November 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 10
– Amyrose Foll, Urban Agricuture Collective Program Director
Read more.October 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 9
October was a BIG month! There was farm to school. Community Climate Collaborative (C3) honored Cultivate with an award. The UAC team harvested sweet SO MANY potatoes. CSG presented at a state conference. We welcomed three new people to our staff.
Farm to School 2022, Special Edition
Over the past few years, Cultivate has been collaborating with VDOE F2S by sharing models of our Harvest of the Month work, presenting at Virginia Farm to School conferences, and participating in proposal reviews. This year, however, as the state began to roll out their final version of the VA F2S Toolkit, we were asked to edit our profile; requested edits included taking out all of our references to race and equity. Why this shift to exclude direct recognition of the role of race and equity in farm-to-school work? Well, on the first day of his administration, Virginia’s new Governor Glenn Youngkin signed Executive Order Number One addressing so-called Divisive Concepts.
Read more.
September 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 7
Although we were sad to have to cancel our Harvest Festival at Buford Middle School, we were glad to still celebrate with our families and donate prepared food to our friends at The Haven. One of the reasons we were eager to see everyone, was because of the scheduled reconfiguration at Buford—as of right now, construction will begin next year. We are committed to coming together again before the site at Buford—original City Schoolyard Garden—is relocated. Stay tuned for a reschedule date in spring 2023.
Summer 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 6
It’s been a busy busy summer! Our latest cohort of food justice interns have spent 6 weeks engaging in daily garden care, building relationships, engaging in conversations about healthy school meals, having food justice conversations, and attending community events. Meanwhile, the UAC team has already hosted 39 markets across the city–distributing 4,000 lbs of fresh, garden produce to community members. Not to mention all of the community events our team has been attending!
June 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 5
Another academic year has come to an end, but it’s just the beginning of a busy summer for Cultivate. With the newest youth food justices interns cooking up veggies straight from the garden, many different groups volunteering in the school gardens and farm plots, and Community Market Days in full swing—June is anything but a vacation!
April & May 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 4
We’ve been busy at Cultivate this spring! At the end of April we practiced Healing in the Garden with The Women’s Initiative, watched the Building Trades students complete raised beds at the CATEC farm plot, installed the Charlottesville Twelve sundial at Clark Elementary, hosted a BINGO fundraiser, and celebrated the volunteers, partners, & sponsors that support our work. That was all in one week.
March 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 3
March came in like a lamb with sunny skies heralding spring weather, but it went out like a lion with a tornado warning and wild winds. That’s not the only weather folklore The Farmers’ Almanac highlights related to the third month of the year. “So many mists in March you see, so many frosts in May will be” and “As it rains in March, so it rains in June,” will have us waiting for another few months to find out how the weather affects our 2022 harvests.
February 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 2
Cultivate is over-the-moon thrilled to be a new CORE MEMBER of HEAL Food Alliance! City Schoolyard Garden, Food Justice Network, and Urban Agriculture Collective came together to form Cultivate Charlottesville with a mission of integrating the approach each of those programs had to building a healthy and just food system. HEAL Food Alliance shares that vision saying, “No single individual, organization, or sector can transform systems in isolation. We believe that true transformation requires diverse skills, roles, and resources— and, it requires organizing together for real change.” Cultivate is proud to be one of the HEAL member organizations “building collective power to transform our food and farm systems.”
January 2022, Vol. 3 Iss. 1
It’s a new year! We’re certainly excited to welcome new Cultivate team member Shamera Banks as Farm to School Coordinator with our City Schoolyard Garden program. We’re also pretty fired up about two urban farm spaces that will see us planting and harvesting again in 2022. This will be our first full season at Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC), where we have already laid roots of collaboration with the students and faculty. In addition, we will be working the land again on West Street (behind the Region Ten building) that has been stewarded by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) New Roots farmers for the last number of years.
October 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 9
If you’re anything like me, you start thinking of sweet potato pie the moment your Halloween costume comes off each year! Well, our coworkers on the UAC team and our new friends at CATEC have got us beat this year—they didn’t wait for Thanksgiving to break out the goodies. UAC planted these humongous “sweet taters” as Farmer Rich calls them, long ago in anticipation of Community Market Days. Community members who live in any public or subsidized housing neighborhood in the city can find the UAC team at the weekly location (rotating between Friendship Court, Midway Manor, Crescent Halls, Westhaven, South 1st Street, and CATEC) with pounds of fresh produce. Neighbors can pick out the produce they need for the week ahead at no cost. So, many of our neighbors have already the extreme pleasure of tasting these taters.
October 2021, Cultivate Co-Directors
The Cultivate Charlottesville Board is excited about the new Co-Executive Director leadership structure that was implemented this spring. As we continue to move forward with our organizational mission and what we aspire to per our Uprooting Racism Action Plan (developed after staff and board training from SoulFire Farm) the tenets of Decision-Making, Power and Authority were highlighted, and actionable steps were taken to remain true to this mission.
September 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 8
Happy autumn food justice friends!
