Los Angeles is a food insecure city. We are
one of the cities known in the world for our food and at the same time
have the highest rates of insecurity. As a result of the safer-at-home guidelines,
in Los Angeles we had to pivot our farm stand,
and we started to think about how we could shift and what we could do,
and instead of just shutting the farm down we realized
that a lot of the folks and families that we've been working with were
already food insecure prior to the pandemic, and so the pandemic was only
going to escalate a lot of these issues already faced in communities of color.
We decided let's just give the food away. And
every two weeks we give out 200 grocery kits to the community,
and people have loved it. These kits are filled with fresh produce. They're filled
with pantry staples. They're filled with prepared foods.
Today we've included cases of water and vegetable seedlings.
We also include bread from local bakers. And so it's been an opportunity to
really bring the community together to nourish people.
Here at Alma we have three core programs. Our job training program is for folks
who are reentering, leaving the incarceration system behind.
So through the program they get to learn carpentry,
plumbing, landscaping... of course, urban agriculture.
But, really, there's this whole, like, restorative and healing component that's
interwoven into the skill-building program. And so
folks get an opportunity to really build the urban farms, beautify the community,
be a part of the growing process... and feeding people while they're
building and learning skills.
It's important for me to give back to my
community because of... because of how much I've taken. I've—
I've been incarcerated for 22 years, and being out two years now,
I felt like I've always wanted to be of service, and I found this to be my
calling. As far as, like, having healthy food for
the community, especially here in Compton. It's one of those things that for me, if
I could help our citizens here, like, to eat healthy, to make more healthy choices
for themselves... for me, that's—I'll do that anytime.
I believe that our participants have had a deep desire
in terms of restoring their lives by giving back. That's a
deep desire that I think Alma Backyard Farms
helps to fulfill insofar as people reentering are growing food,
are distributing food... they're nourishing lives.
They're doing something that they've deeply desired to do, and that
in itself, I think, provides a sort of accomplishment that helps someone grow.
Grow with confidence... grow with a sense of
knowing that they belong... that they can return home with purpose.
So that's what I've witnessed, and I've had the blessing to witness that,
really, each and every day.
I get a lot of peace when I'm here. I'm also able to give back to my community.
This is my neighborhood where I was raised at,
and I planted a lot of bad seeds. So now it's time to plant some good seeds.
I feel like it's very, very important to give back to your community,
just because it shows community network, us as a whole,
working together, and being able to contribute.
I find that more often we're engaged in conversations that relate to life
and life's challenges, and there's a lot of parallels
that one can make between growing food and
growing as a person. Take, for instance, transplanting a particular vegetable
into the ground from a small pot to
a larger space. There's a lot of care and nourishment that has to be paid
attention to the plant. And that could be translated over to
someone as they're reentering... as they're moving from one place to another.
There's— there's a parallel of having to
carefully nourish the person along the journey as you
nourish the plant along its growth. For me, the opportunity
to be a part of Alma is one where
I am continuously reminded that we have to do better.
The struggles are real for our communities, and
I feel the nudge to always continue to give more of myself so that others can
continue to thrive. I really enjoy the opportunity to be able to put my
hands in the soil and be a part of the growing process
that feeds and nourishes people.
And to be able to teach other folks that
process... I think that it's sort of this
deep breath that you take every day that fills you with life and joy
and meaning, and I think that I wouldn't have it any other way
because I think that the work that I am a part of is
work that is very much needed.