Dion's Chicago Dream

In just three years, Dion’s Chicago Dream is coming true. This organization, which was created in 2020 to bring fresh produce to those experiencing food insecurity in the Chicago area, started out providing 80 to 90 lbs a week to a single community refrigerator on Chicago’s south side. Today, this staff is delivering more than 55,000 lbs of fresh, healthy produce to 42 out of 77 neighborhoods in Chicago every month.

Dion Dawson, who is the founder and Chief Dreamer, said that the “Dream Team” is addressing health equity through food insecurity that centers on the experience of the recipient. With logistics and last-mile delivery as the demonstration project, this innovative Chicagoland organization is reimagining the inner workings of the food system. They’re off to a great start and constantly look for ways to maximize impact in transformative ways for the organization. For instance, Dion’s Chicago Dream has workforce development embedded into the organization. Instead of utilizing donated food and volunteers, the organization only delivers food that it has bought and uses paid employees. This has already resulted in the creation of 25 jobs, all paying more than $20 an hour. Within the next 18 months, Dion expects the organization's size and scale to double, mirroring the trend seen in the organization’s first three years. He also knows his organizational model will work beyond Chicago, so a big part of his plan is to connect to other states and offer the same services. 

So, how are the Chief Dreamer and Dream Team getting fresh fruits and vegetables to all these neighborhoods?  They’ve created several ways to make healthy foods accessible to the communities. The Dream Deliveries program provides underserved households with five days' worth of healthy food options, immediately moving a household from food insecure to food secure. Dream Deliveries has provided more than 200,000 lbs of fresh produce to the doorstep of nearly 6,000 residents every week. The Dream Vault is a network-enabled locker that customers can access weekly with a unique electronic code to get a Dream Delivery box of fresh groceries containing five days’ worth of pre-measured fruits and vegetables. The Dream Team members stock the bank of lockers daily with each set of lockers having the potential to provide food security to almost 175 households within a one-mile radius. The newest offering is Dion’s response to the lack of big-box options in food deserts, poverty rates and lack of fresh grocery options. At its height, the Dream Vault provides households (within a radius) a safe, dignified, clean place for produce pickup and creates foot traffic for big-box companies who’ve invested and anchored their business in these neighborhoods.

“It is extremely important that we continue to look at what could be instead of what’s been,” said Dion Dawson, Chief Dreamer. “We should always be able to meet this ever-growing need of food insecurity. We need to reimagine the food system and remember that the biggest assets are the people we serve. At Dion’s Chicago Dream, we will meet this need and continue to Feed Families, Create Community & Fuel Hope.”

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