New Englewood Community Kitchens opens to improve health outcomes for all residents of Greater Englewood

In partnership with Whole Foods Market and Whole Cities Foundation, Primo Center opens full-service kitchen for Chicago’s most vulnerable residents and the Greater Englewood community

Once considered a food desert with few options for accessing healthy food, the Greater Englewood community now has new opportunities to improve nutrition education with the opening of Englewood Community Kitchens at the Primo Center. Located inside Primo Center’s headquarters at 62nd and Sangamon Streets in Englewood, the 1,251 sq. ft. Englewood Community Kitchens (ECK) is a full-service kitchen complete with a larger classroom designed for hands-on cooking classes and other nutrition and wellness events for adults, children and families.

The grand opening will be celebrated during a special VIP and community stakeholders’ event on Nov. 7 from 6-8 p.m. and media is invited to attend.

The Primo Center, Chicago’s largest provider of services and shelter for homeless children and their families, aims to improve health outcomes for people through positive food experiences and personal wellness with the opening of ECK. In collaboration with Whole Foods Market and Whole Cities Foundation, Primo Center met with community stakeholders to better understand the needs of the community and how the space could promote strength, power and resiliency.

“The Englewood Community Kitchens is a joint effort six years in the making, and we are thrilled it’s finally complete and ready for use to benefit our families and all residents of Greater Englewood,” Christine Achre, Primo Center CEO said. “Through nutrition education, we can enable healthier food decisions.”

Englewood Community Kitchens expands Primo Center’s capacity to address health and wellness opportunities for homeless families and amplifies the efforts of numerous organizations working in Greater Englewood to improve health outcomes like the Englewood Quality of Life Plan Health and Wellness Task Force. Primo Center will work with organizations to offer hands-on cooking classes, demos, nutrition education and eventually, on-site job training for its residents. It’s more than a shiny, new kitchen, said Achre. “It’s a space for the community to gather, collaborate and make the space their own.”

Learn more about the Englewood Community Kitchens at the Primo Center by visiting https://www.primocenter.org/eck.