Sweet Water Foundation

CTL-E-6380 · Institution · other · 2009–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07566 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6380.

Sweet Water Foundation is a South Side Chicago nonprofit practicing Regenerative Neighborhood Development — a method, in the MacArthur Foundation's grant description, that creates safe, inspiring, intergenerational communities transforming the ecology of neighborhoods called blighted, by blending urban agriculture, art and project-based education. Co-founder and executive director Emmanuel Pratt, an urban designer, was named a 2019 MacArthur Fellow. Pratt directed aquaponics at Chicago State University from 2011 to 2019, transforming a former shoe warehouse into an aquaponics centre in 2011. The foundation's campus, The Common|Wealth at 5749 South Perry Avenue, at the nexus of Englewood and Washington Park, includes its roughly two-acre community farm begun in May 2014, the timber-frame Thought Barn, Think-Do House, gardens and repurposed buildings across six contiguous blocks.

The record

• Also known as: SWF

Notes

CORRECTION TO THE ASSIGNMENT BRIEF: the brief's 'Englewood–Auburn Gresham footprint' was NOT supported by any fetched source — every authoritative source places The Common|Wealth at 5749 S. Perry Avenue, at the Englewood / Washington Park nexus (Washington Park community area). The record follows the sources; Auburn Gresham is not used for this site. Pratt is stated as CO-founder (the sources' consistent word), not sole founder. GRADE BASIS: Verified — subject-primary plus the MacArthur Foundation (authoritative funder record) plus independent Grist reporting. BLOCKED EDGE: founded_by → Emmanuel Pratt — Pratt is not a live record; his University of Chicago visiting-lecturer link is likewise carried in the sources only, no endpoint staged for it as a Pratt edge. PHOTO: HELD (see media). CURATOR'S JUDGMENT (DRAFT): Sweet Water is the proof-of-concept for CTL's whole thesis: land, food, and knowledge as one cultural infrastructure, built by Black Chicagoans on the South Side. (Draft judgment, not fact.)

Relationships

• Englewood — located in
  The MacArthur Foundation and Sweet Water Foundation's own campus page place The Common|Wealth at the nexus of the Englewood and Washington Park neighborhoods; Englewood is live record CTL-E-0213.
• MacArthur Foundation — funded by
  The MacArthur Foundation maintains a grantee page for Sweet Water Foundation (established 2009; Regenerative Neighborhood Development) and named its co-founder and executive director Emmanuel Pratt a 2019 MacArthur Fellow; the MacArthur Foundation is live record CTL-E-5256.
• Washington Park — located in
  The MacArthur Foundation places The Common|Wealth campus (5749 S. Perry Ave) in the Washington Park and Englewood neighborhoods; Washington Park is live record CTL-E-0208.

Sources

• “The SWF team and community have designed and built The Common|Wealth into a dynamic campus that spans six contiguous city blocks and serves as a model of Regenerative Neighborhood Development… Sweet Water Foundation, 5749 South Perry Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60621.” Accessed 2026-10-29. (primary source · build store)
• “Pratt is co-founder and executive director of the Sweet Water Foundation (SWF)… In 2011, Pratt transformed a former shoe warehouse into a vibrant center for aquaponics… SWF expanded its operations in 2014 to build… the Perry Avenue Commons — in the Washington Park and Englewood neighborhoods.” Accessed 2026-10-29. (build store)
• “Established in 2009, the Sweet Water Foundation works with youth, their families, and other local residents to transform the ecology of blighted neighborhoods in Chicago… practices Regenerative Neighborhood Development.” Accessed 2026-10-29. (build store)
• “Pratt, 42, is the executive director and cofounder of the Sweet Water Foundation… he was awarded a 2019 MacArthur ‘genius award,’ which comes with a 5-year, $625,000 grant.” Accessed 2026-10-29. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-6380 · Combined Graph record U-07566 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 4 sources · 3 mapped relationships.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

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