The
Sweet Potato Project was created to tackle the root causes that tendered the
explosion we’re witnessing in the City of Ferguson today.
Almost
50 years ago, with the passage of much-needed civil rights legislation, African
Americans started leaving designated areas of St. Louis City where they had been legally
contained since the early 1900s. Working-class
black families and entrepreneurs sought new opportunities in desegregated neighborhoods
and companies. Of course, this “black flight” ignited “white flight” which in
turn left black areas throughout the region void of opportunities and dominated by poverty, unemployment, crime and disproportionate incarceration.
Economic power, however, remained in the hands of whites, especially in St. Louis County.
Other than what they witness on the nightly news or the Internet, many have no
connection, no understanding or dealings with black people-particularly young
black boys. Corporate, civic, education and government institutions, like police departments, remain quasi-segregated and controlled and dominated by whites.
As the region grows with new developments, black neighborhoods still suffer
from benign neglect. In a real sense, blacks are strangers in their own deprived
neighborhoods. There is no respectful, racial collusion aimed at helping them create
their own economically-vibrant communities.
For
the past three years, I have served as the director of the Sweet Potato Project
(SPP). The 60 or so youth we've recruited since 2012, have been told that they are “urban pioneers” who will show the region that we can save communities
through a food-based movement. We recruit teens (ages 16-to-20) from some of
the city’s poorest zip codes. They are paid during the summer to plant sweet
potatoes on vacant lots. After nine weeks of training in marketing, product
development, social media and more, they’re charged with turning their yield
into products.
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| SPP partner garden in the 3300 block of Goodfellow |
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| SPP plot at Missouri Botanical Garden |
Summer sessions have ended. Right now, as usual, we’re focusing on raising funds to regroup
so our students can tend our gardens, prepare for harvest, develop more food-based products,
gain more sales training and get ready to sell their products.
Since
the mid-August police shooting and ensuing protests, there have been dozens of “what’s
next” public discussions. During these gatherings, they ask; “what
can we do to avoid another Ferguson? What’s our first priority; policing the
police, policy change, political overhaul or voter registration?"
These
are indeed priorities but, I contend, that what we’re doing with our project on
a micro-level, should be our very first collective, large-scale priority.
It’s
a cliche but, “power only concedes to power.” Well, money is power. Sadly, politics and
policy are shaped by the power of money. President Obama had to raise more than
a billion dollars to be reelected; Mayor Francis Slay won another
term largely due to his million dollar war chest. Since the slave era, our region has been in the control of a small, tight-knit group of rich and powerful
white men who don’t necessarily see the value of investing in “people power.”
SPP’s
goal is to flip that script. We secure vacant lots and teach young people how to grow food. We turn our produce into food-based products. After
harvesting, we produce and sell our product-sweet potato cookies. Throughout
the fall, winter and spring our students earn commissions on the products they
sell.
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| SPP students studing economic dynamic of their neighborhoods |
The Sweet Potato Project youth get it. They are invested in real, powerful community change. They
understand that their neighborhoods, their peers and siblings will be trapped
in poverty and wrapped in all its life-threatening tentacles unless they do something.
What
if we dreamed bigger? What if we dreamed together?
According
to a report by the Show Me Institute, there are
8,000 vacant lots in the city of St. Louis. What if “regular people” owned some
of those lots? What if this collective grew and harvested food together? What
if they were able to sell their yield to a community-owned food packaging and manufacturing
plant in North St. Louis?
What if major grocers, restaurants, schools and other
city and state agencies committed to “buying locally-grown food” from the collective instead of depending
on corporations for food that’s transported some 1,800 miles away? What
if a national brand of food products out of North St. Louis was created
and loyal consumers (locally, regionally and nationally) understood that their
dollars were supplementing viable, self-sustainable neighborhoods? How many
jobs and small businesses can we create in neglected conclaves based on this local
food movement and the work of a diverse group of vested stakeholders?
This isn't pie-in-the-sky rhetoric either. Although most St. Louis leaders are stuck in the “one-powerful-idea” led by “one-powerful-developer” lane, food-based,
community cooperatives are sweeping the country. Just look at Cleveland’s “Evergreen Cooperatives,” Brooklyn's Hattie Cartham Community Gardens, “Black Community Food Security Network” or Milwaukee’s
“Growing Power, Inc.” These are just a few urban agricultural efforts aimed at
creating sustainable, community food systems in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
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| St. Louis University's Fresh Gatherings Garden |
The St. Louis region may not have the vision but has the resources. Community organizations like Better Family Life, the Greater Ville Collaborative, Beloved Streets, Beyond Housing, Sweet Sensations and others have tapped into the people power in our region. SPP has its sights on land along Martin Luther King Blvd and we've developed strategic partnerships with the likes of St. Louis University, the Creative Exchange Laboratory (CEL) and Lincoln University's Urban Impact Center. We have major sponsors like World Wide Technology and Aetna Insurance Company committed to helping us seed our vision in the Greater Ville area. I've even been contacted by a Ferguson official who has invited us to look at land in the city that may be suitable for urban farming. With the help of SLU's Department of Nutrition and Dietetics under the leadership of Chef Steve Jenkins, we can now develop high-quality, nutritional food products We're hoping to be adopted by a major food distributor in the region, to guide us through the food packaging and distribution processes.
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| Vision of a SPP community garden |
We're fortunate to have designed a program that not only engages
disadvantaged teens but cuts through stale, racial and economic barriers. We've been blessed with a diverse group of individuals, and leaders of political, educational and corporate institutions who've come aboard because our agenda is non-threatening and inclusive. It just makes
good ole common sense and empowers anyone and everyone who can bring their unique skills
to the table. Along the way, they have the opportunity to go beyond stereotypes.
They meet with and engage urban youth, they learn about their experiences, challenges and dreams; they
see black communities through new lenses and become vested stakeholders in powerful, regional change.
Our region simply has to break out of the segregated bubble we've endured for too long. I
know it sounds strange, but the police shooting of a teen, the protests, the militarized police response and, yes, even the "looting," has ripped the scab off a centuries-old, festering
sore in St. Louis. The eyes of the world are upon us and we have a valuable,
once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to really lead; to turn tragedy into triumph.
Admittedly, I am a naive optimist.
But I remain convinced that our program is on the right track to stemming other percolating explosions
in our region. Maybe this time St. Louis can go beyond stereotyping, beyond indictments
and beyond empty, emotional rhetoric. Maybe this time we can work our way toward developing
a model that recognizes, nurtures and prepares youth to “be the change” we so
desperately need. With your help, with your dedicated engagement and support, maybe
this time we can create a template that empowers disadvantaged youth, adults
and broken communities the world over.
Maybe, this time, St. Louis can confidently
declare “No More Fergusons!”
LINKS:
The Sweet Potato Project
(click image below):
Mission video
(click image below):
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