Farm School NYC opens in January

Just Food and Partners Announce Launch of Farm School NYC: The New York City School of Urban Agriculture at Living Concrete / Carrot City

Published October 1, 2010

Just Food and an alliance of local horticultural and food justice organizations are pleased to announce the official launch of Farm School NYC: The New York City School of Urban Agriculture. The school will offer a unique, community-based certificate program with enrollment beginning in January 2011. The mission of the school is to provide comprehensive professional training in urban agriculture, while spurring positive local action on issues of food access and social, economic and racial justice.

Community gardens and urban farms throughout the city will serve as outdoor classrooms, and their neighborhoods and gardeners as inspiration for a vibrant, fair local food system that nourishes bodies and minds. Training programs will be accessible to adults of all educational backgrounds and income levels. In particular, Farm School NYC targets New York City residents unable to access traditional agricultural education and for whom skills in urban food production can contribute to reduced hunger and diet-related diseases that disproportionately affect low-income city residents.

"For the first time, New Yorkers and city dwellers from all over will have access to agricultural training that directly relates to the unique setting of urban agriculture," says Karen Washington, a nationally-recognized urban farming pioneer from the Bronx, and a member of the school’s Executive Board. "We grow it so we know it, and we’ve shown that city farming can make a huge difference in the health and nutrition of low-income urban communities."

Farm School NYC will offer instruction in sustainable agriculture, entrepreneurship and food systems management. “Our goal for the school is to build and share knowledge within our communities and improve local access to healthy food throughout the city,” said Jacquie Berger, Executive Director of Just Food. “By bringing urban farming skills to a much broader population, Farm School NYC will magnify the impact of urban agriculture on community health in New York City and beyond.”

Farm School NYC has been two years in the making: it is the product of countless volunteer hours of collective visioning and strategic planning by a dedicated group of community gardeners, urban farmers, anti-hunger and food justice advocates. This school would not be possible if not for the decades of volunteer work by community gardeners who have pioneered the foundation for urban agriculture in NYC.

Learn More: Visit Farm School NYC’s website: www.justfood.org/farmschoolnyc

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Molly Culver & Eric Thomann

Interim Co-Directors

Farm School NYC, Just Food

212-645-9880x224

farmschoolnyc@justfood.org

www.justfood.org/farmschoolnyc

Black Farmers Conference at BC next month

Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference: Registration Now Open

This November, the first annual conference to forge food, farming and policy solutions for the Black Community will convene at Brooklyn College in New York City, convening farmers, gardeners, activists, students and community leaders from across the nation.

Black Farmers & Urban Gardeners Conference

November 19-21, 2010

Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY

Registration is now open.

Early Bird Rates (September 6th – October 5th)

ATTENTION: Farmers, gardeners, students, teachers, and seniors, before you buy your tickets, please email registration[at]blackfarmersconf.org or

call 212-629-8850 x19 to get your registration code.

The 2010 Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference is presented by Black Urban Growers (BUGS), an alliance of predominately Black urban farmers and gardeners, food activists and allies united in rebuilding our community wealth and health by reconnecting to the land and our traditional roles as agriculturalists and environmental stewards.

In November of 2009, this alliance began organizing and hosting a series of community events with the purpose of starting a conversation around food: Where does it come from? Who is providing it? Why don’t we see more black farmers at the farmers markets? What is the relationship between our individual health and the health of our communities, and why does it matter?

Beginning with a fundraiser event in February of 2010, followed by a Community Forum in April, we’ve been inviting more and more people from our communities to engage in the conversation and together connect the dots between the health of our farmers and our collective health as a community. At the Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference happening November 19-21, 2010, we will engage in a national and international dialogue and action planning to build a national network that includes producers, consumers, and everyone in between in creating sustainable solutions.

Intro essay on urban food production from GRIST

"Few things scream 'Hipster' like an apartment garden." Thus spake the New York City music magazine Death + Taxes, and it's easy to see why. In trendy neighborhoods from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to San Francisco's Mission district, urban youth are nurturing vegetables in window sills, fire escapes, and roofs. Down on the street, they tend flourishing garden plots, often including chickens and bees. Even Grist has launched a comic strip (left) devoted to the exploits of urban-hipster homesteaders.

But growing food in the city isn't just the province of privileged youth -- in fact, the recent craze for urban agriculture started in decidedly unhip neighborhoods. Nor is it anything new. As I'll show in this rambling-garden-walk of an essay, urban agriculture likely dates to the birth of cities. And its revival might just be the key to sustainable cities of the future.

