Community Connections, an organization established in Washington DC in 1984, and now the largest not-for-profit behavioral health provider in the Nation’s Capital, hosted a groundbreaking urban farm event. The Youth Blossom project had its groundbreaking at a home in the Brookland neighborhood in northeast DC. The project’s idea is to involve young people in urban farming. With the limited space in big cities, communities all over the country are finding innovative ways to cultivate in many confined spaces, like rooftops, vertical spaces, and abandoned lots. The Youth Blossom project seeks to convert homes’ backyards into community farms, where young people are involved in the entire process of farming, from planting and cultivating vegetables and fruits, to making partners in the community to offer their harvest. This particular project has already found a partner. Next door to the house where this urban farm is situated, is a restaurant called Steel Plate that has committed to buying the harvest from this urban farm to offer organic options on its menu. The organizers see a lot of benefits to the youth, and the community, from this project, and hope to replicate this project throughout the city, and that others are inclined to partner, and create more urban farms in other communities. The event was well received by the community, and was well attended.
Urban Farm in Brookland DC