Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/19
Outputs
Target Audience:Strawberry Mansion: The target audience in 2016-19 included 200 Strawberry Mansion households involved in healthy prepared food pilot, 8 entrepreneurial growers engaged in production farming, 30 community garden families engaged in the community garden and 60 high school students engaged at the greenhouse project in propagation and field cropping. Lower Southeast: The target audience in 2016-19 included 200 refugee and community families with community garden plots [2/3 refugee families, 1/3 other community members], 8 entrepreneurial growers engaged in production farming on the entrepreneurial side, and approximately 200 refugee families served by the farm market. Changes/Problems:As explained in previous reports the largest challenge with the project was the completion, in a timely manner, of the greenhouse and associated structures. The zoning and permitting process delayed the project by over a year; however, we could secure the proper permits last year that allowed us to complete the project. The permitting process, specifically zoning, required additional staff time as we were required to submit a zoning variance which then had to get approval by the local community development corporations. Once that was secured, we (PHS, EPRA and NGT) had to go before the City of Philadelphia's Zoning Board of Adjustment to make our case and get final approval. Only once we received approval for the variance, could we then get a zoning and building permit. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Through an OAO grant 8 SDVFR participants received 350 hours of entrepreneurial farm training in 2017 including 3 from the Lower Southeast project and 5 from the Strawberry Mansion project. Training included organic field cropping as well as harvest and post-harvest handling and farm marketing. Over one hundred growers at both the Lower Southeast and the Strawberry Mansion site attended workshops and received training in organic food production. We also continued to offer a diverse portfolio of workshops to growers throughout the region through our Growing Organic Workshop Series. In 2019, we offer 10 workshops in partnership with local urban farms and community gardens. Workshops included a three-part composting miniseries, a class on maximizing your tomato harvest to one discussing the cultural significance of seed keeping. Workshops were free for gardeners and growers working directly with us, but otherwise were priced at a sliding scale. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Both sites have hosted regular weekly or monthly community meetings with community gardeners. These meetings are also open to neighbors. Local media stories have provided updates on both projects to the community. PHS and our partners EPRA and Neighborhood Gardens Trust (NGT) had to conduct a lot of community outreach around the greenhouse and securing the approval of the Zoning Board. In 2018, a community meeting was coordinated with the selected RCO or Resident Community Organization and over 70 residents turned out to express their support for the project. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The biggest accomplish since the last reporting cycle was the completion of the greenhouse and associated structures in Strawberry Mansion. Due to obstacles associated with building and electrical permits, construction of the greenhouse had been delayed for several months. Only once we received approval from the Zoning Board were we able to move forward with the construction and completion of the site. During the final buildout, we were also able to leverage additional funds from the National Fair Housing Alliance to make additional improvements to the site which now includes a 30' x 60' greenhouse, walk-in cooler, shade structure for outdoor classes, wash station, composting toilet, and two modified shipping containers for tool storage. The greenhouse alone will boost our seedling production from the current rate of 250,000 seedlings per year to over 300,000. We expect the site to grow some specialty and culturally important crops like roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa), Indian mustards (Brassica juncea), and African eggplant (Solanum aethiopicum), Beyond serving the needs of our City Harvest program and those of our partner, East Park Revitalization Alliance, the site will now play a role in our post-release training program for returning citizens, or Roots-2-ReEntry (R2R). Individuals participating in the R2R program will be training in landscaping and greenhouse management, and will benefit from working on a site like the one at Strawberry Mansion given its current capacity. Other accomplishments this year included a seasonal celebration to thank City Harvest growers, as well as engage community residents and invite them into the new space; and a food preservation workshop that educated individuals on the basics of preserving food with vinegar, canning or drying. As was shared in previous reports, a greenhouse was not installed at the Growing Together site in South Philadelphia. The decision was made based on the status of land ownership and the churches long-term commitment to the garden. Although the Church of the Redeemer, a partner and landholder of the property, has extended their partnership and involvement in the project for another four years, we had determined that a greenhouse was not feasible. Growing Together remains a productive site where over 200 families from the surrounding communities gather to grow culturally significant crops. The gardening community is culturally diverse, with resettled refugees from Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, and the Congo as well as longer-term residents from the Grays Ferry neighborhood.