Going Green, Without Being Preachy About It

We should bring this guy to Brooklyn College--his restaurant is down the road in Ft Greene, fascinating case both from environmental standpoint and business ethics framework: annoys the neighbors, wage disputes, but the kids love him!

With a white Kangol cap tipped on his shaved head just so on a recent swampy morning, Sean Meenan led a group of girls, ages 11 to 14, around the cobalt blue, lime green and Sunkist orange outdoor patio of Habana Outpost, the ecologically conscious restaurant he owns in Fort Greene, Brooklyn.

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Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Owned by Sean Meenan, the Habana Outpost is among the leaders in New York’s growing collection of eco-restaurants.

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Ruby Washington/The New York Times

The environmentally conscious restaurant in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, is open from Earth Day until Halloween and boasts solar panels that funnel excess electricity to buildings nearby.

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Ruby Washington/The New York Times

Signs list the Outpost’s environmental bona fides.

He showed off the solar panels, a rainwater-collection system that feeds the toilets, a recycling and composting station, wheat-board wall paneling and corn-based plastic cups. There was even a blender powered by a bicycle.

He showed off the solar panels, a rainwater-collection system that feedsthe toilets, a recycling and composting station, wheat-board wall paneling and corn-based plastic cups. There was even a blender powered

by a bicycle.

Urban Universities Rennaissance Act

So the below is directly connected to a workshop we did at the US Social Forum in Detroit on the role of the university in promoting democratic and sustainable local economic development--the democracy collaborativ at the Univ of Maryland was involved with the below and with our panel (thru Steve Dubb).  Also note that Portland State was a college that various faculty from Brooklyn College visited last year to learn more about their community partnerships and place based learning efforts.  mm

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Congressman David Wu announced the introduction of the Urban University Renaissance Act of the 21st Century, which will benefit universities across the country that are located in major urban centers, as well as their local communities.

“While we face many challenges in Oregon and around the nation, none is more urgent right now than the recovery of our economy and getting people back to work,” said Congressman Wu.  “Urban universities can serve as the heart of economic renewal by sharing their skills and resources with the communities that surround them.  My legislation will help urban universities, like Portland State University, as they lead communities, revitalize neighborhoods, and attract businesses and services to urban areas.”

In addition to educating students and preparing the next generation to become leaders in their chosen fields, urban universities work off campus to raise the quality of life for everyone in the local community.

"This bill acknowledges and encourages the core mission of urban universities, to build sustainable communities,” said Portland State University President Wim Wiewel.  “Congressman Wu understands that it is only by supporting partnerships with local businesses, nonprofits, and K-12 that universities like Portland State can achieve their mission."

Congressman Wu’s legislation recognizes the multi-faceted role that urban universities play and includes sections that focus on education, health care, innovation, and housing, among other provisions.  Highlights of the legislation include:

• Helping more teachers learn the specific skills needed to successfully teach in urban environments, ultimately helping our cities have more—and more qualified—educators.
• Encouraging urban universities to work alongside mayors, superintendents, and business leaders in their cities and regions to ensure that high school graduation requirements are better aligned with college and workforce expectations—making urban youth better prepared for college and a career. 
• Revitalizing the core of our urban universities by reestablishing a program in the Higher Education Act to support the varied beneficial work of urban schools.
• Supporting university research on environmental issues in low-income neighborhoods.
• Providing for public health research to reduce health disparities and improve care.
• Helping urban universities provide assistance to local nonprofits committed to community development and affordable housing, strengthening existing programs to make them more effective locally.
• Strengthening innovation policies to promote partnerships that create regional economic growth.
  

"We are always looking for opportunities to improve our communities by partnering with local organizations—local and regional government, community-based organizations, and business organizations,” said Sheila Martin, director of Portland State University’s Institute of Portland Metropolitan Studies.  “This federal commitment to support university partnerships will help us to align those efforts and move more quickly toward a healthier, more prosperous metropolitan region.”

By laying out a comprehensive vision for expanding, improving, and acting upon the needs of our urban centers, Congressman Wu’s legislation provides a roadmap for how urban universities can help strengthen our communities as we emerge from the current economic downturn, all while becoming stronger themselves.  

"Urban areas face many challenges and opportunities unique to cities,” said Nancy Zimpher, chair of the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities and chancellor of the State University of New York (SUNY).  “Urban universities are distinctly positioned with a broad range of skills and resources—intellectual, human, technological, and social—to engage in these issues.  This federal investment in urban universities will scale up innovative efforts around education, neighborhood revitalization, economic development, and health to provide a greater national impact on strengthening metropolitan prosperity."   

Congressman Wu will introduce the Urban University Renaissance Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, June 22, 2010.  Full text of the bill will be available from the Library of Congress at thomas.gov shortly afterward.