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2023 Awardees:
Congratulations to all the 2023 District Urban Agriculture Award Recipients! This year the DOEE Office of Urban Agriculture and the Chesapeake Bay Trust awarded seven entities, total of $113,080.00, through two tracks. Read about the awardees below:
Track 1 Awardees: Infrastructure and Operations Support for Urban Farms
- Blackland Farms - $14,964
Blackland Farms will create and publish original educational content (such as articles, blogs, podcasts, and video media) to entertain and encourage audiences with real-time successes and failures in growing crops year-round on their micro-sized urban farm on a residential property in Ward 5.
- Building Bridges Across the River - $14,320
This project will install an irrigation system at THARC Farm, increase growing beds and renovate the washing and packing area. This increase in capacity will improve the quantity and quality of produce distributed through their Community Supported Agriculture program and farmers market, which provides discounted fresh produce to low-income families.
- Dreaming Out Loud Inc. (DOL) - $14,814
DOL will purchase soil, tools, seeds packets, and seedlings for the Farm at Kelly Miller to increase production of crops. By incorporating vertical growing techniques, intercropping, succession planting, and amending the farm’s soil with organic soil & compost the farm will produce more output for its programs.
- Three Part Harmony Farm (TPH) - $14,581
TPH Farm will use funding to purchase a greenhouse to increase amount of healthy salad greens grown and extend their growing capacity. They will also purchase a commercial salad spinner to wash and process salad greens per week.
- Up Top Acres - $7,401
Up Top Acres will purchase an electric bike to double their transportation and distribution capacity for their crops. This will increase their contributions of produce distributed, at no cost, to community partner Dreaming Out Loud.
Track 2 Awardees: Foodscapes DC
- Love & Carrots and Sean’s Veggie Garden - $23,500 to both organizations
Love & Carrots and Sean’s Veggie Garden will support Foodscapes DC, a proof-of-concept program to help address the socio-economic, racial, and geographic disparity in access to fresh, affordable food in the District. Awardees will engage District residents by installing raised beds and providing technical support to cultivate crops at home in Ward 7. Activities will include site assessments, edible garden planning, garden installations and maintenance, and ongoing technical support for residents ready to cultivate crops until the end of the project period.
2022 Awardees:
In 2022, DOEE and the Chesapeake Bay Trust awarded $77,741.00, through eight grants. Read about the awardees below:
Children of Mine Youth Center (COMYC) – $9,705
COMYC is a non-profit organization with a 10,000 SF urban farm that provides youth development programming to the children, families, and residents of the Ward 8 community of Anacostia. Through this grant, COMYC installed four hoop houses on raised garden beds to protect the produce from rodents and provide frost protection to extend crop production into the winter season. Produce from this project supported food for the organization's food pantry and youth enrichment program.
The Nicholson Project – $10,000
The garden at The Nicholson Project, located in Ward 7, offers programming at the intersection of arts, agriculture, and the natural world. Through this grant, The Nicholson Project expanded the support for personnel to oversee the garden, purchased additional food distribution equipment, and provided free garden-based workshops on the topics of healthy living, arts, and culture. This project helped them increase food crop production and provide an employment opportunity to a Black farmer.
My Seniors Keeper (MSK) – $9,882
The founding members of My Seniors Keeper (MSK) Foundation converted a three-quarter acre parcel of unused public land in Ward 7 into a community-led and sustainably managed growing space known as “Hustlaz 2 Harvesters Applied Research Garden” (The Garden). Through this grant, MSK supported staff to plan for the installation of solar equipment to power a pavilion at The Garden, host workshops for participants, and lead volunteer opportunities. This project increased the capacity of The Garden to improve distribution and access to fresh foods to food insecure communities in Ward 7.
Sovereign Earthworks – $10,000
Sovereign Earthworks is a group of Trans, Queer, Two-Spirit, Gender-Expansive, Black & Indigenous Folx that runs a decentralized farming operation that cultivates anti-oppressive and empowering food systems in the District. This grant supported a new hire for the Sovereign Earthworks team who will support food production and distribution, community education, and the development of a stakeholder group. This project expanded their ability to continue the mission of their work and to expand their current CSA called the “Food Sharing Program”, which currently feeds 30+ families.
