Warren-Sharpe Community Center
Empowering Communities - Changing Lives
Shaping The Future
Purchase the cookbook, Veggie Casserole, and have fun cooking while supporting our community center.
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First Lady Michelle Obama
Inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama, the children of Warren-Sharpe Community Center planted an urban garden. Soon they were harvesting vegetables and cooking healthy meals for everyone on their block. In August 2015, they would step onto the South Lawn of the White House, and see for themselves that dreams can come true. In a neighborhood with more guns than jobs, the Warren-Sharpe kids created a garden of hope. Veggie Casserole is the story of what they've learned -- about gardening and cooking, about reclaiming their community, and about building the future with their own hands. All proceeds from this book benefit youth and garden programs at Warren-Sharpe Community Center.
A community organizer and civil rights activist, Kathleen Bolden founded the Warren-Sharpe Community Center to support and empower at-risk youth and their families. Her campaigns for peace and justice continued until her untimely death at age 57. This collection of essays -- written by the people who knew her, loved her and fought by her side -- chronicles the life of this extraordinary woman through childhood and motherhood, civil unrest and social injustice, tragedy and triumph. In the words of her friend, poet Lita Holmes, "She dared to believe the world could be a better place ... and because of her ... it is."
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What We Do
A Word About Us
What makes us different . . .
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Here at Warren-Sharpe Community Center, we are committed to a single goal; we strive to make the world a better place. Explore our website to learn more about all that we’re doing to make a change. We are a private, non-profit organization dedicated to finding volunteers to help those in need overcome challenges, while developing meaningful relationships with them.
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Warren-Sharpe Community Center is a community-based organization offering social service programs and assistance to families on Joliet’s south side. The Center has a special commitment to serving youth, and operates innovative programs targeting at-risk preschool students, grade school students, teens, young moms/dads, and youth involved in the juvenile justice system.
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Founded in 1991 by the late Kathleen Bolden, the Center began with a mission of cultivating neighborhood solutions to neighborhood problems, and a goal of creating a safe, nurturing place for youth in the midst of a struggling community. From its inception, the Center was supported by United Way of Will County, the City of Joliet, Sacred Heart Church and numerous civic organizations.
Since 2014, the Center’s youth-run urban farm initiative, Green Sprout Urban Farm, has provided fresh, organic vegetables and herbs for children in program and their families.
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Warren-Sharpe Community Center
Empowering Communities - Changing Lives