By Davion Smith
Over a row of flourishing spinach sprouts Charles Smith stakes a plastic tarp to the ground. It hangs over numerous steel pentagonal rods emerging from the earth and hinges itself close to the plant’s roots.
“You don’t want to be out here in the summer,” Smith said.
As the winter approaches, the hands of Restorative Farms rush to tend to their crops, covering them with tarps to protect them from the upcoming frost. The workers are fast, knowledgeable and grinning team players: The makings of a winning team. For all their competency, and work ethic, many employers, due to outdated stereotypes, wouldn’t expect them to be former inmates.
Boa had a vision of redefining what we know about urban farms. The nonprofit founded in 2017 provides healthy produce to the community while supplying community growers with profit. Another goal is to teach and give the community entrepreneurial and leadership positions. In addition to providing a healthier variety of food and fresh produce, Restorative Farms is trying to provide jobs and better opportunities for residents in the historically disadvantaged South Dallas communities.
Restorative Farms is located on a plot of land that sits in the backyard of South Dallas. A community whose median income is around $30,000, a stark contrast to Northern areas which bring in more than 50,000. The community is a reminder of the connection between crime and poverty. With 82 percent of the population being African American, the odds are stacked against the youth. Black men are more likely to get longer sentences for similar crimes to their white counterparts, and one sentence is all it takes to strip away the opportunity for jobs in the area. For a struggling household in this area the concerns differ from their northern, often white neighbors.
“You know where I live the biggest concerns in my area are the potholes in the street, ” Boa said. For someone down here the biggest concerns could be how I can feed my kids tonight.”
Restorative Farms aims to create an “urban agrisystem.” Based on studies found in cities such as Toronto, Cleveland and Louisville, the information seems to suggest that Dallas has a billion dollar gap between supply and demand. This infers that if we were to fill those gaps it would create around 30,000 jobs. Restorative Farms aims to address this resource desert in South Dallas through their various missions such as provision of food and jobs.
Through their close work with Miles of Freedom, a nonprofit that focuses on the reintegration of former inmates into the workforce, Restorative Farms has found a small group of enthusiastic workers.
“ If you’ve ever been incarcerated, it’s really kind of hard,” Smith said. “But these guys, they pulled me in and they gave me a chance to live.”
Restorative Farms helps put fresh produce on the dinner table and stocks the fridge through a variety of ways, not only through the financial opportunities they allow members of the community, but also the CSA baskets, which carry a variety of fruits and vegetables.
“There’s so many things that intersect with food,” Boa said.
To cultivate a fulfilling basket that can serve the community while keeping prices manageable, Restorative Farms goes to stores like Whole Foods and uses their prices to compare.
The basket aims to help the community in numerous ways. Healthier options are more expensive and less common in lower income communities. Restorative Farms hopes to educate and provide the opportunity for healthier living in a city that has fewer grocery stores and fresh food markets, a reality that directly correlates to rates of illnesses such as diabetes.
“When you think about the narrative of prison, you rarely think about anyone coming out and doing something positive, ” said Richard Miles, owner of Miles of Freedom.
The organization whose mission is to reintegrate the formerly incarcerated into society. The inspiration for such a goal comes from Miles himself who was wrongfully convicted and faced the social and economic repercussions that come underneath the label of being guilty.
“Brad Boa wanted to approach the resource desert in a lot of ways that coincided with our mission and so something really beautiful came out of our union,” Miles said.
Miles of Freedom’s work with former inmates have connected many people with various jobs,
changing their lives and making the recidivism less likely for those who they have touched.
“ I don’t know what I would have done,” Smith said. “I tell my wife everyday If it wasn’t for this opportunity I could have easily gone back to the streets.”
The team isn’t just for former inmates. Frank Garcia 21, a student who is studying horticulture at El Central also spends his time volunteering at the farm.
“ I just came out here to learn more about what I love, but being able to give back has also been really rewarding,” he said.
Garcia has been cultivating produce for the last six months, contributing to the sales of the CSA baskets. In the back, there’s a fridge holding one sole basket of freshly picked vegetables left.
“It won’t last long,”Garcia said. We have a community here that needs it.”
UNT Capstone Affordable Housing 