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Progress 09/01/15 to 08/31/16
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached from Sept 2015 through August 2016 in the Lower Southeast neighborhood of Philadelphia included the 140 households that received community garden plots. These households received transplants through three seasons, direct sown seed boxes and organic growing supplies like insect netting, hoops, rowcover, Dipel, surround, tomato and pepper stakes. In addition 3 entrepreneurial gardeners received 350 hours of production training, access to food safety certifications and other relevant supports like business planning and market training and support. Finally, over sixty refugee households have participated in receiving affordable fresh produce through the pilot weekly NSC farm market. The target audience reached in Strawberry Mansion from Sept 2015 through August 2016 included 60 Strawberry Mansion High School students who received weekly programming during the school year, eighty K-8 youth who received programming after school and during summer programs, 30 families who participated in the community garden activities and at least 80 to 100 Strawberry Mansion residents who received affordable fresh produce at the farm stand. In addition, twelve youth received summer stipends for six weeks for 20 hours a week of agricultural training. And three area residents received 350 hours of entrepreneurial and business planning support and training. At least 70 households have benefitted from emergency food that included produce grown in Strawberry Mansion and at Growing Together on a weekly basis. 30 individuals participated in a fall festival at Growing Together including a number of recently resettled Congolese families in 2015 and over 200 individuals have participated in Strawberry Mansion festivals in fall 2015 and 2016. In addition at least 30 City Harvest producers have attended workshops at one of the two sites. Changes/Problems:As with any project some challenges have continued to come up. To date none have been insurmountable. We have not yet been able to complete the greenhouse production spaces we intend to build to support EPRA and NSC production so we have been using a greenhouse of a partner site for production and have been training participants from both organizations in propagation remotely. Our delay in Lower Southeast occurred because our land leasor decided they did not want construction of a permanent building on their property anymore. Because NSC and EPRA staff have trained together and that training has facilitated further integration between newly arrived NSC clients and non-immigrant participants we have decided to continue that relationship and build one greenhouse to serve both populations at the Strawberry Mansion location for future production. At the Strawberry Mansion location we are still working through permitting issues and anticipate final greenhouse construction this fall in time for spring production of specialty crops for NSC and transplants for the Strawberry Mansion project. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both project sites have provided at least bi-weekly producer support through growing workshops since each site has had production in progress. At Growing Together a monthly meeting has been put in place as well as a monthly workday for the entire site. PHS City Harvest program has also provided free access to growers from both sites to attend Food Safety Certification workshops [attended again this year by staff and participants from both sites] as well as other production workshops of relevance including again crop planning, small engine and tool care, organic pest weed and disease prevention and control, season extension, harvest and post-harvest handling, creating beneficial habitat for pollinators and for bees specifically, fruit tree grafting, etc... Over 100 participants have been to at least one on-site workshop and over 20 participants have also partcipated in at least one off-site workshop. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated to date through community garden meetings at both sites and through NSC offices to clients and through blogs. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?To date all the seedlings for both sites have been grown at other locations as partners have continued to work through permitting issues in preparation for building the greenhouse infrastructure. In the final year we will complete the greenhouse construction at EPRA to grow seedlings, including specialty crops for Growing Together and we will finalize the two business plans for the healthy prepared food pilot in Strawberry Mansion and the healthy grocery pilot for the Lower Southeast project. In the spring and summer of 2017 each of these pilots will be implemented and evaluation data will be collected to support further programming.