Grower Programs
Capacity Building Grant
The Capacity Building Grant is a grant fund housed by Advocates for Urban Agriculture in partnership with Food:Land:Opportunity (F.L.O.) and is model for community-led resource distribution. These funds support urban farms and community gardens to enrich the local food economy, production and distribution throughout the Chicago area.
Recipients are selected by an Advisory Committee composed of community residents who are past grantees, growers and earth stewards.
[Image: Zafra Farm: Incubator farm in the South Side of Chicago owned and led by QTBIPOC growers]
Latest updates:
The Capacity Building Grant program is now open and accepting applications until September 25th, 2026, 3pm. Apply Here | Preview application here
If you would like feedback on your application, apply here by September 16th, 2026, 3pm.
This year, AUA will host two grant writing workshops in partnership with University of Illinois Extension to help applicants apply for this grant.
Virtual - 9/10/26, 6:30pm-7:30pm
(Spanish interpretation available upon request)
In-Person - 9/16/26 12pm-1pm
(address in registration link)
Register here and choose your session
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Growing food is a direct action.
AUA supports growers to create a just food future. This grant supports community-led farms with strong community connections.
If you have any questions or require additional accommodations to complete an application,
please contact Bea Fry at bea@auachicago.org. Preview application here
Empowering Growers through Collective Grantmaking
[Image: Oscar Villa: Oscar Villa, Beekeeper Founder of Bee-utiful Honey & Candles]
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The operation must be located in one of the following Illinois counties: Cook, Lake, McHenry, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Grundy, Will, or Kankakee.
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The farm or community garden must both of the following:
less than 5 growing acres
Have an annual budget less than $250,000
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The farm or community garden must have one of the following:
Focused on providing food for the local community, especially residents surrounding the growing site.
Farms/community gardens that have strong partnerships with the local community.
Farms/community gardens that employ people from the community where they grow.
Farms/community gardens that have existing community partners and incorporate those partnerships into their project proposal.
Farms/community gardens that provide educational resources within their community.
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The farm or community garden must be a legal entity or will be within a year. This can be For-profit, Non-profit, or DBA. This includes operations which are fiscally sponsored. The growing space must be a farm, community garden, or a collective made up of farms and/or community gardens.
See below for a list of eligibility criteria.
The farm or community garden must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible to receive funds.
This grant prioritizes farms and community gardens which are owned and led by BIPOC, those with disabilities, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and nonbinary individuals.
Applicant resources
We want to make this process as supportive of growers as possible. We’ve curated a list of resources to aid applicants in their grant writing process and give you the confidence in the materials you submit for funding consideration.
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The Preliminary Feedback Form supports applicants with grant writing assistance on their draft nomination form materials. Submissions to the form will be reviewed, and feedback returned, on a rolling basis until the deadline on September 16th, 2026. The feedback can then be integrated into finalized grant materials and submitted by the grant deadline.
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AUA will host two grant writing workshops in partnership with University of Illinois Extension to help applicants apply for this grant.
Virtual - 9/10/26, 6:30pm-7:30pm
In-Person - 9/16/26 12pm-1pm (address in registration link)
Register here and choose your session
The workshops provides potential applicants with a broad-based overview of the grant, including: grant purpose, eligibility, resources, and includes questions asked by applicants in the past which are not included in the FAQ’s. -
The Frequently Asked Questions offers answers to common questions AUA has been asked about the granting process since the inception of the program.
Foundational Documents
The continued evolution of the fund is grounded in a series of four documents. Co-created during conversations held among a group of growers in the region in 2019 and 2020, these documents have shaped, and continue to guide, all future iterations of the grant program.
[Image: cohort of Capacity Building Grant co-creators]
Dedicated to transparent processes.
See below for more information on the grant timeline, including award dates and resource deadlines.
Late Summer
Applications open
Early fall
Preliminary Feedback Form opens
Early Fall
Preliminary Feedback Form closes
Fall
Application closes
Early winter
Latest date for award notification
Equal Opportunity Statement
AUA works affirmatively to foster inclusive programming and does not discriminate in the selection of participants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, disability, income, marital status, or any other dimension of identity. AUA strongly encourages applications from candidates and individuals with voices that have been historically under-represented in the food system, including but not limited to women, people of color, Black and Indigenous people.
While the focus is on the viability and scalability of urban farm businesses, home, school, or community gardeners are encouraged to work with us as well. For additional support in those areas, please see our Resource page for a comprehensive listing of applicable resources and local organizations.