(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A South Side sustainable flower shop is providing jobs to at-risk youth.
"I'm trying to do an asymmetrical podium piece. I'm not really good at it, so that's why I'm practicing on it," Alliara Nash said.
Nash hones her flower arranging skills during her shift at Southside Blooms in Englewood.
Southside Blooms is a project of the nonprofit Chicago Eco House. It was founded by Quilen Blackwell and his wife Hannah in 2021.
"We have the mission of using sustainability to alleviate inner city poverty. We do that by taking over vacant lots. We turn them into solar-powered flower farms, and those flowers will come to our in-house, social enterprise South Side Blooms," Blackwell said.
And the florists who make it all happen is a group of 16 to 25-year-olds.
"They're learning how to do centerpieces and bridal bouquets and bridesmaids bouquets, a lot of corsages and boutonnieres. They go on site. They're doing like 95% of the work."
Blackwell says he was inspired to create job opportunities for South Side youth while tutoring at an Englewood high school in 2011.
"I really saw a lot of potential and a lot of really bright minds, and a lot of it just going to waste, just because they didn't have opportunities."
Now young people like Armani Hopkins and Rashod Little have the chance to make some money while also giving back to the community.
"In Englewood, you'd never really expect that there would be a flower shop here. It's nice to do something positive, talking to other young people, and actually doing some work and making some money," Hopkins said.
"You ever give your mama or grandma flowers, and it just lit up her face? That's what flowers can do. They can change a whole person's mood, change the mood in a room," Little said.
Blackwell says it's that passion that fuels their hard work and has them competing with some of the top florists in the city.
"I think people underestimate them every day, I'm amazed at what they do. I learn a lot from them. So yeah, it feels, it feels really good to just sort of see that they're proving a lot of people wrong."
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