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Strawberry Mansion Neighborhood: In our second year of Philly Farms a number of infrastructure improvements occurred including the water lines were completed at the Green Resource Center with East Park Revitalization Alliance (EPRA). PHS and EPRA received a $40,000 matching grant from SUNCLUB/Green Mountain Energy and were able to install a 28 foot by 30 foot shade structure for the Green Resource Center as an education and gathering space and install a 10 kilowatt photovoltaic system on top of the shade structure that will provide electricity to the site [including heat for the greenhouse] and minimize energy bills. Two storage containers were purchased for the site to store tools and growing supplies with matching funds. A wash station was installed at the site to help with harvest. A matching grant was also secured for a walk-in cooler which will be installed during year three of our CFP grant to support post-harvest handling. Two celebrations happened to highlight healthy and seasonal eating including the Strawberry and Apple Festivals and over 200 residents participated. Weekly workshops happened at the Green Resource Center providing support for organic food production, and a number of City Harvest workshops also happened at the site with 20 producers from other City Harvest sites citywide who participated. Growers at the Strawberry Mansion site also participated in a number of capacity building workshops including fruit tree grafting, small engine and tool care, food safety, habitat creation for pollinators, organic pest, weed and disease prevention and control, and season extension. EPRA and PHS staff also supported weekly programming at Strawberry Mansion High School during the school year, with the Healthy Choices Program (K-8 youth) during the summer camp and after school programming during the school year that included healthy cooking classes, seasonal eating, exposure to organic food production and to basic horticulture. Twelve high school youth received summer stipends to support the EPRA farm market and food production as well as production and activities at the Green Resource Center site. This second year volunteer workdays at the Strawberry Mansion Green Resource Center included 1140 hours and involved Youthworks youth from around the country as well as Villanova Law students. The EPRA farm stand supported community food security efforts in the neighborhood with a weekly affordable market for 20 weeks. At least 30% of the food at the market was grown in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood with the remainder being sourced from within 150 miles and purchased through Common Market. PHS staff supported crop planning for both the farm market and the culinary arts beds at the Green Resource Center over the winter months. Planning for the healthy prepared food pilot continued and included sampling and collection of feedback of a number of healthy prepared produce dishes at the farm stand including a collards dish and cabbage dish. A business plan analysis was completed for four produce side dishes and that information will help with further business planning for the healthy prepared food pilot. Lower Northeast Neighborhood: The Lower Northeast site named its site Growing Together community garden and Growing Together entrepreneurial farm. Growing Together received 5300 volunteer hours in support of site cleanup and the building and filling of raised beds and was coordinated by PHS and NSC staff. The 4.8 acre site was a vacant lot owned by a local church and after completing cleanup of the 4.8 acres, PHS and NSC have continued to expand the raised beds on the 2.8 acres of leased space for Growing Together Garden and Farm. To date 200 community garden beds have been built and filled. Approximately one third are area residents without refugee status and two thirds are former refugees who have been resettled by NSC including Congolese, Burmese, Bhutanese and Nepali families. New this second year, Growing Together Farm, the entrepreneurial project at the site, now has 200 raised beds as well. And three NSC clients have been receiving training in all aspects of organic growing and have been hosting a pilot farm market at NSC headquarters with produce from the site. The market has included specialty crops like roselle, garden egg, specialty Asian eggplants, sweet potato leaves, amaranth greens and other crops familiar to the refugee families being served at NSC. A number of workshops were held at the site and over 100 people participated; local community members, refugee families, and City Harvest producers from other locations throughout Philadelphia. PHS staff have continued to support crop planning, especially for specialty crops. A number of perennial crops were planted out at the site and strawberries and blueberries were harvested this season. Farmers began a business plan for marketing the entrepreneurial produce with business planning support . In the fall a harvest festival was attended by over thirty Congolese and neighborhood families that included pumpkin painting and apple cider pressing.