Please mark your attendance for the bi-monthly Cultivate Charlottesville Food Justice Network large group meeting! Our next gathering is being moved to October 20 from 10:30am-12:30pm on Zoom. We will be preparing for our Food Equity Initiative presentation to City Council coming up November 1st and are excited for your to engage and advocate!
August 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 7
School is back! Whether you are a student, parent, teacher, or neighbor. If you’re associated with Charlottesville City Schools, UVA, any of the private schools, or Albemarle County Schools. SCHOOL IS BACK! While we are excited for the return of in-person learning, we also acknowledge that the ferocity of COVID-19 is back as well. And we are wishing all school folks a safe and healthy beginning of the new academic year!
Cultivate will mirror the COVID-19 policy adopted by local education institutions and supported by the Blue Ridge Health District regarding vaccinations, testing, masks, and social distancing. We love working alongside so many of you and are committed to healthy and safe interactions with students, volunteers, colleagues, and community members.
July 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 6
It’s been hot. Extremely hot. The CSG garden coordinators & food justice interns have experienced it the school gardens, and the UAC farm team has felt it at 6th Street and the new CATEC location. FJN advocates & residents who live in public and subsidized housing know all too well that the heat of summer, which is increasing at an alarming rate due to climate change, brings with it the dangerous heat island effect.
As much as our team plans to take advantage of the cooler temperatures of early morning and late evening for garden work, people who live in neighborhoods without green space and tree canopy are not able to escape increased energy consumption, elevated emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases, compromised human health & comfort, and impaired water quality.
April & May 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 4
Is anyone else feeling busy? Are we *checks notes* already approaching the half-way point of 2021? After two months of non-stop action, we’re catching our breath and catching you up on what we’ve been doing.
April and May were marked by many Cultivate events. We spread our thanks to our volunteers and partners at the virtual ROOT! celebration, spread information about the ways we work with the City to build a healthy and just food system at our ZOOM roundtable, and spread plants across the town through another successful annual seedling giveaway and sale.
Catch up with us here!
March 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 3
Leading up to our launch as Cultivate Charlottesville almost a year ago, we picked the words GROW | SHARE | ADVOCATE as shorthand for our mission work toward a healthy and just food system in our city. On the surface, the word “share” represents our urban agriculture work of sharing food grown in and for community. But we also recognize the integrated work of each of our programs—City Schoolyard Garden, Urban Agriculture Collective, and Food Justice Network—for a common goal, and sharing can be seen as central to all of our work.
March 2021, Vol. 2 Iss. 1
In January & February Food Justice Network advocates, youth food justice interns, parents and nonprofit leaders showed up to express their support for the Food Equity Initiative Policy Platform. Congratulations! We heard emphasis on: Food as a human right, a desire for fresher school meals, a challenge to center food equity in school nutrition departments and take away the burden of functioning like a business, support for the intersection of food equity and affordable housing, an interest in a cooperative grocery owned by community members of color and more!
At this month’s large group Food Justice Network meeting we will be digging into each of the policy platform areas and exploring ways to build power and energy around action. Join us!
February 2021, Vol. 1 Iss. 9
Working together to cultivate a healthy and just food system requires complex, integrated efforts and partners with multiple forms of activism. During the Uprooting Racism training with SoulFire Farm this past fall, Leah Penniman shared their butterfly model that articulates four powerful strategies for transformation: Resist, Build, Heal, Reform. Each strategy has played a part in the long history of action toward liberation. At Cultivate, we also aim to engage across strategies in our programs, initiatives, values, and action. Is it possible, however, to Resist an institution with whom you are partnering to Reform? To take time to Heal the harm of racism while working diligently to Build new systems?
January 2021, Vol. 1 Iss. 8
This new year feels a lot like last year. There are some themes we would have liked to leave behind in 2020—the coronavirus pandemic, policing of Black people, and political turmoil. Food insecurity in our city is also an issue we wish could have ended last year, but we are reenergized to continue to GROW, SHARE, and ADVOCATE for a healthy and just food system for all.
January brings the opportunity to advocate for increased funding of #healthyschoolmeals. The food justice interns, community advocates, and Cultivate staff presented their and requests during the School Board/City Council joint budget meeting about the importance of infrastructure changes. With additional monies allocated toward school meals, schools can upgrade resources, continue to professionalize positions within the Nutrition Department, and provide healthy meals for all students.
December 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 8
As we say goodbye to 2020, we also say thank you to all of the people who have worked together to build food justice over the past twelve months. While our focus on a healthy and just food system in Charlottesville remains steady, the initiatives and community engagement pivoted to address immediate needs around food security during the COVID-19 crisis. The coronavirus pandemic shifted our course, but we were still able to take a huge step on the journey to more fully integrate our core programs—City Schoolyard Garden, Urban Agriculture Collective, and Food Justice Network—when Cultivate Charlottesville officially launched in the spring. That was our first foray into the world of Instagram Live and ZOOM webinar, and we all adapted to these new ways to engage together and work for equity.
Looking toward the new year, we will continue to host students in the gardens in a safe manner, work to find and develop new land for urban agriculture, and collaborate with organizations and City departments to address the inequities in our current food system.We wish you and your loved ones a joyous turn to the new year and continued health and community!
