Elliott Centeno ’26
America’s systemic inequalities bear a costly burden on citizens in low income communities across the city of Baltimore. Specifically, food accessibility is a component of these systemic failures. But between the injustices there are organizations at work that are functioning to assist in improving access to affordable nutrients in their communities.
We visited Strength to Love Farm II to assist with their efforts to offer fresh, affordable, locally grown produce. Strength to Love Farm is an organization that uses 1.5 converted acres of space to focus on environmentally sustainable, ground-level work to tackle food apartheid issues in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood of West Baltimore. Love Farm grows and distributes products like kale and greens for a network of consumers in the community that includes both businesses and individuals. In addition to the farm’s ability to provide produce, their operation is also behind the Urban Youth in Agriculture Program (UYAP). UYAP aims to assist and support local youths, not only in learning environmental stewardship, but through Love’s approach of working directly with commercial consumers, in developing entrepreneurial skills. These skills include business management, distribution, budgeting, and financial management skills in the form of income generation on a commercial level. Love Farm is coordinated and staffed by members of the immediate community, hires youth from the community, and provides stipends and certification for those staff members. A major goal of this program is to prepare young members of Baltimore for entry into the modern, highly competitive workforce. Strength to Love Farm II is an example of a meaningful, grass-roots, systems-based solution to enhance the quality of life for Baltimore residents.
We’ve all embarked on our own journey to learn about food, faith, and justice, and how we may be able to offer meaningful solutions. Today we spent just a small amount of our time and energy to lighten the labor load of individuals who have committed a large portion of their time and energy towards fighting food apartheid and improving the well-being of their neighbors in the Sandtown-Winchester community of Baltimore.