Paula Acevedo

Program and Development Director 2015-Present

Paula (She, her, hers) has been the co-director of El Paseo Community Garden in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago since 2015, alongside her husband Antonio. She is responsible for communications, outreach, programming, grant-writing, marketing, event planning and anything else that is needed. She enjoys applying her background in Architecture for place-making and community-driven design. In the garden, her driving passion is serving the seniors and children through the creation of projects and programming. For example, the ’20-’22 documentary film series “Nuestra Herencia” which highlights elders in the garden. The garden has given her a sense of community in Pilsen and has strengthened the connection with her Mexican heritage. When she is not doing garden work, she enjoys craft projects and playtime with her son.

Antonio Acevedo

Stewardship Director 2015-Present

Antonio volunteers as the co-director for El Paseo Community Garden in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago where he manages construction and various projects, grant-writing and finances, garden maintenance, and serves as the political liaison. He has led the garden along with his wife, Paula, since 2015. However, he has been an active member and project manager since 2011. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelors of Civil Engineering.  He is currently a licensed professional transportation engineer at Clark Dietz, Inc. He has also completed facilitation training through the Institute of Cultural Affairs and utilizes these skills during public involvement activities at work and in the garden. He also completed the University of Illinois Extension’s Master Urban Farmer Program in 2016. In between work, the garden, and family life, Antonio enjoys finding time to play guitar and skateboard. 

Lucia Leon

Director of Farm Operations 2023- Present

Lucia joined El Paseo Community Garden in 2023 as Farm Manager to help launch the U-Pick Farm Stand. She has grown with the garden and is now Director of Farm Operations where she oversees the vegetable production area and stewards the Collective Gardening cohort, providing garden education. She began her urban farming journey as an apprentice in the Windy City Harvest Apprenticeship program, which she completed in 2015. In 2017 she founded her business, Lightly Farmed, which began as a 1/8th acre incubator farm operation and has grown to offer services like garden education and landscape design and stewardship. As a Chicago-raised land steward, she is passionate about connecting people to the healing power of soil and plants.

Paul Rizik

Paul Rizik is the lead quail steward of El Paseo and serves as a member of the El Paseo Board. You can find him most Sundays wrangling birds or helping with other garden projects.

In addition to his commitments at El Paseo, Paul works as a faculty librarian at Harold Washington College and helps organize What the Ferment?, a monthly meetup structured around fermented foods. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and writing angry letters about improving public transportation.