November 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 7
One of the first things we learn when studying the environment is that healthy ecosystems are rich in biodiversity, the amount of variety of life on Earth. Biodiversity is the number of different species of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are thriving in an ecosystem. (NASA, Exploring the Environment, Global Climate Change) But, it is more than simply the number of species in an ecosystem that make it healthier and more resilient—what enhances ongoing, vibrancy, and resilience in an ecosystem are the connections and relationships between the species. This also rings true with our organizational and community efforts for change. Food Justice Network’s partnership with City Council for the Food Equity Initiative was built on the idea that we are more effective when we work together with multiple strategies, a diversity of partners, and intersecting issues.
October 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 6
October isn’t in the middle of the calendar year, but it feels as though we’re right in between things. It’s not the end of the summer/beginning of the school year anymore, and yet it’s not quite the holiday season either. Even though we still have one month until Thanksgiving and two until the December holidays, October offers much to celebrate. From Indigenous Peoples’ Day to Farm-to-School Week to the Urban Agriculture Collective Garden Gathering, the Cultivate community has been hard at work sharing history; honoring the stewards of our land; strengthening the bond between fresh, local produce and our school meals; and thanking everyone who has made our Community Market Days successful in the middle of a pandemic.
September 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 5
Fall might be the best season (the mosquitos have been doing their best to keep summer out of the number one spot) to experience this place.
In Charlottesville and the surrounding counties, we are in the unique position to live in this sweet spot at the base of the mountains. From hikes and camping to farms and orchards to rivers and trees, this land provides endless opportunities to bask in the abundance all around us. Come autumn, when the leaves display their most diverse and fiery hues, we’ve delighted in those neon green buds and first warm breezes of spring and wiped the sweat away as we’ve harvested and enjoy the summer bounty. Now fall bestows cooler days upon us that will take us into possible snowfall and definite bowls of piping hot soup. This is quite a place to live. Even though some of us were born and raised in these foothills, we are not the first to cultivate and benefit from this land; the people of the Monacan Nation hiked these woods, drank from these rivers, cultivated these fields, and basked in this bounty long before us. Their descendants (a mere 2,000 currently call Virginia home) have endured hundreds of years of colonialist and racist practices to survive and live here today.
Read our entire Indigenous Acknowledgement by reading this month’s newsletter and join us in sharing the stories and voices of the original stewards of this land.
August 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 4
Not Goodbye – Just see you later. As August comes to an end, two core initiatives investing in youth leadership and community health are moving into the next phase of work. The Food Justice Interns under the tutelage of Miss Shannon and a team of Cultivate staff members have completed their summer session and are—along with their classmates all over the city—preparing for the virtual beginning of the school year. This year, the Youth Intern team will continue a robust schedule during the academic year. Food Justice Network’s collaboration with Frontline Foods and multiple partners to organize a distribution initiative that helped businesses owned by people of color to survive while providing meals to folks who needed emergency food access is shifting gears as well. At the same time, the summer show still goes on! Gardens at the schools and in the community are being tended while connections with everyone from the City Schools to the University to our two major health systems to local donors are still being cultivated each and every day.
July 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 3
On the Rise. It’s hot out here. And the show goes on. Miss Mackenzie and Mr. Davis share stories from school gardens that will make you want to eat a Mexican sour gherkin (that’s a real thing) and stop to smell the flowers. In collaboration with many other organizations, Food Justice Network continues to provide emergency food access and COVID-19 to support to those who test positive in our community. At the same time, FJN leaders remind us of the importance of advocacy in times of crisis as well as when things seem to be less urgent. Urban Agriculture Collective had a trial volunteer day this month, which went well and opened the door for more socially distanced gardening opportunities. Yolonda Adams and Sarah Wayne were guests on To Your Health on 97.9’s radio show—be sure to take a listen. Cville Weekly’s Serving Up Relief is going strong, and you still have plenty of time to bid on awesome prizes. The Cultivate Social Justice Book Club shares some of the titles that have been the topic of great discussion as spring turned into summer. Lifeview Marketing created a wonderful video to help spread the word about the Cultivate Charlottesville mission, be sure to share it with your friends. As always, catch a glimpse of the fruits of our labor (as well as the CHS cat Spike).
July 2020, FJN Blast Vol. 1 Iss. 1
Advocate for Black & Brown Lives In Our Food System During COVID-19. In this issue of the Food Justice Network newsletter, the Network asks that you join in taking action against Tyson Foods. Read more about our demands and why it is so important that we stand in solidarity with food service workers across the nation. Also in this issue, updates on our text messaging service, a Member Spotlight and information about our July 22nd Large Group Meeting.
June 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 2
June was a month marked by continued outrage and protest around the killings of Black people in America. Read our statement regarding Black lives. Much has happened in our offices in the last month including Elza Thomas joining our FJN staff—find out her favorite food and why she’s excited to work at Cultivate. We’re over-the-moon excited that the Summer Food Justice Interns have started! Revolutionary food and music recommendations abound just like the fresh produce from our UAC gardens—check out what’s good.