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Progress 09/01/14 to 08/31/15
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience reached from Sept 2014 through August 2015 in the Lower Southeast included 51 households in Lower Southeast neighborhood of Philadelphia who received community garden plots at the new Growing Together garden created in partnership by Pennsylvania Horticultural Society(PHS) and Nationalities Service Center (NSC). The garden demographic breakdown provided by NSC includes 5.88% Chin, 15.69% Karen, 29.41% Nepali, and 15.69% Congolese resettled refugee families and 33.33% Lower Southeast long term residents. All of these households have received planting and pest control workshops as well as planting and pest control supplies from PHS staff and translation support through NSC on a bi-weekly basis since the garden opened in July 2015. In addition 6 entreprenurial growers began receiving planting and organic pest control training as well as translation support, and access to food safety and small engine and tool care classes. The target audience reached from Sept 2014 through August 2015 in the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood included 120 high school students from Strawberry Mansion High School who received weekly programming throughout the school year including crop planning, harvest and post harvest training, and cooking and nutrition education provided by East Park Revitalization Alliance(EPRA) staff and PHS staff. Twelve of these high school youth received summer stipends for 6 weeks to work 20 hours a week on community food efforts including planting, harvesting, marketing at the farm stand. Sixty-five K-8 youth received exposure to food production through the EPRA Healthy Choices Program which provides garden programming through field trips to the orchard and garden on a weekly basis from the summer and after-school programming nearby. Thirty households partcipated in the community garden located at the EPRA-PHS Green Resource Center. These households received organic growing workshops on a weekly basis during the growing season from EPRA or PHS staff. They also received organic growing supplies including seeds, transplants and organic pest control supplies. At least 200 households have benefited on a weekly basis from the produce sold at EPRA farm market, and 70 households have benefited on a weekly basis from the EPRA produce donated through their emergency food pantry which also supplies non-perishables through state food programs. 150 Strawberry Mansion residents received exposure to healthy and seasonal foods through the EPRA Apple Festival in the fall of 2014 and 150 residents received exposure to healthy seasonal foods through the spring EPRA Strawberry Festival. An additional 20 City Harvest growers received organic producer information through the free public workshops held by PHS and EPRA staff at the Green Resource Center. A number of EPRA staff and Strawberry Mansion growers also attended free PHS City Harvest workshops on food safety certification, small engine and tool care, attracting pollinators to the growing space, and other capacity building workshops. Changes/Problems:As with any project, some challenges have occurred. None of them to date have been insurmountable. But we have learned from them and are reporting them in the hopes that others will also learn from them. In the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood EPRA and PHS had to wait longer than anticipated for the full five year lease agreement for all the parcels associated with the Green Resource Center. This held up the implementation of the Green Resource Center building, which has now begun, but was delayed by a number of months because the parcel we were able to eventually receive ended up being the best parcel for the greenhouse. We anticipate that completion of the site by early next spring will allow us to fully utilize the site for production growing and propagation for the next growing season. This has not changed our project, it only changed the timeline for building by a few months. In the Lower Northeast site the entrepreneurial grower group has taken longer to put together than anticipated, because a number of the original Bhutanese women who had created the initial business idea moved out of state with their families. Because only two women remained, PHS and NSC decided to expand the project to include two articipants from each language group involved in the project. Selection was held up because the Kinyarwandan speakers who had been chosen to participate then also began outmigration to other states. Six women have been participating since April- two Karen, two Chin and the original two Bhutanese women and this fall two Congolese immigrants will join the group and we will be able to plan together for next year's market. These growers have already been planting together and NSC is confident that this fall all eight participants will be able to plant the perennial fruit and plan for next year. Again, no long term changes have occurred, but our timeline shifted slightly and additional participants have been included in the entreprenurial group. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Both project sites have provided at least bi-weekly producer support through growing workshops since each site has had production in progress. PHS City Harvest program has also provided access to growers from both sites to attend Food Safety Certification workshops [attended by staff and participants from both sites] as well as other workshops on topics of relevance, like small engine and tool care, organiuc pest prevention and control, attracting pollinators and other topics. