All of this tasty food was available at the ribbon cutting and official opening ceremony of Baltimore’s HoopVillage on Wednesday, December 17, 2009 on the campus of Lake Clifton High School in the Clifton Park community in East Baltimore.

The event, sponsored by Dani Johnson of A Special Gathering was organized to kick off “Going Green to Change the Scene.”

This urban agricultural project is a collaborative effort spearheaded by Safe Healing Foundation, Inc. (SHF) in partnership with Civic Works and other organizations.

Three “hoop houses”— essentially greenhouses covered by round white fabric with metal frames— were open for viewing.

“Such a great project to connect with nature and the environment,” said SHF Hoophouse operations manager Naima Jenkins-El.

The first hoop house is jointly owned and operated by SHF and Civic Works. SHF owns and operates the second, and the third is owned and operated by Civic Works through their Real Food Farm (RFF) project.

RFF will sell their vegetable products directly to Baltimore City Schools and Lake Clifton’s cafeteria.

Their intention is to build 20 such hoop houses in Clifton Park with the goal of creating sustainable food models for Baltimore City.

In other words, through Baltimore’s “HoopVillages,” they want to create organic foods that will in turn create organic sustainable living environments – and eventually a green city.

SHF, the nonprofit manifestation of Nzinga Oneferua-El began in 1993— a year after her fiancée was murdered. From her vision, Oneferua has served  5000 youth served to date. Since 1997 she has operated a 15-bed residential program called Safe Healing House. 

Through resource acquisition, education and employment opportunities, vocational training, career preparation, leadership training, violence prevention, and entrepreneurial opportunities, SHF offers a holistic approach to serving youth.

The organization has worked with the Mayor’s Office on various activities such as the “Parent Summit Preparing our Youth through Family, Education and Community,” and last year’s highly successful Alive and Free Conference—  also in conjunction with A Special Gathering— where youth leaders nationwide converged to tackle the most pressing issues young people face today.

Understanding that serving youth begins with families, Oneferua-El decided to create a food sustainable program to feed, educate, employ and subsequently empower families.

For this purpose, the Entrepreneur Training University (ETU) Community School was formed, serving students and families in communities surrounding the Lake Clifton campus.

Oneferua-El partnered with Manami Brown of the University of Maryland Extension Office a few years ago to realize this vision. Over the summer they received funding through the Governor’s Office of Children for the hoophouses.

This past Thanksgiving over 200 families were fed by produce grown in the hoophouses.

“I’m totally excited,” said Oneferua-El. “On the other hand it makes me sad.  A lot of young people don’t know the value of eating good food.”

Civic Works farm assistant Jessie Scott knows all about eating good food. She grew up on a one horse farm in the south, where vegetables were plentiful. “We grew up eating what we planted,” said Scott.

Many like Rev. Johnny Golden of New Unity Church Ministries hope that all children in Baltimore City, many of whom live in neighborhoods with no major food stores, can experience what Scott experienced at their age.

“It is a vision that can lift the community in ways we can only begin to imagine,” said Golden.

To learn more about “Baltimore’s HoopVillage” Program, contact the Safe Healing Foundation, Inc. at 410-235-2846 or visit www.safehealing.org.

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