I was born at a pivotal time in history when civil rights legislation came to fruition. African Americans won equal access to education, jobs and housing. The downside of these monumental victories was that millions of middle- and working-class black families left areas where they or their parents had built and supported schools, businesses and neighborhoods.
The young people we dismiss today didn’t create the mess we left for them. It’s not their fault that the poverty rate in majority-black neighborhoods has basically remained the same for almost 50 years. We live in a society that has snoozed while the majority of minority children end up in poverty, with many selling or using illegal drugs, ending up in prison or destined for early graves.
The answer to saving young people and building safe, sustainable neighborhoods is to bring community back to long-ignored communities.
Toward this end, I co-founded the Sweet Potato Project with the North Area Community Development Corporation in 2012. Each year, we recruit groups of inner-city youth (ages 16-19) to plant sweet potatoes on vacant city lots. For 10 weeks during the summer, they “earn while they learn” to grow food, market, package and sell products made from produce grown in their own neighborhoods.
Giving youth the tools to become urban entrepreneurs is not enough. If we are to change the trajectory of social and economic dysfunction, we have to build environments for success. We have to create an economic inner-city engine that involves and engages youth as well as adults, creates jobs and stirs new business development.
This year, the Sweet Potato Project will introduce the community development portion of its program. Imagine driving along Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and seeing acres of vacant land transformed into vibrant farms. Imagine seeing young people and residents tiling soil and planting produce. On that same plot, imagine a facility built to package, process and distribute produce locally and food-based products nationally.
All this is taking shape, starting in the Greater Ville area of the 4th Ward. The Sweet Potato Project has been welcomed by Alderman Sam Moore.
“Most of us came from the South, and our parents or grandparents knew how to farm,” Moore said. “Nowadays, a lot of us have this phobia about our past, but farming is still a positive means to beautify neighborhoods and generate income.”
Moore did some math.
“We have over 1,900 vacant lots and 2,300 empty buildings in our ward,” he said. “We have 41 confectionaries, but no vegetable stands, no pharmacies, Laundromats, clothing and shoe stores. We want and need economic variety.”
Moore, with the assistance of the Greater Ville Neighborhood Preservation Commission, is helping the Sweet Potato Project secure about four acres of vacant property on MLK Blvd. from the Land Reutilization Office. In addition, we’re working with Gateway Greening and inviting some of its members and public schools with gardens to grow sweet potatoes that we will purchase in the fall.
Through our unique partnership with Saint Louis University’s Department of Dietetics and Nutrition, we’re seeking to build a working farm and food-processing facility. If all goes as planned, our program will teach our students, other teens and adult residents how to purchase vacant land, engage in large-scale farming, harvest and prepare their yield for production and distribution.
“I think owning lots, growing food and having a place in the neighborhood where fruits and vegetables can be packaged and processed is a great idea,” said Briana Taylor, 18, a Sweet Potato Project student.
Darryeon Bishop, 19, who lives in North St. Louis, agreed.
“There are too many corner stores selling unhealthy foods packed with fat and sugar,” Bishop said. “With the new program, more people can grow their own fresh foods and maybe create jobs and businesses in poor neighborhoods like mine.”
Inner-city food-based initiatives across the country (and in parts of St. Louis) have pumped new, fresh food-based revenues into poor and developing neighborhoods. Our extended project, with a food-processing facility, also would support other gardens and gardeners throughout St. Louis.
We are still in fund-raising mode, but our program is slated to begin in June. If we meet our goals, our youth will be surrounded by adults with an economic incentive to bring their hearts, minds and resources back to North St. Louis.
“We need to stop talking doom and gloom about empty buildings and lots,” Moore said. “Let’s purchase them. Let’s build new homes, let’s farm and become entrepreneurs in our own neighborhoods. Let’s dominate and maintain our community with healthy living. It’s time to control our own destinies.”
