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!

 THANK YOU FOR GIVING THIS WINTER                           

 CITY SCHOOLYARD GARDEN                                            

Hands in the Soil - Community, School & the Gardens by Mackenzie Morgan

Since the inception of our City Schoolyard Garden programming, garden engagement with Charlottesville City Schools students has vastly been dependent on working collaboratively with principals and teachers to engage students in their school garden. Our Youth Engagement & Garden Coordinators (GC's) have always worked intimately with the school system. The hands-on, experiential garden-based lessons have been whole class sessions (with classroom teachers present), students working in the garden during their recess time, and after school garden clubs through the PTO or CLASS programs. However, what all of these scenarios of garden engagement with CCS students require is the schools being in-person. So, as you can imagine, when the COVID-19 pandemic caused the traditional school model to change our GC’s also had to adjust to a new way of doing things.

Together, we found ways to keep kids with their hands in the soil and build meaningful community connections along the way. We need more GCs on hand but this new model works! We are excited to keep growing together!

Students in the gardens at 6th Street and City of Promise 

 URBAN AGRICULTURE COLLECTIVE                               

Loss by Farmer Rich

One year ago, this month, we said goodbye to the beloved Friendship Court Farm which had grown into a member of our community. For over a decade, the garden at Friendship Court has yielded a bountiful harvest of fresh produce for Charlottesville families. But in 2020, the familiar waves of kale and collards and the stately rows of staked tomatoes failed to make their usual appearance. In less than a year, nature would reclaim the land in a rolling tide of wild grass and tangled brush. The neat rows of crops, now erased from the land, now, flourish only in our memories.

The year 2020 will be remembered as the year of loss for many, but it may be said that it is in the aftermath of the storm that one is truly tested. For the caretakers of the garden, 2020 was our aftermath, but it was also a year of renewal. Now as we stand together at the threshold of a new year, what lessons can be taken from the loss of the Friendship Court garden?

The Friendship Court garden in years past 

 FOOD JUSTICE NETWORK                                                 

Team Updates 

While the season is winding down, Food Justice Network is making time to take stock of the significant successes accomplished during the challenging months of 2020. From catalyzing pandemic response to recovery initiatives, leaders in FJN have supported the Charlottesville in ramping up food assistance, supporting Black and Brown restaurant owners, caring for community members that fell sick with COVID-19, and continuing to do the long term policy planning work of food justice.

Moving into 2021, we know the pandemic will still be with us, but we also know a bedrock of community resilience has been cultivated to last a lifetime. We want to extend a hearty thank-you to all the food justice advocates that continue to lead with their hearts and dirty their hands in solidarity with community members most impacted by injustice. 

 MEET OUR NEW TEAM MEMBERS                                    

MEET CARRINGTON                                  MEET XIAOXUAN REN

 CULTIVATE EVENTS                                                           

For more information or to join Food Justice Network full team meetings, contact Gabby Levet at gabby@cultivatecharlottesville.org

 CULTIVATE SOCIAL JUSTICE BOOK CLUB                    

Here are a few of the titles we are reading:

Black Farmers Say They Were Dropped from the USDA's Food Box Program, Gosia Wozniacka, Civil Eats

Black Farmers Have Been Robbed of Land. A New Bill Would Give Them a "Quantum Leap" Toward Justice, Tom Philpott, Mother Jones

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Matthew Desmond

 CULTIVATE IN THE NEWS                                                 

From all of us at Cultivate Charlottesville—a hearty thank you to the many new supporters that have pitched in to keep our work going to build food equity during COVID-19 and beyond.

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.