Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food Agriculture Nutrition Innovation Center

The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food Agriculture Nutrition Innovation Center (JJK FAN) is a collaboration with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, Lansdowne UP, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. By leveraging the expertise among these four organizations, the JJK-FAN Innovation Center is working to build community capacity to address food access, while shaping experiences for youth in STEM, agriculture, nutrition, and wellness. The JJK FAN is collectively working to ignite economic empowerment and community development in the region starting with creating a 80-acre footprint surrounding the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation in East St. Louis, which will include an 24,000-square-foot innovation center, indoor and outdoor food production, STEM education, and sports facilities. Construction of Phase 1 Facilities will be complete Fall of 2025.