We are thrilled to announce that Inspiration Kitchens- Garfield Park is one of the five finalists for the biennial Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence. This is the 25th year of this national award given by the Bruner Foundation, which seeks to identify exemplary urban places nationwide and celebrate their impact on the economic, social, and physical fabric of our cities.
Inspiration Kitchens - Garfield Park at night
Inspiration Kitchens – Garfield Park is Inspiration Corporation’s latest social enterprise initiative, which serves meals to the working poor at a restaurant open to the general public in a neighborhood desperate for such an option. It also serves as a workforce development center, training those in need with culinary skills and helping with placement in the workforce.
The number of entries for this year’s award swelled 80 percent from the last entry period. “Investment in American cities is growing,” says Simeon Bruner, the founder of this award. “Collaborative, innovative approaches are essential to addressing the increasingly complex challenges of urban development and ensuring the long-term economic, environmental and social health of our cities.
A select committee of urban experts will make site visits of all of the finalists in the next few months, and will announce their selection in May. Along with a cash prize, the winning project will be chronicled in a book to be published next year and disseminated to academicians, city planners, and others to benefit urban planning nationwide.
We are certainly honored to have made it this far in the process and are thrilled to have this project recognized on a national scale. For more information about the award or the 50 year history of this foundation, go to brunerfoundation.org.