Everyone has been hard at work to support the wraparound COVID-19 resources being provided by FJN and many other organizations in the community. If you don’t take a peek at this newsletter, you’ll miss a couple of our youngest gardeners—the sons of one of our board and one of our staff members. Be sure to read Community Climate Collaborative’s interview of Cultivate ED Jeanette Abi-Nader. Cville Weekly and a group of generous donors are coming together to host Serving Up Relief, a fundraiser that will benefit the Food Equity Fund.
May 2020, Vol. 1 Iss. 1
We’re official!!! Even though COVID-19 has thrown a couple of obstacles in the way, Cultivate Charlottesville has launched! Find out more about what it means to have City Schoolyard Garden, Urban Agriculture Collective, and Food Justice Network integrated working to build a healthy and just food system.
Buford Middle School students work to plant and grow almost 10,000 seedlings each year. With a little help from staff, we were able to finish what the students started and donate and sell plants to hundreds of community members. UAC Market Days begin in June, and staffers are adapting the model to ensure people still have weekly access to fresh produce through the summer and into the fall. COVID-19, and the ensuing quarantine, has made food accessibility more difficult for many people who were already battling this issue. FJN has led the efforts through collaboration with the City and many partners to provide emergency food efforts.
Each year we take time to thank and recognize our volunteers and partners. This year, we hosted our annual ROOT! celebration via ZOOM and were joined by so many of our favorite people. Cultivate partnered with Charlottesville Tomorrow to publish op-eds written by two of our staff members and articles featuring our colleagues written by Cville Tomorrow journalists. Find those articles and more on our PRESS PAGE.
Read more!
Three Programs Come Together as One.
City Schoolyard Garden connects youth to where their food is grown, provides experiential learning, and invests in youth leaders. Urban Agriculture Collective continues a long standing effort to build bridges across differences through growing on public land and sharing at Community Market Days. Food Justice Network advocates for food equity. Together we are CULTIVATE CHARLOTTESVILLE, an integrated approach to to building a healthy and just food system personally, in community, and across systems and structures.
Katrina Beitz joined Cultivate in 2022, returning to Charlottesville after a few years in Texas. Before entering the non-profit world, Katrina spent several years working on small-scale, sustainable farms as well as managing the educational farm at the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Staunton. She strives to combine her love of growing with her professional skills to support the local food justice movement.
Sarah Wayne is a lover of all things related to food. She was born and raised in Greensboro, NC and then moved to Burlington VT to study Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Vermont. During her time in Vermont, Sarah worked on various farms in the area to learn more about the local food community and farming practices. As a Youth Engagement & Garden Coordinator, she strives to nurture curiosity, build relationships, and foster a connection between children and nature through exploration, experiences, and play. Since moving to Charlottesville in 2016, Sarah has enjoyed biking, hiking, and canoeing through the many beautiful areas surrounding Charlottesville
Harvest of the Month program is a unique partnership designed to build capacity, health and food security by increasing preference and exposure to fresh, healthy, local foods. Through an innovative and comprehensive program, youth, families, schools and community partners are introduced to a locally available crop each month. A backpack flyer with recipes, growing and nutritional information and a related library book goes home with each student in English, Spanish and Dari (switched from Arabic in 2021). Check out our flyer archive!
UAC continues 16 years of grassroots work growing in public and subsidized housing neighborhoods, amplifying the contributions and decisions of Charlottesville residents faced with food insecurity. This grassroots urban farm grew out of the 2007 Quality Community Council’s (QCC) Farm Initiative, led by Karen Waters with support from Jenifer Minor and Tami Wright. The catalyst for the creation of the farm was to work in partnership with community residents at public and subsidized housing locations. The goal was to work to build bridges between Charlottesville neighborhoods where people from across the socio-economic spectrum could grow good food and healthier communities together.
At its peak, UAC managed four urban farm sites and produced over 17,000 pounds of food in a single year. Because of necessary housing redevelopment, UAC downsized in 2019 from approximately 1 acre of land to its current size of 22,000 sqft, or about half an acre. Our three farm sites can be found at the corner of 6th Street and Monticello Avenue, the corner of West Street and 9th Street, and behind CATEC, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center. We are working with planners and community members to find innovative solutions to grow food and meet food security needs in our community.
In partnership with community volunteers and community members, Cultivate Charlottesville builds food equity by growing and sharing fresh, organic produce with Charlottesville residents with limited financial resources.
Community Market Days are also a great place to reconnect with friends and neighbors, pick up some recipes, or watch a cooking demonstration.
Onawa Dufresne-Barger is a South Louisiana native. Onawa‘s professional background is in management, strategic planning, and education. Onawa is a fluent French speaker and a keen gardener. Her Indigenous heritage (United Houma Nation) has influenced her passion for sustainable food systems, food sovereignty, and food justice. When she is not working or gardening, Onawa enjoys spending time with her family.
Contact: onawa@cultivatecharlottesville.org
Christopher D. Sims, grounded in the wisdom and knowledge of the Ancestors, is a community-oriented organizer, activist, writer, and public speaker. Encouraged by events such as the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement, and Black Liberation Theology, he incorporates creativity, community, and empowerment into his work. Christopher has been all over the country as an activist and witness during some this country’s biggest marches and protests, including Black August after Mike Brown was murdered by a cop in Ferguson, MO, the march in New York City after Eric Garner was strangled by a cop in New York City, and the march that took place in Charlottesville protesting the actions of the Unite the Right rally.
He is a fellow of the Intercultural Leadership Institute and a published author who writes on issues such as food inequity, racism, sexism, environmental racism and injustice, and other related injustice and inequity issues.
Email: christopher@cultivatecharlottesville.org
Emma Brodeur arrived in Charlottesville as a UVA undergraduate student in 2010. Having taught and volunteered in Charlottesville City Schools, she embraces her position as Youth Engagement and Garden Coordinator. She strives to create inviting, immersive spaces that fuel curiosity for all students.
Email: emma@cultivatecharlottesville.org
Amyrose Foll is the founder of Virginia Free Farm, Virginia Home Grown’s 2022 featured garden expert, a published author, and the former Director of Farmer Training for the Mid-Atlantic. She works to create community-driven food systems based on collectivism and a respect for nature. Amyrose‘s background in healthcare and her indigenous heritage (Penobscot/Abenaki) steer her approach to advocating for food sovereignty, security, and preservation of indigenous food culture.
Aleen Carey was born in Chicago, raised in Lancaster, PA, and moved to Charlottesville with her family while in high school. She then became a high school Spanish teacher and shared her love of the language and culture with hundreds of students over a decade. When she left the classroom, Aleen joined the CSG Board as a way to stay involved in education. After serving on the board for six years, she joined the staff in January 2020. Aleen caught the philanthropy bug while completing CNE’s Board Academy program and has spent the last 5 years honing her skills for relationship building, storytelling, and fundraising. Although she is not the most experienced gardener in this group, she is always eager and enthusiastic to learn about all things agriculture as well as the intersection of Charlottesville history and food access.
Selena Cozart, Ph.D., has over 20 years’ experience in facilitating dialogue and community engagement in the service of equity and justice. Selena is well-versed in the full range of skills and expertise required to affect community change through dialogue and action. We are grateful to have her support with coalition building, network coordination, building our capacity for racial equity, and strengthening organizational goals and values for the Food Justice Network and Cultivate Charlottesville as a whole. Some of her many other recent key experiences include: the Truth Commission Planning Group of Charlottesville and Surrounding Counties; Virginia Agricultural Leaders Obtaining Results; Transforming Community Spaces with IEN; Montpelier Descendants Community Memorialization Workshop; The Front Porch; and the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation Project Management Team.
Michael James is a graduate of the University of Central Arkansas. His love for agriculture was instilled early, having grown up with a large backyard garden, but it was working at Heifer International’s Ranch that peaked his interest. Heifer Ranch is located in Perryville, Arkansas. While there, Michael worked in a large market garden that supplied CSA baskets to over 300 members. He was also able to practice animal husbandry with a variety of animals including chickens, sheep, cows and goats. His time there got Michael excited and motivated to improve the food system in America. Recently, as a Tricycle Fellow, Michael finished a USDA certified Urban Agriculture program in Richmond. He is proud to have completed this fellowship and learned a great deal about some of the particular obstacles cities face in regard to accessible, healthy food. This was an incredibly informative and enriching program for Michael. Michael also holds a degree in English and has worked as an ESL teacher for three years.
Jordan Johnson officially came on board as the Garden Team Manager and Health Advocate Coordinator in May 2017. He was born and raised in Rochester, NY and moved to Charlottesville in April 2017. Jordan has always been involved with planting and growing. Even on their tiny city lot growing up, his mother found a way to grow pumpkins, sunflowers, roses, and herbs. Jordan earned his masters degree in Public Administration from SUNY The College at Brockport, where the majority of his work focused on engaging the community and schools, emphasizing garden-based learning. Before leaving upstate New York, Jordan led a project to create a garden program at a day rehabilitation program for individuals with developmental disabilities.
Jenifer Minor joined the UACC team in 2015 as a Farm Apprentice. She helps run all aspects of the Food Production & Distribution program, from starting seeds to harvesting for market day. A resident of Friendship Court, Jenifer keeps a watchful eye on the gardens in her backyard and encourages her neighbors to get involved.
Richard Morris joined Cultivate Charlottesville in June of 2018 as Urban Agriculture Collective Program Director. In 2021 he also became our Farm & Foodroots Co-Executive Director. He grew up in the desert valley of Phoenix, Arizona and began an apprenticeship in the family garden sometime between learning to walk and ride a bike. He earned a degree in graphic design from Arizona State University and went on to become an instructor of design at the National Education Center. For over two decades, Richard has worked across the healthcare, education, aerospace, and financial industries as a graphic and software designer/developer and team manager. In that time, he has always maintained a garden of one sort or another. In 2005, he completed a Summer internship on the Flack Family Farm in Vermont. More recently, he comes to CSG from a ten-year stint at Polyface Farm. He has done volunteer work with local Charlottesville food equity organizations and is the author of “A Life Unburdened: Getting Over Weight and Getting On With My Life”. Currently, Richard lives on a few green acres with his family where he practices small-scale food production on a home foodstead.
