A New Crop of Compassionate Capitalists

Second Chances Farm gives returning citizens a pathway to success

BY AJIT MATHEW GEORGE

SECOND CHANCES FARM is a vertical farm that grows chemical- and pesticide-free leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and pharmaceutical-grade hemp hydroponically inside a 47,500 sq. ft. warehouse in the Riverside community of Wilmington.

At an indoor farm, the growing season is 12 months year-round. Our produce is unaffected by weather extremes or soil quality. And, as a vertical farm, we can grow up to 50 times more product per square foot—while using 90 percent less water—than a soil-based operation.

On any given day, the United States houses some 2,300,000 prisoners. This represents 25 percent of the world prison population, even though the U.S. has only five percent of the world’s population. As of July 12, 2021, Delaware housed 3,204 inmates in prisons with an additional 1,159 offenders in pre-trial detention.

Second Chances Farm is an indoor, vertical farm that grows chemical- and pesticide-free leafy greens, herbs, microgreens, and pharmaceutical-grade hemp hydroponically.

In fiscal year 2020, it cost $64,382 to house an inmate in Delaware for a total cost of more than $320 million. To add insult to injury, about 60 percent of formerly incarcerated persons are re-arrested within three to five years after they are released. It is a revolving door.

At Second Chances Farm, we almost exclusively hire formerly incarcerated persons who we call returning citizens. We learned that our returning citizens have had complicated, often tragic backgrounds. Once they left prison, their job prospects were severely impacted by their histories and criminal records.

These men and women need a second chance in life – not just a job, but many other services and supports to get on the right track. In collaboration with numerous partners and advisors, we created a for-profit business with a social impact function and a pathway to entrepreneurship.

After an initial training 12- to 16-week training program, we hire the returning citizens who qualify as Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIR) at a base annual salary of $31,200.

Our Farm provides job skills training, technology training, social and emotional support, and other services that give released persons their best chance to create a successful future for themselves and their families. In this way, we provide one solution to the epidemic of prison recidivism.

The product we sell is “better-than-organic” leafy greens, herbs, and microgreens that we deliver to the homes of subscribers in a 20-mile radius of our location. Other sales channels include restaurants, organizations, CSAs, and underwritten distributions to persons in underserved communities.

We are committed to encouraging healthy eating and fresh produce for everyone, not just those who can shop at high-end grocery stores. Economically disadvantaged individuals living within blocks of our facility are residents of a well-known “food desert.” An important part of our mission is to find sponsors to purchase fresh food for delivery to families in food deserts.

Not surprisingly, these greens can be unknowns to the recipients, so we built education components into our operation. For example, we created videos of local chefs demonstrating how to cook with fresh produce and posted them to YouTube. And, during COVID-19, we provided students at East Side Charter School with virtual tours of the farm, demonstrating how a seed becomes a plant in a hydroponic farm, how the plant grows to maturity, harvesting, and how that generates revenue for our business.

Our biggest impact may well be the success of our employees. We are committed to helping returning citizens become productive members of our community. By accomplishing this goal will have a positive impact on reducing crime, strengthening families, and growing a safer community. We are committed to creating a new crop of compassionate capitalists.

Ajit Mathew George is a serial entrepreneur, veteran author, philanthropist and certified Dream Builder™ Life Coach who divides his time between Wilmington, Delaware and Virgin Gorda, BVI. His is the founder and managing partner of Second Chances Farm.