City Blossoms – $10,000
City Blossoms is a nonprofit organization that cultivates the well-being of our communities through creative programming in kid-driven gardens. This grant supported the development of The Youth Garden at the Farm at Fort Stanton in Ward 8, City Blossoms’ fifth garden in their Community Green Space program. When completed, The Youth Garden will be a living classroom where children from the neighborhood and surrounding schools can connect with the natural world, eat freshly harvested produce, learn, and build community.
Bridges Public Charter School (Bridges PCS) – $9,350
Bridges PCS is a public charter school in Washington, DC, serving students in preschool through 5th grade. This grant supported the development of Bridges PCS’ Healthy Harvest Project, which includes three main components: a produce wash station, a mobile mini-kitchen, and a greenhouse expansion. The completion of this project will allow Bridges PCS to safely and efficiently wash fresh produce from their expanded school gardens for taste tests, cooking classes, and distribution to the community in Ward 5.
Housing Help Plus (HHP) – $10,000
Housing Help Plus is a housing non-profit that incorporates city farming into existing affordable housing developments. Through this grant, HHP created two grape vineyards, located in Congress Heights and Fort Dupont Park neighborhoods, that operate using biodynamic growing practices. These vineyards served as a teaching platform to exhibit organic and biodynamic farming practices to HHP’s target audience, at-risk youth and elderly residents, and community members in Ward 7 and 8.
Common Good City Farm – $8,488
Common Good City Farm is a place where community members can source fresh food, see sustainable urban agriculture in action, and gain exposure to concepts and skills to lead healthy lives. This grant supported the creation of their Pay-What-You-Can Point-of-Sale digital application, aimed to ensure sustainability of an equitable pricing model for their Farm Stand. When completed, this project will provide essential infrastructure to our pay-what-you-can farm stand, which serves communities in Wards 1 and 5.
2021 Urban Agriculture Infrastructure and Operations Grant Awardees
City Blossoms: Growing Together at the Ft. Stanton Farm ($25,000)
City Blossoms, in partnership with Dreaming Out Loud, DMV Urban Greens, and the Department of Parks and Recreation, revitalized the Fort Stanton farm in Ward 8. Through this grant they held a youth-led design process, repaired damaged hoop houses, added drainage systems, and purchased tools in preparation for a productive 2022 growing season.
Eats Place: Urban Apiary ($4,656)
EatsPlace expanded their apiary and improved methods for honey harvest. The project also supported free apiary tours and classes and funded an observation hive to educate participants on the importance of honeybees.
2021 DC Urban Agriculture Small Grant Program Awardees
Friendship Public Charter School: Friendship Public Charter School High School Urban Garden Expansion in Wards 7 & 8 ($10,000)
Friendship Public Charter School's two high school campuses received funding: Friendship Collegiate Early College Academy (Ward 7) and Friendship Technology Preparatory Academy (Ward 8) to expand their production of edible crops. The Collegiate Academy installed agricultural tables for growing crops year-round and the Technology Preparatory Academy expanded the existing raised beds installed through the RiverSmart program, by a total of 4-5 beds.
Sovereign EarthWorks: Feeding QTBIPOC+ Folx in the District ($10,000)
Through this project, Sovereign EarthWorks provided food grown on site through a CSA to local QTBIPOC folx in their community. The project entailed workshops centered around food sovereignty, autonomous self-liberation, and deep ancestral healing and storytelling through various media platforms including social media, podcasts, and publications. The project increased food production District communities, QTBIPOC+ folx.
Garfield Terrace Senior Citizens: Applied Research Garden ($9,574)
This project supported the implementation of a sustainable growing system in communities of color. Black Nickel, and agricultural partner Hustlaz 2 Harvesters, installed a Geodome that is watered by a custom irrigation system that utilizes technology to administer water based on soil and weather conditions.
LeDroit Park Community Garden: Plot Rebuilding ($4,580)
This project rebuilt ten raised beds in the LeDroit Park Community Garden to improve crop growth and increase distribution and access to fresh foods for residents of DC's Ward 5. The project included volunteer workdays to rebuild the plots.
Hope Pilgrim LLC: Video Training for Black Farmers on Sustainable Agriculture ($3,902)
This project developed six tutorial videos on sustainable agricultural practices in urban farming for Black growers by Black farmers. Growers at Fort Dupont Community Garden received information on sustainable agricultural practices that they can apply immediately to their cultivation spaces.