Donate

The Dream

Stability for
Chicago’s Communities

Dion’s Chicago Dream is to create financial, physical, and emotional stability for Chicago’s residents by combating food insecurity while addressing food deserts in neighborhoods across the city. Dion’s Dream is to use nutritional philanthropy as a catalyst to build community and transform lives. As an idea born in the heart of Englewood to give back to the community that raised him, Dion’s initiative has expanded to assist residents in need in every Chicago neighborhood through the power of fresh, healthy food.

Our Community

Challenges Facing Chicago Neighborhoods

Across Chicago’s 70+ communities, there are estimated to be more than 500,000 people facing hunger and food insecurity. Residents struggle with population loss, a lack of jobs, school closures, a housing crisis, and gang violence — especially in a post-pandemic environment. Food deserts affect every part of the city, with a larger presence in the South and West sides of Chicago.

Interconnected with this, many Chicagoans also suffer from these challenges:

  • LifeExpectancy-health-medical-heartbeat-life

    Life Expectancy Gap

    A 30-year life-expectancy gap between Englewood and high-income neighborhoods like Streeterville, located just 9 miles away, is the largest in the country (NYU School of Medicine)

  • Asset 962

    Poverty

    56% of Riverdale (South), 43% of North Lawndale (West), and 24% of Uptown (North) households live below the poverty level as compared to 13% in Cook County (Chicago census data 2008-2012)

  • Food Insecurity

    More than 613,000 residents in Cook County have lived in households that struggle with food insecurity since 2021 (Feeding America)

  • Low Income

    More than 18% of Chicago residents live in poverty. Median household income in Chicago’s South Side neighborhoods, at $28,217, is in gross disparity to the median Chicago household income at $58,247 (American Community Survey, 2019)

  • Food Desert Status

    More than 500,000 Chicago residents live in a food desert. While the average number of grocery stores in a community is 4.27, 57 of Chicago’s communities are below average. This has a direct relation to economic status, as new businesses are unlikely to establish stores in lower income areas (Illinois Institute of Technology, 2021)

What is Food Insecurity?

The condition where people cannot reliably access adequate, nutritious food.

What is a Food Desert?

An area with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent and where at least a third of the population lives more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store.

How Does Food Insecurity Happen?

Chicago residents effected?

19%

Chicago Metro Area

29%

Latinx Communities

37%

Black Communities

What does this mean for the people living in Englewood?

Growing up in Englewood has not been the easiest experience. As a child, you experience so much so fast. From hunger to loneliness to violence, it felt like the problems came often...The opportunity to consume fresh fruits and vegetables is not something that I am used to. I feel sometimes that I don’t deserve it because no one has cared to offer it to us consistently.

Terence– 20 year Englewood resident

Help Feed Families.  Help Create Community.  Help Fuel Hope.

 

 

Donate

Help Feed Families.
Help Create Community.
Help Fuel Hope.

Donate

Our Pledge

Feed. Create. Fuel
Feed Families by offering consistently fresh, quality produce delivered directly to the doorstep of Chicago residents through our partnership with JAB Produce. Through our Dream Deliveries, pre-packaged, pre-measured fresh fruits and vegetables are distributed on a weekly basis to in-need households struggling with food insecurity.
Create Community by using fresh food as a catalyst to transform lives. In food deserts, where fresh produce is often inaccessible, both food delivery and community access to fresh produce through the Dream Fridge has an enormous impact. The stocked community Fridge is a place where Englewood residents can rely on daily access to quality fruits and vegetables.
Fuel Hope by creating a sense of shared purpose around the Dream. Real change happens at the grass roots level and the Dream Team is a community of residents, donors and supporters who have donated time, resources, love and money to tackle food insecurity. It is this shared collective effort that unites Chicago residents and creates real change throughout the city’s many connected communities.

Our Offerings

Dream Deliveries stabilizes quality and access by offering fresh produce straight to the doorstep of the Chicagoland residents that it serves. Being environmentally conscious, Dream Deliveries is consistent in reducing waste by sending packaged pre-measured fruits and vegetables to households in need & struggling with food security. Our delivery services provide underserved families with 5 days worth of healthy food options for consumption, immediately moving a household from food insecure to food secure. Since its inception, Dream Deliveries has provided more than 170,000 lbs of fresh produce to the doorstep of nearly 2100 residents every week.

Learn More

Dream Fridge is our introductory response to Englewood’s food desert status, poverty rates, and lack of fresh grocery options. The community fridge is open Monday-Friday from 9am-4pm, offering fresh fruits, vegetables, and water to residents. Since its inception, Project Dream Fridge has provided more than 35,550 lbs of fresh food and water across the equivalent of 14,250 meals. With an average of 118 servings of 283 lbs. of food and a weekly cost of $550, the Dream Fridge is a well-received offering.

Learn More

COMING SOON!

Dream Vault tests the possibility of even greater scale in the fight against food insecurity, using cutting-edge logistics, delivery and destination solutions.

The Dream Vault is a wifi-enabled locker that customers can access biweekly with a unique electronic code to get a Dream Delivery box of fresh groceries containing five days worth of pre-measured fruits and vegetables.

Dream Team members stock 25 lockers daily, with each set of lockers having the potential to provide food security to almost 200 households within a 1-mile radius - that's a staggering 78,000 lbs of fresh food every year per vault!

More information on this exciting new offering coming soon!

We Are Proud To Be In Partnership With

Learn More
ADA Recipes

Our Impact

Making a Real Difference
0
Years
Established
0
Family Servings
Administered
0
lbs of Produce
Distributed

Help Feed Families.  Help Create Community.  Help Fuel Hope.

Donate

Help Feed Families.
Help Create Community.
Help Fuel Hope.

Donate

Join Our Community

Sign up for our latest news and updates

Download Our 2022 Impact Report

Follow Our Journey