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DOEE awarded the Chesapeake Bay Trust to implement the District's Urban Agriculture Award Program. This grant provides two funding tracks to increase urban agriculture in the District:
Track 1: Infrastructure and Operations Support for Urban Farms (up to $15,000 per award)
This track seeks to support the success of urban farms through grant awards to increase infrastructure and operations support. Project proposals should address at least two of the following goals:
- Increase food crop production, processing and/or distribution;
- Improve distribution & access to fresh foods;
- Construct facilities that enable agricultural education experiences;
- Accelerate the business and production capacity for socially disadvantaged farmers; and
- Advance sustainable agricultural efforts in the District.
Track 2: Foodscapes DC (up to $22,000 per award)
OUA is developing a new program called Foodscapes DC to help address the socio-economic, racial, and geographic disparity in access to fresh, affordable food in the District. Awarded applicants in this track will engage District residents by providing materials and technical support to cultivate crops at their homes. Project proposals should address the following goals:
- Develop best practices to perform site assessments, create an edible garden plan, and offer ongoing technical support and education to site owners.
- Install and maintain edible gardens in the form of raised beds, edible fruit bushes/trees, and/or perennial herb gardens, as well as associated infrastructure (if applicable), in 3-5 yards of District homeowners, depending on budget and site needs.
- Develop techniques that are scalable and transferable.
- Identify best practices for engaging with households in the District experiencing food insecurity, with the goal of installing garden infrastructure to support at least 2 growing seasons.
- Develop a plan for tracking and reporting project successes and challenges to make recommendations on how to expand and improve the Foodscape program beyond the scope of this grant. Program recommendations will be a priority component of the required final report for grant awardees.
Grant Application and Deadline:
- Grant is now close
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.
Program Contacts:
For technical assistance contact Carlton Burns at
[email protected] | (410) 974-2941 x 125
For general questions contact Brenda Perez at
[email protected] | (202) 527-1786