Our Dream School: A Net-Positive Campus for Today, A Model School for the Future

The Academy for Global Citizenship is an innovative Chicago Public Charter School, located on the Southwest side of Chicago, where access to quality public education is scarce. AGC is meeting an urgent demand: serving grades K-5, adding grade level every year, and serving a larger mission to influence the way our society educates future generations. Our approach, which incorporates sustainable living, student-led learning and local and global communities, has fostered dramatic change in our students, our community and in the Chicago Public School System. We are producing a replicable model for learning in the 21st century, including the construction of a net-positive energy campus.

This campus will be the first of its kind in Illinois and will serve as a model for generations ahead. We have identified an 11 acre plot of land in our neighborhood to house a K-12 school building. In addition to bringing together our students, currently split between two buildings, the campus will create more energy than it uses, house 7 acres of urban agriculture, fruit trees and a native tree forest, and serve as both a hub for community collaboration and a learning laboratory, open to the public for tours and educational collaboration. 

Our Campaign

This is where we need your help. We’ve already identified half of the $3 million needed to secure the land on which we will create a dream school. We have broken down the remaining into $100,000 chunks. This campaign is an opportunity to create a movement, starting with those for whom this is most urgent— the school community and families— to raise $100,000 through donations that are personally meaningful to us, from $5 to $5,000. If we work together to share this dream, we can gather support to reach our goal.

If 200 of us each reach out to 50 of our friends and families and ask them to donate $5 or more, we can reach $50,000. Here is the exciting part: if we are able to meet a $50,000 goal, our board of directors has agreed to match that amount to reach $100,000. All the money we raise through this campaign will go towards securing the land, even if we don’t reach our entire goal. Since AGC is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit, your contributions are entirely tax-deductible.

We are asking you to join us in this step towards building the first energy net-positive school building in the State of Illinois. For every level of involvement, you will receive a “thank you” from us, from t-shirts to produce shares. At the very minimum, your name will be recognized forever on a mural in the new facility. 

The Why

We are striving to produce a replicable model for learning in the 21st century, through the construction of a net-positive energy school building. This model, built upon the integration of sustainable practices into the learning environment, acts as a "third teacher" for the students. It also serves as a prototype that will shift global communities towards a system of learning that educates our next generation to excel in a socio-economic environment that depends on the state of our planet.

We are the leaders of today and our children will be the environmental, social, and political stewards of tomorrow.

It is our responsibility to equip them with the advantages and opportunities afforded by a rigorous and intentional education and the dream of unlimited potential.

Excited? Here’s how you can help.

Get the word out! Just as much as your support, we want your tweets, Facebook posts, calls and messages to your friends and family members. We need to join forces to create a movement for positive change, and every voice helps add to the reach of our message.

We know that a green revolution in education will not happen overnight. At AGC, we have been dreaming of our net-positive future for years, but all great ideas need a little water to grow. Together, we can plant the seeds for a brighter future.

Thank you!

The AGC Family