Capturing momentum: growing urban farmers and farms is a multi-pronged program to counter the epidemic of food insecurity and diet-related illnesses in our communities through proliferating…

Capturing momentum: growing urban farmers and farms is a multi-pronged program to counter the epidemic of food insecurity and diet-related illnesses in our communities through proliferating locally-grown food, farms and farmers. Our potential urban farmers are drawn from the diverse populations of the DC metropolitan area where ECO city farms has run a non-profit urban farm on two sites for the past nine years. The project offers a one-stop learning environment with a self-paced competency-based curriculum, where the earning of community college certification and badges signifies mastery and awards achievement. We offer a collaborative and supportive hands-on setting with passionate and empathetic practitioner educators where all voices heard and respected. The goal of this project is to increase the number and quality of urban farmers and farms in prince george's county, where access to nutritious healthy food is still scarce, open space for farming is still abundant, and many diverse cultures and food traditions coexist. We build on our FY2016 bfrdp (2016-70017-25342) which trained 51 farmers (90% limited resource, socially disadvantaged and/or new immigrant) to grow healthy food for themselves and the market. For FY 2019, partnering with the prince george's soil conservation district andprince george's community college, ECO proposes to conduct three rounds of trainings for 45 DC metropolitan residents (at least 80% limited resource, socially- disadvantaged and/or new immigrant) with the expectation that through intensive classroom training, hands-on work, strategic networking and customized supports, they can acquire everything they require to become competent and confident urban farmers.