San Jose To Give 25-Year Contract To Farming Nonprofit

Campbell CA

09 November, 2021

5:53 PM

Description

By Lloyd Alaban, San Jose Spotlight November 8, 2021 East San Jose's popular community farm is a godsend for low-income residents looking for fresh produce—and it could be around for the next quarter-century. The San Jose City Council is set to approve a 25-year contract Tuesday with Veggielution, a local nonprofit that runs an urban garden at Emma Prusch Farm Park in East San Jose. Veggielution started in 2007 as part of a nationwide movement to grow healthy and fresh food for underprivileged communities in urban spaces. In 2008, the nonprofit opened a space that now occupies six acres at Emma Prusch Farm Park. According to a city memo, the Veggielution-run farm is part of a 47-acre city park along Highways 680 and 101. The park's namesake, Emma Prusch, donated the land to the city in 1962. "Veggielution brings in over 12 years of experience in serving San Jose residents and has educated almost 40,000 community members throughout San Jose, primarily in the East San Jose area," reads a city memo. Veggielution volunteers sort food and vegetables. Photo courtesy of Emily Schwing. Veggielution offers environmental programs that help residents learn about agriculture, grow their business skills and cook new foods—all in the park. The nonprofit, along with the city's parks department, holds summer youth camps and afterschool programs. As part of the new agreement, Veggielution will teach farming skills to youth, hold health and wellness classes, volunteer programs and cooking and farming classes, among other activities. "This type of partnership could be an example for other parks in San Jose and potentially throughout the country," Veggielution spokesperson Emily Schwing told San José Spotlight. "There are very few examples of nonprofit urban farms of our scale operating in partnership with a city park, especially the way we do it—by centering community voice in all of our work and designing our programming." Eighteen Veggielution workers farm the land, and every first Saturday of the month the garden hosts one of its signature programs such as yoga, planting in the fields, art classes and eating freshly-picked produce from the Veggielution Cocina kitchen. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Veggielution shifted part of its operations to food distribution, handing out up to 5,000 boxes of food weekly. In June, the nonprofit, along with other local organizations, opened SoFA Pocket Park, a community garden and dog park located in a once-abandoned parking lot in downtown San Jose. "We're admiring and respecting their whole efforts," volunteer Doug King told San José Spotlight. King, along with his wife Yung, began volunteering with Veggielution early in the pandemic. The couple has distributed food boxes, helped with farming and installed wiring for the gardens. "Veggielution has an amazingly good eye for people with good character and personalities and work ethics. Everybody gets along and works hard. And we learn things all the time. There's people there who are experts in soil." Produce from Veggielution. Photo courtesy of Emily Schwing. Volunteers maintain hundreds of fruit trees, a native flower garden, and a German-themed kitchen garden at Emma Prusch Farm Park. Employees from the city parks department maintain and operate other programs at the site, including providing farm tours and hay wagon rides to elementary students. According to Yung, many volunteers are people of color and women, which reflect the demographics of East San Jose. "We all enjoy having a good time and playing loud music," Yung joked. The San Jose City Council meets Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m. To learn more about how you can watch and participate, click here. This story will be updated. Contact Lloyd Alaban at [email protected] or follow @lloydalaban on Twitter. San José Spotlight is the city's first nonprofit news organization dedicated to independent political and business reporting. Please support our public service journalism by clicking here.