Email: richard@cultivatecharlottesville.org
You can read more about the intention behind the Co-Executive Director model here.
Leon Nunez is our beloved Garden Associate. As a Charlottesville native, Leon attended the city schools and found themselves in the Buford garden while attending middle school quite often. Leon became one of the first students to participate in the Garden Aid program the school had to offer and while at Buford, Leon developed a deeper appreciation for the environment and put their heart into maintaining the garden space while being a team player for their peers. Although they moved to the county during their high school career to attend Monticello High School, Leon has been loyal to the organization and became a youth intern for 2 (3?) years participating in various projects with other interns until officially taking the Garden Associate position. Although new to the title, they are very much familiar with how the organization works and excited to help support the organization and staff however they can. Leon is currently attending PVCC while taking an interest in biology and often likes to share a random fact or idea unprompted.
Email: leon@cultivatecharlottesville.org or volunteer@cultivatecharlottesville.org
Shamera Banks was born and raised in Charlottesville where she has raised her four children. She has spent the last four years as a Nutrition Manager for Charlottesville City Schools. As Farm-to-School Coordinator she is working to connect schools and farms. Shamera is hard working and dedicated to serving and helping the community.
Quentia Taylor is a Charlottesville native and graduate of VCU. Before joining the Cultivate team in July 2022, she spent six years as a compliance associate at BIO-CAT. Quentia has been passionate about community work for many years and has volunteered with many different organizations to meets the needs of Charlottesville residents. When she is not working, Quentia loves to spend time with her family & friends, travel to see new places, and bond with her dog Lola.
Fun Fact: We water our garden with runoff water from the school’s roof into a 1000 gallon water cistern
More Info: The garden at Burnley-Moran Elementary school is always a site to see! It is a large space that has 8 vegetable beds in the front portion separated by an octagonal-shaped garden classroom that leads to the back of the garden, which is home to a native plant area, an herb spiral, 5 raised beds, and the fairy garden. The garden also hosts a 3 part compost system, a bat house, 1 peach and 3 apple trees, a living sound barrier to block the noise from the highway, and a butterfly garden path leading to a bridge. Student design takes center stage at Burnley-Moran, as all of the spaces, from the chalkboard to the sound barrier, were designed by students.
Fun Fact: The CHS Urban Farming class focuses on small-scale farming that provides extra produce for UAC’s Community Market Days
More info: In 2013, a small group of students, staff and community volunteers began a slow and steady effort to clear the six-foot-tall weeds and that had taken over the existing small CHS garden. Since that time, a small farm has slowly started taking over the field behind the school and has brought us to a point where we are now using about half an acre of land consisting of over 3400 square feet of organic growing beds, a small fruit orchard, outdoor classroom, wildflower garden, hoop house, mobile chicken coop, post-harvest production area, shed and refrigerated trailer. The garden is largely managed by the Garden to Market and Urban Farming classes which walk students through the process of starting plants from seeds all the way through harvest. The Urban Farming class is taught through an entrepreneurial lens and students learn important business and marketing skills in addition to organic gardening skills. In the summer, CSG’s Food Justice Interns care for the garden and take the harvest to share with residents of local public housing communities in Charlottesville through coordination with the Urban Agriculture Collective. The garden is available to all teachers to use with their classes during the school day, either for instructional purposes involving food or environmental topics or simply providing a peaceful place to work outside. Students are also able to join an after school garden crew which focuses on food production and raising awareness around food justice issues.
Fun Fact: We work hard at maintaining our large pollinator garden
More info: At Clark Elementary, students, parents, teachers, and volunteers have created twelve raised vegetable garden beds on the site of a former playground area at the front of the school. Clark has a native pollinator garden next to the vegetable garden where students can learn about the importance of pollinators and how to create a pollinator habitat in an urban setting. Mary Craig, the Clark librarian, hosts monthly library garden lessons, where students read a book related to the Harvest of the Month fruit or vegetable and participate in hands-on garden activities. Clark students have been experimenting with composting, vermi-composting, planting native and heirloom plant species, and starting seeds indoors under grow lights.
Fun Fact: Our garden has a mud kitchen and science center for Johnson students to explore.
More info: At the Johnson Garden there is a sign that says, “Respect Your Garden.” The importance of “respect,” for and in the Garden is a constantly reinforced theme. Additionally, creating a sense of ownership and responsibility is key to the children understanding the communal aspect of our Garden. The children take part in each and every aspect of the gardening process, from turning the beds and preparing them, to sowing seeds to harvesting vegetables and fruit and preparing them to eat. We concentrate on individual exploration and discovery at Johnson. Additionally, every visit to the garden children have the opportunity to practice measuring using tape measures and our produce scale. Magnifying glasses are available to investigate and discover the multitudes of critters and budding life on every visit. Garden harvests have been incorporated into school cooking lessons. We have classrooms actively vermicomposting, (worm composting). Most uniquely, the Johnson Garden has a Sensory and Exploration wheelchair accessible bed. The bed is 32” tall which allows all students an up close sensory and exploration experience.
