Empowering Urban Communities Through Food

[Chris] growing healthy food is important. when

people grow food they come together um

there's healing in the soil, there's

stories to be told when people gather,

and the old and the young are uh in the

same space accomplishing something

together. but there's also opportunities

in food to create uh jobs where folks

will have a equal chance to um control

their own destiny. [Sumayyah] I got into

gardening out of the need to save money

so that I can feed my children fresh

produce. my stepmother, who had a little

garden in her backyard, I taste her

cucumbers and her tomatoes and it went it

from there. for me it was a lot more

empowering because I wanted that control

back that the big box stores have

over what foods we have. I grew this. I

know where it comes from. I know what's

on it. I know where my seeds came from.

and I put my love in my heart and soul

in it.

[Muhsin] 5th Street Garden is a garden that

uh was bare when we first got it wasn't

nothing there but

grass. we got dirt and uh raised beds and

from there we just start planting here.

so it's a community garden

actually. [Mary] when Bo got the garden he said "we

going to plant a garden Miss Mary .'" I said

now you're talking my

language. I'm a country girl, so you know

we always grow everything that we eat so

everybody in our community could have

some food even when they didn't have any.

[Muhsin] our Garden is like a hub for people and

then the [ice cream] truck is here right so that

draws them in. [Chris] you know the ice cream

truck kind of likes like a magnet. just

definitely for kids like sucks them all

up. everybody stays engaged into

weeding, or we had cherry trees up there

peace trees like picking fruit off the

trees or water they were like locked in.

[Muhsin] the kids took a lot of pride coming in

that Garden when they get out of school

they come running and see what did you

do. Our kids and

elderly we don't eat healthy like we

should and the price of food is gone up

so far [Mary] it'd be better if we can eat

from the garden and then you'll know

what you're eating where it's coming

from early in the morning you know when

I get up and I come to the back door so

I can see the garden, abd I said oh thank you

God. we got something to eat and it's

growing nicely. [Chris] in order for everybody to

stay together and be strong we have to

work together . Jst kind of like the

forest right? trees do this, the grass

does this, worms do this, microorganisms

do this. Everybody plays their part.

everybody's working together [Sumayyah] it's just a

chance for different people in this

community and other communities to come

here and um grow some food