for it.

Quilen

Yeah, I just want to talk to like, you know, the fellow environmental educators out there. One thing that's very important to me that I just want to say before we wrap up this podcast, kind of lean into those places. It looks like where environmental education may not thrive there, but that's where I think we need those environmental educators. And I think like, you know, for the field and for those who want to go into the field, you know, going to the places that may look dangerous.

I think that's where we're actually gonna have our most impact as a field. And frankly, I think those are the places that we've avoided. You know, we kind of get caught up with, you know, some of these policy battles about trying to get more funding, this, that, the other thing. Well, what better way to prove the worth of environmental education than to go to the places where there's the biggest problems and solving them, right? I really think it's time for us to put our money where our mouth is. And instead of just, you know, lobbying and... trying to say like, hey, well, you we're important, blah, blah. No, like, let's go to places where there's suffering, where there's problems and, you know, show people, hey, this is why nature works, right? This is why we should care about nature because ultimately like that's what worked for us, right? Like the only reason people, you know, play it's someone like CNN even cares about giving us a hero award is because it's not because we're doing a great environmental education program, right? It's because we're alleviating real suffering.

That's really the real power of nature is it's not just about human beings trying to preserve it and to protect it, which is of course important, but it's also about nature's ability to alleviate our suffering, right? To alleviate our hurts and our pains. And I think we need a lot more of that. You know, we need a lot more of that aspect of nature. Like we got plenty of people working to preserve it and protect it, but I think we need a lot more people who are willing to work with nature in creative ways to alleviate the suffering of human beings so that people see that, hey, this isn't just a good to have, it's not just an important priority, but it's essential, right? It's essential to human existence, right? Whether you're in a village in Thailand, whether you're growing up in a place like Madison, Wisconsin, or whether you're in a place where there's blood on the streets like Englewood in the South Side Chicago, you know, the one commonality is, you know, without nature, without the environment, there is no human life, right? So I think we need to put on our big boy pants, go to some of these places and really show that nature can be that healing factor and that difference maker to create the world that all of us want to live in.

Gerry

Quilen, thank you so much for taking the time to do this. You're amazing. You may not pinch yourself. You and Hannah may not pinch yourself, but the rest of us should pinch you because you're doing something really extraordinary.

I want to thank Quilen for sharing his journey with us and reminding us that community is at the blooming heart of environmental education. You can find more about Quilen and his community work on the South Side of Chicago through links on our website at naaee.org forward slash podcast. That's naaee.org forward slash podcast.

As you've just heard, environmental education is as multifaceted as the diversity of guests we have on our podcast. To explore more, subscribe to the World We Want Podcast on our website or wherever you listen to your favorite stream. We'd love to hear from you and know what resonates. If there's an aspect of environmental education you want to know more about, let us know. We can follow up maybe with a future podcast. Write us at podcast at n-double-a-double-e dot o-r-g.

This has been The World We Want, a co-production of the North American Association for Environmental Education in partnership with nonprofit GLOBIO, with generous funding support through the ee360+ program.

A special thanks to our entire podcast team, Judy Braus, Stacie Pierpoint, Jimena Cuenca, and GLOBIO’s Pippa Caville. And thank you for being a part of The World We Want. We hope our conversations inspire you to take action in your world every day to ensure we build a world we all want. I'm Gerry Ellis. Thanks for listening and thanks for sharing The World We Want, An NAAEE Podcast.