COD gets $5,000 grant for sustainable rooftop garden

College of DuPage was recently awarded a $5,000 grant from the Illinois Green Economy Network, a consortium of Illinois community colleges. Funding is derived from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The IGEN grant will be used to advance sustainability initiatives at the College's new Culinary & Hospitality Center. Grant funds will partially support the purchase of 12 containers and equipment for a 450 square-foot rooftop container garden that will serve as an instructional lab for culinary students to learn about sustainable food concepts and practices in the culinary industry.

The rooftop garden will include planters in a variety of sizes, lined with coco matting and draining aggregate. The planters will be filled with specific planting mixes to provide optimum growth for the herbs, tomatoes, lettuce, root vegetables and other seasonal plantings planned for the garden. Learning outcomes will be an integral part of the Culinary programs sequence of basic cooking courses.