Help This Garden Grow is a new podcast docuseries telling the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld Gardens community on the far South Side of Chicago. Hazel is the founder of People for Community Recovery, a 40 year-old organization that fights to address the toxic industrial pollution that has been killing the members of her community. Over the course of the multigenerational multipart documentary, hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger talk with organizers, policy- makers, historians, and community members about how PCR emerged and led, the legacy of Ms. Johnson's work, and how this marginalized Chicago pocket built the lineage of today's vibrant, impactful, and necessary modern environmental justice movement. Help This Garden Grow is presented by Respair Production & Media, Elevate, and People for Community Recovery.
Cohosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger interview Chicago organizers and neighbors about their fight for self-determination against a massive quantum computer project.
15 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT
Introducing: Quantum Entanglements, a new investigative feature dropping Thursday 6/18/26!
Cohosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger explore South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination against a massive quantum computer project.
28 Feb 2025
Sign up for Hazel's Seeds, a Help This Garden Grow Listening Club!
Sign up for more info at https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow (https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow)!
Sign up now for Hazel's Seeds, an environmental justice listening club centered around Help This Garden Grow, the award-winning podcast docuseries about Mother of Environmental Justice Hazel Johnson. Hazel’s Seeds has two paths: “Hazel’s Garden,” which is a six-session virtual book club-style discussion series facilitated by docuseries hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger alongside other voices of the contemporary EJ movement; and “Community Gardens,” which are independent listening clubs facilitated autonomously in classrooms, EJ organizations, and communities across the country. Both paths are structured around the Hazel’s Seeds Listening Guide, a community curriculum created to guide listeners through engaging with the show.
27 Jul 2023
Episode 6 - The Center of the Gardens
We follow where Hazel's legacy lives in Chicago’s EJ struggles today, and commit to the mission of actualizing the legacy Hazel envisioned.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider
Smooth Lovin by Kevin Macleod
Plainsong by dust motes
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jul 2023
Episode 5 - Inheriting the Shoebox
As her health begins to wain, Hazel passes the baton to her daughter Cheryl who guides PCR through the treacherous waters of attacks, blackballing, and disrespect.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Mounsell Forts by Roger Plexico
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Funk by Podington Bear
Cooling by Audiobinger
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jul 2023
Episode 4 - Mothering the Movement
We hear Hazel become a mother of the newly coalesced global Environmental Justice movement and take EJ to the highest halls of power, while still connecting the dots in her home community.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Hipster’s Meditation by IShaamin
Contact by Anitek
Money by Jahzzar
Cooling by Audiobinger
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jul 2023
Episode 3 - From the Center of the Donut
We learn about and from Hazel's early fights scrapping with the power of the state, and the new possibilities for healing that she created.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Morning by KV
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jul 2023
Episode 2 - "They Should've Never Built This"
We go to the roots of the land where Altgeld Gardens sits and where Hazel's legacy lives, digging through the layers of indigenous, Black liberation, and personal lineages that make up the area.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Talky Beat by Twin Musicom
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Smooth Lovin by Kevin Macleod
Too Cool by Kevin Macleod
Green by Yoitrax
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jul 2023
Episode 1 - Help This Garden Grow
We begin our story–the story of Hazel Johnson, of Altgeld Gardens, of Environmental Justice, and of how we each fit into the fight to change our lives and our world.
Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate
Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/
Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Sunrise Drive by South London HiFi
Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider
Roy by JBlanked
Spilled Beans by Gurty Beats
Life Is by Cosimo Fogg
Merry Bay by Ghostrifter Official
Catch My Breath by Ambient Boy
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young
27 Jun 2023
Help This Garden Grow, coming 7/27/23!
Subscribe to Help This Garden Grow, a new podcast docuseries coming soon on 7/27/23!
Help This Garden Grow tells the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld Gardens community on the far South Side of Chicago. Hazel is the founder of People for Community Recovery, a 40 year-old organization that fights to address the toxic industrial pollution that has been killing the members of her community. Over the course of the multigenerational multipart documentary, hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger talk with organizers, policy-makers, historians, and community members about how PCR emerged and led, the legacy of Ms. Johnson's work, and how this marginalized Chicago pocket built the lineage of today's vibrant, impactful, and necessary modern environmental justice movement. Help This Garden Grow is presented by Respair Production & Media, Elevate, and People for Community Recovery.
RSVP for the Release Party at the Harold Washington Library Winter Garden - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/help-this-garden-grow-release-party-tickets-668272128927 (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/help-this-garden-grow-release-party-tickets-668272128927)
Get in tune with Respair - http://respairmedia.com (http://respairmedia.com)
Support PCR - https://peopleforcommunityrecovery.org (https://peopleforcommunityrecovery.org)
Learn about Elevate (https://elevatenp.org) - https://elevatenp.org
Inside a recent episode
Respair Presents: Quantum Entanglements
Published 18 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt
[…] The overall plans for what this whole campus would look like if it was fully built don't really exist. There are architectural renderings of what the quantum building itself would look like, but not the whole campus. And the shape of this overall project and what other partners would be brought in has continued to be in flux as we've been reporting on this story over the last year. But it's clear that there is an imagination of what the site overall could be. A high-tech campus bringing high-paying tech and research jobs to the site. But for many people learning about this project, it feels like this high-tech future has nothing to do with the present and the past of the neighborhood that it would sit in. […]
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