Today we’d like to introduce you to Ivan Corona. Them and their team share their story with us below:
Urban Growth is a nonprofit organization that was started by Ivan Corona and Kolby Vaughn. They both had extensive experience working in homeless services in downtown San Diego. They would often see people transitioning out of homelessness into housing but we’re still living on a fixed income. After paying utilities, rent, other necessities there was a little left for wholesome nutritious food. Urban Growth was started to bridge the gap and provide high-quality food for people transitioning into more permanent housing with their first project at Alpha Square. The rooftop farm produced food for the residents of alpha square. Thus giving them access to healthy nutritious food that was grown locally with no pesticides.
The second big project was to help grow the next generation of urban farmers. We created our MicroFarm program to be used in classrooms and provide a hands-on STEM experience. Students can grow from seed to harvest and learn the advantages of using hydroponics such as 80 to 90% less water consumption, grow with little to no harmful pesticides, and grow indoors.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It hasn’t been the smoothest road ever. One main roadblock has been identifying and partnering with educators. Covid has played a big part because of the hands-on nature of our MicroFarm program. When schools shut down, our programs had to shut down as well. As things begin to reopen, we are proud to announce that our MicroFarm program will be starting up again in four different classrooms with approximately 250 students participating this January 2022.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
We are very proud to continue to do this work because we see how much joy it brings to our students and the prospect of them learning where their food comes from. We see urban farming as a way to address both healthy eating and has a fun STEM activity. We think of hydroponics as a way to help our environment by using 80 to 90% less water the traditional agriculture and growing locally to help avoid food miles.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
One surprising thing that most people won’t know is that hydroponics are fun and accessible to everybody. You don’t need huge amounts of space or complicated and expensive equipment to grow delicious and fresh vegetables and herbs in your home. We feel the students that go through our program will have gained the knowledge of how to grow efficiently and have a positive experience eating healthy food that they grow.
Pricing:
- If anyone would like to sponsor a classroom system it is $3,000 per classroom or $100 per student.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@urbangrowth.farm
- Website: www.urbangrowth.farm
- Instagram: @urbangrowthsd
- Twitter: urbangrowthsd
