(Illinois.Edu) Illinois partnership with the JJK Foundation in St. Clair County set to provide more than $32 million in labor income creation throughout the state by 2026

In 2020, the JJK Foundation, Danforth Center, U. of I., and Lansdowne UP, an East St. Louis nonprofit, formally joined forces to create the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, Nutrition Innovation Center to leverage collective assets and infrastructure to ignite economic empowerment and community development in the region. The JJK FAN focuses on building community capacity to address food access, while shaping experiences for youth in STEAM-agriculture, technology, food innovation, nutrition and wellness.

A 24,000 square-foot innovation center as well as indoor and outdoor urban agriculture demonstration facilities are being built to expand programming and food production capacity for the JJK FAN, with a completion date of 2025.

Results of the economic study indicate that the JJK FAN will add the equivalent of $7.8 million in new labor income, 126 jobs and $2.7 million in tax revenue to Illinois’ economy by 2026.

Read the full article from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign!