26View count
1m 16sLength in seconds

Germaine Jenkins doesn't share the traditional pedigree of the people we commonly associate with the urban agriculture movement. Her first experience planting a garden took place when she was a 33 year old single mother living in public housing and receiving food stamps. Her passion for growing food stems from her own desire to feed her children healthy food. After 10 years of hands-on learning, studying best practices from around the world and becoming a subversive community organizer, she is developing Fresh Future Farm, a city-based venture that leverages healthy food and grocery services to create socially just economic development. Her goal is to build a neighborhood grocery store and farm in a North Charleston, SC food desert and train underemployed residents and distressed farmers how to use the cost-effective training techniques from Growing Power to do the same, thus becoming active (and employed) participants in the budding local food movement in South Carolina. South Carolina Community Loan Fund recently awarded her $25,000 through their first Feeding Innovation competition for her grassroots business plan. This slideshow comes from a recent presentation she led for Select Health of SC Lunch and Learn Series. Over the years, Germaine has been featured in local, national, and international media for her teaching and community development work. An oasis in the food desert: Fresh Future Farm aims to revitalize North Charleston, July 20, 2014, Post & Courier Building Donation May Help Put a Dent in Local Food Desert, July 14, 2014, CharlestonCurrents.com Raskin Around: Finding Innovation Picks a Winner May 23, 2014 Moving beyond Food Deserts May 20, 2014, Hanna Raskin, Post & Courier Zipcode: Your Neighborhood, Your Health (PBS) (Germaine’s interview starts at 34:18), July 18, 2013 Germaine Jenkins: Woman “follows her bliss” by creating community and yard gardens, April 20, 2013, David Quick, Post & Courier Just about time to plant cool weather vegetables in the Lowcountry, Wevonneda Minus, July 22, 2012, Post & Courier 40 Gardening Tips to Maximize Your Harvest April/May 2011, Barbara Pleasant, Mother Earth News Global Buckets: Grow Bags September 5, 2010 African-American women struggle to overcome wealth gap July 5, 2010, Paul Adams, BBC