Group wants to create green revolution for Southwest Side with clean jobs, locally grown produce

A rendering of a proposed development on the Far Southwest Side on the site of former public housing. The development proposed by the Cultivate Collective is one of six finalists vying for the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s $10 million Chicago Prize 2022. (Cultivate Collective/Provided)

Niquenya Collins grew up in a Southwest Side bungalow near the Stevenson expressway, Midway airport and foul-smelling industrial sites.

“There’s a lot of waste being produced, and you can literally smell it in the air and even inside your home,” said Collins, whose mother still lives in the house.