New City Neighbors: Building Faith Through Growing Food

PAYGE LINDOW, West Michigan Local Food Coordinator

Since 2006, New City Neighbors (NCN) has uplifted the Grand Rapids community through their urban farm and youth programs.

They are a Christian organization and radically inclusiveof people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, and ofall faith perspectives. On a two acre lot owned bythe 4th Reformed Church, NCN’s farm and weeklycafe annually employed about 15 youths, often withtheir first job. NCN has evolved into a robust 200+member CSA, while sending 25% of their produce tofood pantries and directly to community membersin need, through “guerrilla food distribution,” coinedby their Farm-to Table Director, Ayanfe Jamison.

Food justice work and radical inclusion are foundational to urban farming, New City Neighbors centers around that.

However, in 2020, they received word that the church wanted to unexpectedly dissolve its relationship with the organization and they were unable to renew their lease on the farm property. NCN’s newly hired Executive Director Ricardo Tavárez, a pastor and a gay man of color, worried that the organization would have to disband, but but was determined to secure a new space that would provide a safe learning environment for the NCN youth and staff.

In support of their organization, the Grand Rapids community showed up— pride flags popped up in the neighborhood, donations poured in, and a community member told them about a nearby vacant lot. NCN acquired a farmhouse and one acre growing space in the same Creston neighborhood. They are grateful and recognize that the experience of quickly accessing land is uncommon for many farmers. “Land access is a privileged thing,” Tavárez says. “We had the resources and connections to be able to call a donor.”

At their new main location, NCN is in the process of renovating the old farmhouse to include a commercial kitchen and office space. This will be the central location for their educational programming, cafe and farm. In addition to the building improvements, the farm team will have to make amendments to the soil, transfer their hoophouses, and install the irrigation necessary for urban farming. Investments they had previously made on the leased land, but now must start all over again.

Despite these setbacks, NCN is committed to expanding their youth programming with local food industry businesses and even Grand Valley State University. This year, NCN will collaborate with the GVSU Sustainable Agriculture Project to commence production on one acre with a new high tunnel. This extra growing space will directly connect their youth participants to a college campus.

New City Neighbors creates a community for youth, not only through job training, but also through talking about anti-racism and faith development. Food justice work and radical inclusion are foundational to urban farming, and New City Neighbors is centering that in their work. “Youth empowerment is our mission,” Tavárez says. “But the avenue that we choose to do that through is good food, and it will continue to be so.”

To learn more, support and donate to New City Neighbors go to newcityneighbors.org.

Check out their new farmhouse, 115 Leonard St NE, Grand Rapids