Fun fact: Our garden shed has a green roof!
More info: Greenbrier Elementary School has a long history of tending two courtyard gardens and introducing students to the joys of fresh vegetables. The larger vegetable garden at Greenbrier was constructed in 2012-13 and is home to a large U-shaped bed, two 20 foot beds, and ten 6 foot beds . The garden at Greenbrier currently engages students in every grade — from Kindergarten through fourth grade — in activities that include planting, harvesting, and learning about composting. Greenbrier’s garden shed also has a living bio-roof that demonstrates innovative design and the importance of mitigating water run-off. Students always look forward to free time in the garden to pick and eat the vegetables they’ve grown.
Fun fact: We are proud of our 10 (and counting!) fruit trees
More info: Jackson-Via Elementary has one of the longest standing gardens of the 6 elementary schools, with 14 raised beds, a small native fruit tree orchard and pollinator garden, and woodland trails created by landscape architect Jessica Primm. Students frequently visit the garden during recess to weed, water, plant and explore. Teachers at JVE bring out students for weekly garden lessons focusing on seed starting, soil structure, plant anatomy, and cooking.
Fun fact: Although our smallest garden, there is still room for 9 growing beds, a three-step compost system, a fruit tree, shed and water catchment system.
More info: Venable Elementary’s garden “courtyard” site is unique in its size and diversity of garden elements, with four raised garden beds, a rainwater catchment system, compost pile and pollinator garden. Venable has a robust garden program through PE classes, which plant vegetables, herbs and flowers in early spring, summer and fall. Classes engage in a variety of activities, including cooking, vermicomposting, starting seeds indoors and exploring the sensory elements surrounding them.
Fun fact: The City of Promise garden has been active for quite some time – only recently becoming one of our programming gardens.
More info: The City of Promise Garden is nestled in the heart of Charlottesville. Centrally located, it is adjacent to the City of Promise building on Page street and hosts an after-school garden club. To provide more exploratory opportunities for young planters, six raised beds were recently constructed. Now the number of raised beds stands at twelve. In partnership with UAC, foods grown in the other six beds are given away at no cost at UAC market days. As the youngest in our network of community gardens, the City of Promise garden is full of potential. Tapping into that potential, we hope to continue servicing our community for many years to come.
Fun Fact: Garden Aides grow over 9000 seedlings a year in our Hoop House for distribution at schools, UAC’s urban farm and area non-profits.
More info: CSG’s Middle School program includes a 4,000 square foot organic garden and 350 square foot hoophouse at Buford Middle School, which serves all seventh- and eighth-grade students during the school year and community youth and interns during the summer. During the school year, our full-time Garden Educator hosts two, daily garden aide classes, weekly visits from English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and functional skills classes, weekly workdays for PE students, quarterly units with Family and Consumer Science (FACS) classes, and annual units with science, math, art, and foreign language classes. During the summer, our staff hosts youth programming including a Garden-to-Table Camp with the PB&J Kitchen for Parks & Rec Summer Camp and Boys & Girls Club-Cherry Avenue Summer Program, weekly visits from Boys & Girls Club-Southwood and Greenstone on 5th, drop-ins from Region-10 Walker Summer Program, and an internship program for four Charlottesville High School youth supported in part by the Community Attention Youth Internship Program (CAYIP).The Buford garden hosts over 5,500 student visits to the garden and 700 hours of instruction annually.
Jeanette Abi-Nader started as the Executive Director of City Schoolyard Garden in 2013 with the vision of transforming our work for social justice impact. In 2020 we became Cultivate Charlottesville and in 2021 launched a Co-Executive Director role with Jeanette focusing on Advocacy & Systems. Before Cultivate, she worked for a dozen years with the national food justice nonprofit, the Community Food Security Coalition (CFSC). CFSC co-founded the National Farm to School Network and was instrumental in the passing of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act. As CFSC’s Evaluation and Training and Capacity Building Director, Jeanette authored publications on strategic evaluation design including Whole Measures for Community Food Systems, Community Food Project Indicators of Success, and Growing Communities Curriculum.
Jeanette is the former Board Treasurer for the American Community Gardening Association, Vice President of the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group Board, and a founding member of the Growing Food and Justice for All Initiative (GFJI). GFJI is a national network focused on dismantling racism in the food system.
Jeanette is an experienced farmer, having launched the first community supported agriculture project in the state of Louisiana and as Director of Farms for Frontier Natural Products Co-op. She has a Masters of Science in Sustainable Systems/Agroecology and is a certified permaculture designer and instructor.
Email: jeanette@cultivatecharlottesville.org
You can read more about the intention behind the Co-Executive Director model here.
