the farm is a magical place food has a
way of bringing people together you know
what I it was just about feeding people
healthy food but it grew it here in the
south side of Dallas 95% of our families
in our community or single-parent
households we suffer for more than twice
the rate of heart disease diabetes
cancer stroke about half our mental go
to prison before their 25th birthday the
typical approach to solving these issues
is to create a program to address a
symptom of a problem what we do that's
so radically different is a holistic
approach where the solutions are
provided in the place that they call
home
this little farm in this back end of a
forgotten inner-city community is
playing a role in healing our city
if Banton works I think it changes
everything
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twenty-five percent of all Americans are
born into a place of poverty every year
and so they're born into a Banton well
when I first moved down that would
always say if there was something I
could do what would it be and everybody
I met for at least the first six months
said jobs we learned along the way that
it was more than just about jobs was
also about fresh food transportation and
safe affordable housing and fair access
to credit and education it was like a
house of cards where all these things
leaned on one another people are capable
and filled with hope and potential they
just need the opportunities and those
opportunities have to be built in the
environment that they come from we end
up planting a garden with the idea that
we would use it to prepare for jobs and
also to grow our own food
we couldn't hardly get anything to grow
and when we finally did get something to
grow it was against the city ordinance
at the time to have what they classified
as a market garden the garden you sold
things from we've been able to help
rewrite the ordinances for a Dallas to
now allow market gardens we need a ways
to sell our food so we open the market
and cafe
we have a coffee house that will open
next month we've learned along the way
that's not just about work we learned
how important it is to have
transportation to get to work and how
important it is to have a place to rest
at night when you get home from work we
started buying these defaulted houses
using those as places our interns could
stay while they were getting their life
on track and it changed everything when
you empower somebody and you fix the
problem they could shoot up they could
hit for the stars I think how everything
has grown here you'll hear a common
thread it's grown through failure just
about everything we've set out to do
hasn't worked but we didn't quit I've
started over in life maybe four five six
seven times I do a little good you know
saying get apartment you know get on my
feet a little bit then I guess I get to
relax and fire back into my old ways you
know seeking pleasure and passing in the
form of narcotics I ask for mercy and I
prayed for help and a couple days later
I met down he said if you really want
some help Patrick it's just me man at
the garden here and I see buddies
through him but you got to prove
yourself first I make it a point to eat
the farm gave me a peace of mind it gave
me a purpose and a meaning but now I
have a new life a new way of doing
things and I can use the old way Don
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we're saying in 20 years communities
like Bontemps had normalized how much
better is that than building another
prison you know how much better is that
than building another homeless shelter
you know not saying that those things
don't have a place but there should be a
huge shift in investment of time and
energy from the downstream measures we
do to deal with people once they've
fallen in the river and they're drowning
and move it upstream before they fall in
and to give them the resources they need
to become something special and give
back to this world how much more
beautiful would that be when we do that
now we are one of the largest urban
farms in the United States and over 42
acres inside the city of Dallas in
production it's not just the community
here in Fontana we have a huge family
we have over 18,000 people a year that
come down and visit and stuff happens
there people relate with whether they
sit down and share a meal together we
talk about things we have in common
instead of the things that make us
different when that happens it's no
longer us in them it's we and things
change
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