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?During the next reporting period we plan to continue to collect evaluation data at both sites and disseminate results. We also plan to complete the infrastructure development at both sites and begin the entreprenurial market at Growing Together in the Lower Southeast. We plan to begin the preliminary steps twoards the year three implementation of the pilot projects as well, including completion of business plans for the projects.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Strawberry Mansion neighborhood: In our first year of Philly Farms we received a five year lease agreement from the City of Philadelphia to the Neighborhood Gardens Trust for the parcels that will become the Green Resource Center. This was the first five year lease granted by the City for an agricultural project. The water line for East Park Revitalization Alliance was partially implemented [brought in from the street to provide water for the community garden sites]. The remainder of the line to the greenhouse is yet to be completed. PHS landscape architects created a site plan for the leased parcels. PHS and EPRA wrote and received a grant from Green Mountain Energy/SUNCLUB for a photovoltiac system that will supplement the electric system for the greenhouse. Additional production beds were added to the community garden and a new partner [Northeast Treatment Centers] working with youth in foster care also joined the site programming at the Green Resource Center. Cleanup of the parcels occurred to prepare for the Green Resource Center elements, including weed tree removal and removal of short dumped trash. Two celebrations happened through EPRA that highlighted seasonal and healthy foods, the Strawberry and Apple Festivals with 150 residents that participated. Weekly workshops happened for residents at the Green Resource Center providing support for organic food production, and a number of City Harvest workshops also happened at the site with 20 producers from other City Harvest sites citywide who participated. Growers at the Strawberry Mansion site also participated in a number of capacity building workshops on small engine and tool care, food safety, pollinators, and other topics at PHS headquarters. EPRA and PHS staff also supported weekly programming at Strawberry Mansion High School and with the Healthy Choices program (K-8 youth) that included food education and cooking classes as well as exposure to production- planting, harvesting and post-harvest. Volunteer workdays at the Strawberry Mansion site included 600 volunteer hours coordinated by EPRA and PHS staff for site maintenance and expansion. These included a workday with the Philadelphia Eagles linebackers and the Strawberry Mansion High football team at the new Green Resource Center site to highlight healthy habits. An additional 400 hours of volunteer workday support was provided for propagation to support the production for the market. EPRA and PHS staff created and implemented 29 consumer surveys, 30 gardener surveys, and 45 healthy prepared food surveys to help with planning for upcoming seasons. EPRA provided 12 entreprenurial youth with paid summer stipends for 20 hours a week for six weeks to support the community food project efforts and the farm stand. The farm stand supported the neighborhood for 20 weeks during the growing season. 10-15% of produce was grown within Strawberry Mansion and the remainder was grown within 150 miles and purchased through Common Market. PHS staff supported crop planning for both the farm market and the culinary arts beds at the Green Resource Center site over the winter months. Lower Northeast neighborhood: The Lower Northeast site received 10,000 volunteer hours in support of site cleanup and the building and filling of raised beds for production recruited and coordinated by PHS and NSC staff. The 2.8 acre site was a vacant lot owned by a local church and was filled with building rubble and weeds. PHS coordinated volunteer days at the site for over 300 volunteers on three different occasions- from Villanova, from Furness High School, and from Fuel the Cure, returned Peace Corp, and Juvenile Justice. We also held smaller workdays with West Chester University, Vanderbuilt University, Accenture, Bank of America, and a number of other groups. To date, in year one of Philly Farms 200 community garden beds have been built and 150 of them have been filled and are now starting to be used by local residents and resettled refugees in what is now Growing Together Community Garden. PHS City Harvest staff have been providing grower workshops at the site in the community garden for the past two months. An additional 200 beds have been built for the entreprenurial growing space and 100 have been filled. Approximately 50 have been planted out by the six entreprenurial growers already working at the site- including two Karen, two Chin and two Bhutanese speakers. An additional 500 hours of volunteer support was provided for the plant production that is now supporting Growing Together Garden and Growing Home Garden. NSC and PHS staff flyered the entire neighborhood to announce a garden meeting for Growing Together Garden and over 50 neighborhood residents showed up to learn about the garden. Currently 33% of the garden participants are neighborhood residents who have not been recently resettled. This meets the needs NSC expressed of having an integrated garden that supports refugees in meeting pre-existing community members from the US and pre-existing community members meeting recently resettled refugees through the project to support assimilation and better cultural understanding. PHS staff supported crop planning with the entreprenurial team in the winter and will continue to support perennial fruit plantings later this fall based on these plans.
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