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Check
out the New
Roots For Refugees Blog
to learn more about this project!
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JUNIPER GARDENS FARM BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
PROGRAM
KCCUA's
latest project is turning 6 acres in the middle of
Juniper
Gardens
low income housing project into a Training Farm and
Community
Gardens
that will yield new farmers and fresh produce for the surrounding community
and for
Kansas City
.
The new Farm Business Development is a 3-5 year program that provides
extensive training, development support, and start-up funding to help
limited-resource people become urban farmers. The program seeks to
address the barriers that may prevent a limited resource person from
becoming a food producer and small business owner by offering training,
subsidized start-up costs, and individualized skill development support.
Once
a would-be farmer has qualified for the program (by participating in a
series of workshops and production activities), they sign a letter of
agreement that gives them access to land, water, farming equipment and
infrastructure, start-up supplies, and support in growing and selling
produce at local farmers' markets. Their first year expenses are
entirely covered by KCCUA and they begin a program of saving 20% of sales
for their second year costs.
In
the succeeding years, the farmer sets aside a higher percentage of sales as
their production skills develop and their customer base grows, and the
program's subsidy of their business expenses decreases. Within
three-five years, the farmer will graduate from the program and, with
KCCUA's help, be resettled on an Affiliate Farm in the Oak Grove or
Walnut Boulevard
Neighborhoods, or on another site.
The program began as a partnership with Catholic Charities of Northeast
Kansas funded by the Department of Health and Human Services Refugee
Agricultural Partnership Program. The New Roots for Refugees program
specifically helps refugee women use their agricultural skills to start farm
businesses here in
Kansas City
. It is now expanding to include other limited resource people from
the community.
The
Training Farm also has 3/4 of an acre of land for community garden plots for
Juniper
Gardens
residents, refugees, and others from the nearby
community. Community gardeners get land, water, and start-up gardening
supplies (seeds, soil amendments, and access to tools), as well as support
in learning how to garden. The gardeners will also receive support if
they decide they are interested in selling their excess produce; many urban
farmers began as home gardeners and KCCUA wants to create that opportunity
for these gardeners as well.
Other activities centered at the Training Farm include:
- A
Monday afternoon Juniper Gardens' Farmers Market in the Third Street
Church of God parking lot at the corner of N. 3rd Street and Richmond
Avenue;
- Walking
Paths for residents to promote healthy exercise and a fun way to see
what is growing in the gardens (to be developed in 2009-2010);
- A
Play Area for children (to be developed in partnership with the KCK
Housing Authority and the Juniper Gardens Residents' Council); and
- Related
health and nutritional programming to be offered by K-State Research and
Extension and other neighborhood agencies.
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