Welcome to the Cultivate Charlottesville Newsletter! On April 22, 2020 City Schoolyard Garden, Urban Agriculture, and Food Justice Network officially launched as Cultivate Charlottesville—an integrated approach to building a healthy and just food system personally, in community, and across systems & structures. This represents many years of collaboration with partners, community members, donors, and area thought leaders around building food equity in our city.

Of course, the excitement of our launch is tempered by the extreme nature of the COVID-19 crisis and what that has meant on a national and local level. "While we have been working to integrate our programs over the past two years, the current health and economic crises underscore the inequities in our existing food system,” said Cultivate Charlottesville Executive Director Jeanette Abi-Nader. 

We quickly pivoted the manner in which we work to accommodate the Commonwealth's Stay at Home order while maintaining the garden spaces at city schools & the urban farm on 6th street. In addition, our longstanding partnership with Charlottesville City Schools (CCS) and the relationships Food Justice Network members have developed and maintained over time have allowed us to partner to provide meals for CCS students and community members who have limited access to food resources during quarantine.

We'd like to thank all of the volunteers, partners, and donors who have helped our staff during quarantine. Thank you as well to the Cultivate Board for everything from packing plant bags at the Spring Seedling Project to making time for early morning ZOOM meetings to helping to prepare and pass out student meals (while adhering to CDC guidelines)!

Clockwise from top left: Cultivate Board Member and Pearl Island Catering Co-owner Sober Pierre carrying sandwiches for student meals; Cultivate Board Co-chair Crystal Beasley and her family help to pass out student meals; Spinach from the garden at Charlottesville High School is added to the students' sandwiches; Cultivate Board Co-chair Wendy Baucom along with staff members, volunteers, and representatives from The Salvation Army prepare to distribute student meals

 CITY SCHOOLYARD GARDEN                                            

The Spring Seedling Project is always an exciting time—it’s a great learning opportunity for students to become more familiar with other food-growing organizations in Charlottesville and select plant varieties that reflect the needs and preferences of students’ broader community. It’s a great rallying point for community outreach and support.

While it was incredibly sad to not see the normal level of student involvement throughout the project, it was really exciting to bring their plans to fruition amid the chaos of COVID. This year we saw such incredible turnout for the seedling sale and community giveaways, and were able to get veggies, herbs, and flowers to folks all across the city. Altogether, that's over 9,500 plants that will bring food and beauty to the people of Charlottesville.

– Miss Shannon

Clockwise from top left: Miss Shannon holds a flat of seedlings; Instagrammers share in the excitement of the Spring Seedling Project; Gabriel, Rosa, and Shantell help to pass out seedlings; Buford students planting the first seeds for the Spring Seedling project in February

 URBAN AGRICULTURE COLLECTIVE                               

Cultivate Charlottesville’s UAC Market Days are a week away and we’re excited about revisiting old places and seeing familiar—masked—faces. We’ve added our friends at Midway Manor to our regular schedule and we’ve got a new selection of hot peppers for all the heat lovers out there.

Market Days will look a little different this season. All of the produce will be pre-bagged for a quick and easy pickup, and we’ll be observing social distancing protocols as well. UAC staff will be wearing masks and gloves. The masks may hide our faces, but if you look into our eyes, you will see that they cannot hide our smiles. 

– Farmer Rich 

Clockwise from top left: Leafy greens sprouting at the urban farm on 6th Street; Farmers Rich and Michael have a socially distanced workday with Jennifer and Nikolas; Rosa passes out the pre-packaged harvest; Farmer Michael "in Between Two Leafy Greens"

 FOOD JUSTICE NETWORK                                                 

Food Justice Network organizations are hard at work directly responding to immediate needs as well as supporting our City partners, health agencies, and academic institutions in COVID testing and wrap-around support. The current moment is shedding a light on health and food inequities, and as a community we're responding in a way we haven't before. Key partners making our community's response to Emergency Food Security Needs possible are; Mt.Zion First African Baptist Church, Sentara Martha Jefferson, UVA Health, Thomas Jefferson Health Department, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Loaves & Fishes, UVA Global Policy Center, UVA Equity Center, Frontline Foods, Cville Community Cares, PB & J Fund, New Beginnings Church, Local Food Hub—with help from many others!

While we continue to respond to the acute needs of the pandemic, we still hold long-term change close to our hearts. The City Comprehensive planning and Zoning rewrite process is underway. This document plays an instrumental role in guiding the future development of our city's landscape. Cville Plans Together presents a perfect opportunity to bring just food system planning into our community's fold. Please sign up for Food Justice Network program updates to learn how you can stay involved and advocate for systemic change within the City's planning process.

– Shantell

Clockwise from top left: An example of the weekly Community Food Calendar prepared by FJN; FJN planning team members participate in a ZOOM call; One of the follow-up resource flyers for people who attended free COVID-19 testing; Cultivate's announcement celebrating Shantell being named a 2020 Castanea Fellow

Each spring we celebrate the partners and volunteers who help us plant and grow roots with Charlottesville youth and community members. Click for a full list of this year's awardees.

Visit our new website to learn more and get involved!

 CULTIVATE IN THE NEWS                                                 

Over the last two months, Cultivate staff members collaborated with journalists from Charlottesville Tomorrow on a series of articles highlighting the issue of food equity during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond. Each piece focused on a specific area of the importance of an equitable food system before, during, and after an emergency situation such as the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent quarantine. Click on an image to read the article.

Visit our PRESS PAGE for more articles and interviews!

At Cultivate Charlottesville we believe that working together to grow gardens, share food and power, and advocate for just systems cultivates a healthy community for all.