New version of Toledo Talk

Growing Power - I saw this flyer while shopping at the food co-op. The Toledo Garden is one of the sponsors of the event, which is on June 18 at 10:30 a.m. at the Mott Branch Library. A possible idea for Toledo? "Mr. [Will] Allen is a lifelong farmer, former professional basketball player and founder of Growing Power (a 2.5 acre experimental urban agriculture site in Milwaukee's central city)."

"Growing Power is an internationally recognized program which utilizes greenhouses to: make nourishing food available in the central city, offer employment and job training, improve the environment and provide opportunities to youth."

"Mr. Allen's presentation will highlight how a similar project might work in Toledo. Growing Power's model is an effective way to simultaneously address many of the key issues facing our community."
posted by jr to event at 1:33 P.M. EST     (4 Comments)

Comments ...

Great post, jr.

There are so many needs that programs like this might address.

Best of all (to keep fiscal conservatives interested) this type of program requires little investment, and could actually turn a profit.

As far as benefits, we could add that this would help the City of Toledo do something with the thousands of acres of vacant land it owns.
posted by historymike at 02:20 P.M. EST on Thu Jun 16, 2005     #

The Weed and Seed program - run by 2 different cdc's in two different areas of Toledo - have "community gardens." It's one of the things that have been truly successful...though these programs focus on growing the food for the neighborhood and using youth for a lot of the work - so they learn about how to grow a garden, what it takes to keep it watered, etc... and then how to prepare the food they grow.

These cdc's got a national award for their weed and seed programs.

Sounds like this new program would be a larger version - great idea!
posted by intrepid at 02:29 P.M. EST on Thu Jun 16, 2005     #

From the June 22 Blade:

"Ford Weber, acting real estate commissioner, said the city will apply for a $1.9 million state environmental clean-up grant for the former the Doehler Jarvis factory, 1825 Smead Ave."

"Mr. Weber said three nonprofit organizations are teaming up to develop a greenhouse business at the site: Toledo Central City Neighborhoods, Ottawa Community Development Corp., and Toledo GROWS, an outreach of the Toledo Botanical Garden."
posted by jr at 03:45 P.M. EST on Wed Jun 22, 2005     #

"The Ottawa Community Development Corp. and Toledo Central City Neighborhoods plan to buy the site to develop an agribusiness in six greenhouses where organic and "heirloom" vegetables will be grown, worm castings will be created for fertilizer, and tilapia fish will be raised."

"The site will house an education center, farmer's market, and indoor market. Community, herb, and meditation gardens are envisioned, and a six-acre park would be created by the city's parks, recreation, and forestry department."
posted by jr at 11:17 A.M. EST on Mon Jun 27, 2005     #

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