Our Vision
From Soil to Plate to Soil Again
Founded in 2011, The Urban Canopy is pioneering the local food cycle to create a more sustainable and equitable food system in Chicago. We are growers, distributors, composters and community members who seek to positively impact our city’s environment, people’s health, and local economy. We strive to make healthy produce accessible to all, reduce the miles fresh food travels, keep food waste out of landfills, and create and maintain local jobs.
Our Core Pillars
Nutrition
We believe nutritious food should be accessible to everyone—that’s why we grow and distribute fresh, whole foods that fuel healthy communities across Chicago
Environment
Our work is rooted in environmental stewardship, from diverting food waste through composting to reducing emissions by supporting a hyper-local food system.
Economy
By investing in local farms and food producers, we’re building a more equitable economy that keeps dollars circulating within our communities.
Founding The Urban Canopy
In 2010, during his Education Pioneer Fellowship with Chicago Public Schools, Alex Poltorak recognized a critical gap: students struggling with poor nutrition often faced barriers to learning. Determined to make healthy food accessible directly within neighborhoods, Alex envisioned transforming idle rooftops, vacant lots, and unused buildings into vibrant urban farms. In 2011, he launched a pilot rooftop garden at The Plant, turning that vision into reality. Under his leadership, Urban Canopy expanded into a full-fledged local food enterprise—growing fresh produce, operating farmers markets, distributing locally sourced food, and running a citywide compost collection system. Alex’s founding principle—that nutritious food, sustainable practices, and community empowerment can coexist and still drives every branch of the organization today.
Urban Canopy Today
Although no longer on The Plant's rooftop, The Urban Canopy has grown into a much bigger crew of passionate people. This crew grew thousands of wheatgrass and micro-green trays in the former Indoor Farm at The Plant. The team has become part of a growing community of conventional and pop up Farmer's Markets throughout the city of Chicago.
The Urban Canopy's Local Unified CSA now runs for 48 weeks of the year and delivered over 24,000 shares in 2022. Compost Club and our Outdoor Farm tie the local food cycle together with a food scrap collection service that takes valuable nutrients from eco-conscious Chicago eaters and produces compost vital for healthy soil, some of which is used for dense vegetable production on our two-acre farm in the Englewood neighborhood.
The Urban Canopy is a for-profit business registered in Illinois in 2011. We adhere to “B-Corp” principles with a triple bottom line of “People, Planet, & Profit.”
Our Impact
Here are some of The Urban Canopy’s long-term impacts resulting from their commitments to diverting waste, supporting local growers, and empowering Chicago economic development.
