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Youth from San Francisco\u2019s Mission District gathered at Crocker Amazon Playground during spring of 2015 to unveil the new site of a community farm. The April meeting was the first installment of a series of \u201cenvisioning workshops\u201d being held by an environmental justice youth group known as Urban Campesinos, which is itself a project of the Mission-based organization PODER (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights).<\/p>\n
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission passed an environmental justice and land-use policy in July 2013 , providing the opportunity for Urban Campesinos and collaborating organization Common Roots to create learning and teaching spaces through a \u201csharing garden\u201d at Crocker Amazon Park, located in the Outer Mission.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy working with the Public Utilities Commission who is committed to community involvement, we can ensure that Urban Campesinos has long-term access to this piece of land so it\u2019s not just a temporary garden project, but it can be built as a sustainable asset that will stay in the community for the long-term,\u201d said Tracy Zhu, environmental fellow at the San Francisco Foundation, a major funder of the project. Zhu expressed the importance of the Crocker Amazon farm being the only urban gardening project in San Francisco that is fully led and envisioned by youth.<\/p>\n
Last year, more than 40 youth surveyed neighbors and community members around Crocker Amazon Park for input on the sharing garden. They found that residents were unhappy about the lack of green space and eager to help with the project.<\/p>\n
The group wanted to make sure to establish a relationship with the community along with their intention of establishing the farm. Through the series of workshops, they planned to lead the community through a comprehensive curriculum of shared knowledge facilitated and constructed by them.<\/p>\n
The first installment, titled \u201cLearning About Our Climate,\u201d took a more personal approach as youth shared stories of living near toxic sites, and near so-called \u201cfood deserts\u201d as well as the reasons behind the importance of Urban Campesinos.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was working at San Francisco General Hospital at a clinic and I saw a very deep disconnection with kids that already had diabetes before the age of 15, and I saw they were very disconnected to where they got their food from,\u201d said Kelly Ortega, a founding member of Urban Campesinos and a dietetics student at SF State. \u201cWe all come from families who harvested their own food, and for me, Urban Campesinos is reclaiming our roots and our power; food is medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n
As support for the farm continues to grow, the youth plan on expanding the farm, but as of now, they plan to keep it at a smaller scale as they get proper permaculture training and learn the routine of maintaining the land.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe could have gone huge with about three acres, but we wanted to keep it small for now while we get used to it,\u201d said Teresa Almaguer, youth program director at PODER. The land covers close to one acre, spanning a hillside of the park. \u201cThis is something new and exciting for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Urban Campesinos hopes that the different monthly workshops will move them forward on the implementation of the farm through an intergenerational framework. The next workshop in the series is Sept. 13 from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. and will focus on different governance structures and community involvement.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we have a community serving farm that\u2019s open, and that people can be part of a cooperative if they want to,\u201d Almaguer said.<\/p>\n
The group not only views the project as something to help the community through a resource, but also as something that can change the minds of many by reclaiming negative connotations of working the land in Latino communities, such as the Mission District.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2019Campesinos\u2019 has always been seen as a derogatory term and coming from a Latino immigrant family from Mexico, my mom often asks, \u2018Why do you want to go back to that?\u2019\u201d said Edgar Molina, founding member of Urban Campesinos. \u201cBut as soon as I start explaining what I am doing, she starts opening up about how she grew her own food, and she begins seeing the beauty in remembering that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s final meeting will be on Oct. 4 at the site of the farm in Crocker Amazon Park. Under the theme \u201cCelebrating our Harvest,\u201d the meeting is a chance for the community to exchange stories and ideas and partake in hands-on opportunities to design the community-sharing farm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[su_slider source=”media: 27714,27718,27716″ limit=”25″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Youth from San Francisco\u2019s Mission District gathered at Crocker Amazon Playground during spring of 2015 to unveil the new site of a community farm. The April meeting was the first installment of a series of \u201cenvisioning workshops\u201d being held by an environmental justice youth group […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":27714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3929],"tags":[6073,6069,6075,6071],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-27712","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-en","tag-common-roots","tag-crocker-amazon-park","tag-crocker-amazon-playground","tag-urban-campesinos","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n