New Roots Community Farm- City Heights

Nominated on 24/08/2009 • Category: Sustainable Design • 0 Comments

Project Awarded

Located on a small 2.5 acre lot in City Heights, a grass roots effort has finally taken hold to create San Diego’s first community farm. One juror noted “Kudos to the groups’ collective perseverance in spending three years and over $50K in City of San Diego required permits and processing to get this project out of the ground

Orchid

Project Address: 54th Street and Chollas Parkway
Project Owner/ Developer: International Rescue Committee/New Roots Community Farm
Owner Contact Name/ Email: Amy Lint, 619-641-7510
Project Architect/ Designer: n/a

Located on a small triangular lot located at 54th Street and Chollas Parkway in City Heights, a grass roots effort has taken hold to create a community farm for the surrounding neighborhood. Spearheaded by San Diego's Somali Bantu Community Organization, this farm plot will be the first of its kind for this neighborhood. It will provide fresh fruits and vegetables to the community and may also provide an economic opportunity to sell the produce local businesses.

Beginning in 2006, Hamadi Jumale, a Somali refuge, teamed with the San Diego office of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-governmental agency that assists refugees worldwide, to find and acquire a parcel of land that would give the women of his community an opportunity to produce something. Amy Lint, IRC’s New Roots Farm Coordinator and others who have worked closely with Jumale say that in addition to creating a much-needed outlet for the talents of the Bantu women, his efforts have established a link to their fading culture.

Open since mid-July, the New Roots Community Farm is a raw patch of land located on 2.2 acres of city property with the potential to supplement the diets of hundreds if not thousands of low-income individuals living in greater San Diego. Several other communities, including Vietnamese, Cambodian and Guatemalan groups, are taking part in the farm. This is an enormous opportunity for a community that does not always have even their basic needs met. These farms plots will provide not only sustenance but will also carry forth the tradition of numerous cultures who call City Heights home.