FEBRUARY 2020 MARKETPLACECONTRACOSTA.COM 27
It hasn’t gone unnoticed—in
2019 the U.S. Food Sovereignty
Alliance awarded Urban Tilth their
annual Food Sovereignty Prize in
recognition of their work toward
helping create a more sustainable,
healthy, and just food system for the
greater West County community.
“Since Urban Tilth was founded
in 2005, our goal has been
to transform the food system,
especially how the current system
impacts low income communities of
color in Richmond and San Pablo.”
From the inception, Urban Tilth
has made a point to hire and train
local residents, with special focus
to garnering youth who may be
struggling with the criminal justice
system, unemployment, access to
quality education, etc.
The staff of Urban Tilth always
keeps one thing in mind: “We must
liberate ourselves. No one can come
into our community and do this
kind of work for us.”
Urban Tilth has led the way
toward revitalizing the Richmond
Greenway; they created the
Greenway Community Gardens and
the “Edible Forest” while helping to
create and maintain the Unity Park
Project.
Looking forward, Urban Tilth is
most excited about the North
Richmond Farm. It’s currently
being transformed from a neglected
property to a vibrant farm, park,
and learning center. They’re calling
it: The Future Farm.
At the intersection of Fred Jackson
Way and Brookside Drive, this
“Future Farm” will serve as a
permanent farm stand for North
Richmond residents to access
fresh produce on a daily basis.
Urban Tilth is also developing a
community kitchen, cooperative
cafe, an amphitheater, outdoor
classrooms, and much more at this
location.
There is a lot of work to be done.
In addition to their community
gardens and urban farms, Urban
Tilth conducts educational programs
and manages learning gardens for
more than 400 students from the
West County school district.
Not to mention their summer
program serving 40 students every
year for the last decade … and as
if that all wasn’t enough, they’re
also starting two new after-school
programs at Richmond High
School; one called The Healing
Movement, and the other called The
Urban Watershed and Naturalists
Club.
Urban Tilth is doing so much more
good than we have room to mentio
n. We encourage you to read up
more about them at urbantilth.org.
Reach out to get involved if you
can as volunteers are more than
welcome, with opportunities to help
out every Saturday and first Sunday
of the month.
Email volunteer@urbantilth.org or
call (510) 232-0911. Make it the
year of doing good and eating right.