The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture and Nutrition Innovation Center (JJK FAN) celebrated its kickoff on Monday with a mission to provide youth and community programs in STEAM+Ag, food production, nutrition, and physical activity in East St. Louis and beyond.
The JJK FAN Center is a public-private partnership between the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and University of Illinois Extension.
The JJK Foundation recently acquired a 12,000 ft office facility through a donation from Landsdowne Up, and it will house the JJK Foundation and JJK Winning in Life staff, the University of Illinois Extension Illinois Nutrition Education Program, and Danforth Center’s JJK FAN Center staff.
The five-phase build-out will include indoor and outdoor urban agriculture demonstration sites and will offer youth and community members training and certification programs related to growing food, ag innovation, and nutrition for improving health and performance.
“Education and opening endless opportunities for youth in STEAM-Ag in East St. Louis is at the core of this collaboration. Even though we’re three individual organizations, we synchronize and work as one,” said Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Olympic gold medalist and JJK Foundation founder.
As a youth Joyner-Kersee said out-of-classroom educational experiences helped her navigate as an Olympic athlete and community leader.
“Jackie Joyner-Kersee has spent her entire career demonstrating what you can achieve when you refuse to let others put limits on you,” said Robert J. Jones, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign chancellor.
“Illinois is proud to be a partner in the formation of the JJK FAN Innovation Center, which will create many new opportunities for young people in the East St. Louis community to lead their own lives of impact and inspiration.”
The JJK FAN vision is to become a nationally recognized innovation center that empowers youth and communities to grow through urban agriculture, food innovation, entrepreneurialism, and career readiness, according to Dr. Kris Callis-Duehl, the Sally and Derick Driemeyer director of education research and outreach at the Danforth Center.
The Danforth Center is proud to be part of this collaboration to support the agency of East St. Louis students to elevate their community through increased STEAM+Ag career pathways, food access, leadership, and entrepreneurship.”
