The Green Chair Project was born in 1991 in South Minneapolis when two lawn chairs were stolen from the backyard of Chris Hand and Joel Sisson. As artists, Chris and Joel, with the help of 14 teenagers from the neighborhood, built over 90 green Adirondack lawn chairs in their backyard and just before dawn one Sunday morning, gave them to their neighbors, two for each house, for a two block stretch of Pleasant Avenue in Minneapolis.

This was deemed by the media as a "crack street" and these teenagers were all to easily identified as gang members and "up to no good." The Green Chair Project proved that given a chance, young people can and want to be productive members of society. 

The goal has always the same: put as many young people to work as possible. We want to provide a positive summer experience, which  include the possibilities of art along with manufacturing and entrepreneurial components, and focus on what it means to "hold up your end of the board."