Phoenix fellowship cultivating the next generation of urban farmers
“It’s giving our next generation the opportunity to learn about growing food again, about the land, about being sustainable,” Pettis said.
By Hope O’Brien
Cronkite News
Apr 12, 2022
Excerpt:
The 19-acre garden plot is tucked between the homes of south Phoenix and overlooked by South Mountain. On a recent Friday, Angelica Willis-Smith harvested garlic and carrots to sell at the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market.
Willis-Smith, who’s known as “Jelly” in the garden, is one of nine fellows in the Phoenix Office of Environmental Programs’ Urban Agriculture Fellowship Program, which places Phoenix residents ages 18 to 24 with urban farms to train them.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, urban agriculture includes community gardens, warehouse and other farming innovations that are cultivated, processed and distributed in “urban and suburban settings.”
Willis-Smith will spend up to 20 hours a week for 50 weeks at Project Roots, where she’ll learn to plant, harvest and cultivate the city’s urban cropland. The nonprofit Project Roots aims to educate and feed the community through urban agriculture.
The fellowship program, funded by the American Rescue Plan, was created to address challenges brought to light through interviews with 22 urban farmers in Phoenix during the COVID-19 pandemic, the city’s Joseph Rossell said.