Born and raised in Charlottesville, Yolonda Adams is a former student of the City School system. She is committed to empowering youth to thrive and excel. As a Youth Engagement and Garden Coordinator for Cultivate Charlottesville, Yolonda is always eager to work with students and teachers to encourage them to explore and embrace our garden spaces. She is attentive to providing optimal learning experiences for students while also engaging them in nature. Dually employed as a Breastfeeding Peer Counselor for the Thomas Jefferson Health District, she is adamant about connecting with families in the community. This synergy provides her with a solid foundation built around helping low-income families to develop a better understanding surrounding healthy food choices.
FJN has collaborated with city councilors and Blue Ridge Health District to pass the 2018 Food Equity Initiative (FEI), which was the first local appropriation bill of its kind dedicated to tackling the root causes of food insecurity. In its first year, the FEI brought together 1,210 individuals representing residents for 8 neighborhoods, 45 non-profit organizations, 10 city departments, 5 healthcare institutions, 7 foundations, 8 state and federal partners, and 5 media outlets, for food system planning in our 5 advocacy action areas; healthy school foods, urban agriculture, affordable housing, transportation, and neighborhood food access & markets.
In November of 2019, the city approved a second year of the Food Equity Initiative and has supported efforts that build upon the foundation the Food Justice Network has laid for resident and youth ownership and self-determination within our local food system
We advance city-wide food equity through partnerships. FJN partnered with the City of Charlottesville in winning the Local Food, Local Places National Award for food system technical assistance. This award enabled our city to not only co-design key interventions guided by resident voice, but to build direct relationships with 8 state and federal agents representing departments within the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These partnerships are critical to increasing our capacity to receive state and federal funding in support of food system’s transformation.
The Food Justice Network believes in igniting genuine dialogue and convening our city around a core vision. We host events such as round tables and conferences, deliver presentations on our research findings, and invite powerful food justice activists to inform our local movement alongside our Network Partners, who you can read more about on our Partners page.
Each year the students grow hundreds of pounds of produce in the school garden. With the support of our mobile kitchens, CSG Garden Coordinators facilitate cooking activities where students harvest the food, clean, prepare and cook the food right in the garden. When the mobile kitchen isn’t in use, students are able to harvest and bag up the produce that they want to take home.
Starting in fall 2020, student-led focus groups and initiatives at CHS, Buford and Walker ensure that students are positioned to lead the conversation around what they want to see in their cafeteria. Cultivate Charlottesville facilitates these Student Nutrition Committee Meetings in collaboration with city school administrators. A five-year grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation partners City Schoolyard Garden programs with Charlottesville City Schools Nutrition Department to increase fresh, from scratch, and healthy food options in our cafeterias, all led by student preference.
To celebrate Farm to School and Healthy Schools Week the first week in October, students experience a week-long menu of locally sourced food made from scratch. Cultivate Charlottesville coordinates with Charlottesville City Schools to connect students with local farmers through demonstrations, visits and taste-testing at their City Schoolyard Garden.
We believe that building a pipeline for leadership to show up at the decision making table ready to invest their power and wisdom towards systemic change must be diverse and inter-generational.
Why diverse and intergenerational?
Systemic inequity in our food system, is not only about historical wrongdoings but also about traditions which have been passed down through generations. So undoing these inequities means that we must start thinking about our future leaders today, while cultivating the skills and capacity of those that have knowledge and direct experience of the past. We’ve found that working across generational lines, simultaneously builds a deeper understanding of systemic injustice while cultivating new traditions honoring voice, power, and decision-making among our multicultural grassroots leadership group.
How do we do this?
During the summer, City Schoolyard Garden runs an 8 week youth food justice unit in collaboration with Charlottesville Food Justice Network’s 12 week Community Food Justice Advocate Program. This past summer 7 youth interns and 4 community advocates worked alongside one another.
Our food system does not serve us all equally. The result of this inequality can be seen in the health inequities apparent across race and class. Food justice calls upon us to develop tools and frameworks to adequately address these race and class food related inequities
We are a collaborative of over 35 organizations working at the intersection of food and education, public housing, church communities, urban agriculture, environmental protection, urban planning, farming, and health systems. We support one another as we craft food justice practices for our various sectors.
The Spring Seedling Project is a multi-faceted, youth-centered project that builds youth leadership and invests in neighborhood food security by engaging middle school students in planting, growing, and distributing seedlings to community organizations and Charlottesville City School (CCS) families and students.
Starting in February, hundreds of Buford Middle School students grow over 9,000 plants. Of those plants, 6,500 are distributed at no cost to schoolyard gardens, partner organizations, and students and their families including Urban Agriculture Collective Farms, IRC’s New Roots Program, Bread & Roses, City of Promise, Casa Alma, and Greenstone on 5th. The remaining 2,500 are distributed through the Spring Seedling Give-a-Way to the greater community.
Cultivate Charlottesville trains future leaders in food equity by mentoring Youth Food Justice Interns during summer months. For 8-weeks, interns spend 20 hours per week in the garden and in discussion groups learning about growing food, food access, food insecurity and food systems in Charlottesville.
Former interns have gone on to become active advocates in the food justice movement, through presentations to Charlottesville City Council, CCS school board, and the 2019’s Food System Conference in Savannah, GA. Former students have also joined the Cultivate Charlottesville staff, like Leon who you can read about on our staff page.