Beginning in 2011, the CDA has housed an apiary at O'Hare which has been home to as many as 75 beehives and over 1 million bees,. The initiative is made possible through a job training partnership with the City's Department of Family Support Services (DFSS) and the North Lawndale Employment Network (NLEN).
The apiary has historically been located on the east side of the airport between Mannheim Road and I-294 in a previously vacant, undeveloped grassy area, nestled amidst brush vegetation and scrub trees.
In its very first year of operation, the apiary produced 1,200 pounds of honey! The Certified Naturally Grown honey is processed and distributed as part of the Sweet Beginnings beelove™ product label.
The interdisciplinary partnership between Sweet Beginnings, the NLEN, the CDA, and the DFSS provides valuable job experience to returning citizens with little or no work experience and other disadvantaged persons in the North Lawndale community. Workers not only perform beekeeping, but also collect and process honey for the production and sale of candles, soaps, moisturizers, lip balm, and other beelove™ products. The NLEN operates the apiary and monitors and maintains the beehives. With help from the O’Hare apiary, Sweet Beginnings employs on average 30-40 men and women annually who otherwise might struggle to secure a job due to lack of work experience and criminal backgrounds. In fact, more than 500 participants have completed the program. The training and work experience allows ex-offenders to transfer to many other positions in industries such as manufacturing, food service, distribution, warehousing, hospitality, and customer service, just to name a few. The job training not only provides employees with an income, but a renewed sense of pride and confidence. The repeat-offense rate for former Sweet Beginnings employees is traditionally below 10 percent compared to the national average of 65 percent and the Illinois average of 55 percent.