- And so since it looks like grass,
it will say I sell nickels and dimes of grass.
(light music)
My name is Dominic Nell,
also known as Farmer Nell.
And we're in 21217,
that's zone 17, Baltimore, Maryland,
at the Crispus Attucks Rec Center.
Basically what I'm doing here today is
introducing my Be More Green program to the youth
of this neighborhood, which entails
teaching them how to grow indoors
in the form of microgreens.
There's also growin' outdoors,
raised beds, urban farming.
And teachin' them how to maximize products
through cold-press juicing,
and just leanrin' about nutrients.
As far as lead-poisoning in the soil is concerned,
it's a real issue in Baltimore City.
Lead was used in a lot of the piping,
as well in the buildings.
And so we have a lot of vacant houses here,
and the city's
long-term strategy
for addressing that is demolition.
And in that demolition,
that lead becomes settled in the soil.
Takes no less than like six months,
and that'll be a grassy area.
And so I look to take advantage of those areas
with urban farming in different neighborhoods,
but you can't grow in the soil directly.
So that's why, that's one of the challenges
that we have and we have to use the process
that we call raised beds.
And then bringing clean soil in,
and also keeping that soil monitored because
lead can spread and it stays in the soil forever.
So it's not something that water can wash away.
It's actually something that water spreads.
A lot of the school, old, inner-city schools
still have lead piping.
Williams: You look at all of these inner cities
where the people are being exposed
to them high levels of lead -- Baltimore, Flint,
Detroit, Cleveland, Newark --
and you ask yourself, "What do they have in common?"
And the first answer off the top of my head
would be they have a large density of a black community.
Just off the top of my head.
Reporter: A new study has discovered
3,000 neighborhoods in America
where children suffer from lead poisoning.
We have over 4 million kids right now living in environments
where there is lead-based paint.
Woman: A common problem in places like Baltimore,
where most inner-city housing was built
before Congress banned lead paint.
Dayaneni: Lead paint and lead pipes,
they're concentrated in poor communities,
which gets to a more fundamental question,
which is, "What makes a community poor in the first place?"
- 3,000 neighborhoods in America,
where children suffer from lead-poisoning.
- [Man] We have over four million kids right now,
living in environments where there is lead-based paint.
- [Woman] Becoming problem in places like Baltimore,
where most inner-city housing was built
before Congress banned lead paint.
- My Be More Green program is based off of my business,
which is called City Weeds.
And City Weeds is the business
of growin' and sellin' microgreens.
The microgreens come in,
they come in different patches.
So this is a dime right here.
But you could also break it down into thirds.
A dime meanin', that means 10 dollars.
But if you break it down into thirds,
cut it into thirds with scissors,
you could sell them for five dollars a piece
at farmers markets.
So those would be nickels.
And so since it looks like grass and they say
I sell nickels and dimes in grass.
So in this neighborhood that's a reference or slang
to different paraphernalias.
And substances
The whole City Weeds mission
is focused on addressing those same neighborhoods
that products that are deadly to the human makeup
of being sold on the street corners,
and changing that demo, changing that narrative
in that demographic with selling products that promote life,
nutrient-dense such as microgreens.
Takes 10 hours to gray this tray of microgreens,
and you can make
up to $120 off of it if you break it down into nickels.
So (clears throat),
just to explain what microgreens are,
microgreens is the stage in between the seed
and a mini vegetable.
So you have a seed, then it sprout,
and then it develops leaves and becomes a microgreen.
And microgreen just means that it's just
the mini version of that vegetable.
So for instance,
we have micro-peas, these are peas.
A week ago,
they were a seed.
So now,
this right here is 4,200 times more nutritional value
in nutrient density than the fully-grown vegetable.
It's almost like the products that are being sold
on the block to give people that quick fix,
that quick high.
This is the same thing as far as energy.
Juice and microgreens go to the body immediately.
You're gettin' the nutrients in four to eight hours,
and that's providing actual alkaline energy to the body.
And it's just promotin' energy.
My agenda was getting nutrients and healthy products
in neighborhoods that wouldn't have access to it.
This neighborhood is classified as a food desert.
Today, I'm walking around the city spreading the awareness
about lead poisoning in the community.
I want to give my energy to things
that could create solutions.
Adams: Hey, how you doing? Hi, ma'am, how are you doing?
The Baltimore City Health Department
has this property listed as having a lead paint violation.
- I really like the fact that Michael's come back
to really make a difference here in Baltimore.
He and I go way back and just takin' the words,
years ago a buddy of mine looked at Michael's initials,
MKW and he was like,
"Yeah, MKW," he was like,
"Yeah, Michael Kenneth Williams."
We like no man, makin' kids win.
(police sirens blare) So MKW stands
for makin' kids win, so it's,
it goes hand-in-hand with the initiatives that we're doin'.
That's the whole goal out here,
overall with these tools,
and different mechanisms of education.
It's just makin' kids win.
And so I'm really happy that Michael's
here to be a part of this.
(light music)