Ricardo Tavarez is Executive Director of New City Neighbors, a nonprofit creating employment opportunities for youth through urban farming programs.
“We saw that there was potential and a desire from some of theses students to continue growing in their knowledge of urban agriculture, in their knowledge of food access and food equity for the community at large.”
To that end, New City Neighbors launched its On Solid Ground campaign, hoping to raise $1.3 million for an urban agricultural training center on a former football field on Ball Avenue, one of the last greenspaces in Grand Rapids’ Creston Neighborhood. It’s now closer to its goal after receiving a $100,000 Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development grant.
“Grand Rapids, Michigan, was named one of the country’s urban agricultural hubs, and so we’re seeing a lot of desire for programs like this to grow.”
Tavarez says the goal is to give students the training and experience to launch out on their own.
“Either connected with other organizations or to become entrepreneurs related to urban agriculture.”
Development on the land has already begun and, should the capital campaign prove successful, New City Neighbors hopes to have the facility up and running no later than 2026.
