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Local Organization Develops Breakthrough Program
� A Path Out of Poverty

First Program of its Kind to Benefit Rochester�s Inner City Youth

Rochester, NY (July 18th, 2012) � The world has been looking to break the cycle of poverty for decades and Rochester, NY has a program designed to do just that.

Rochester Roots (Roots) is introducing its breakthrough Urban Farm Share Program, designed to lift youth out of poverty by:

• Keeping inner city kids in school by empowering them with hands-on, project-based experiences in urban agriculture and innovative business activities and entrepreneurism;
• Giving them access to organically grown produce to feed their families and neighborhood residents struggling with hunger, while teaching them integrated growing and nutrition knowledge and;
• Helping them get jobs through an Entrepreneur Intern and Urban Apprentice Farmers Training Programs, that teach youth on-the-job business skills through selling and distributing the produce they grow for the Urban Farm Shares Community Supported Agriculture program that will be sold to their underserved neighborhoods while � �Keeping the money in the neighborhood� stated one of our sixth grade students.

Roots� Urban Farm Share Program is first in the region designed to distribute to an inner city population and educate youth at the same time. It not only gives underserved neighborhoods access to organically grown produce, but a portion of the produce is actually being grown, cared for, and sold by inner city youth and students attending Clara Barton School No. 2, who also maintain the school�s half-acre urban farm.

�The kids we work with are just amazing, they become so empowered when given the responsibility to care for and maintain a �living environment� in their urban school farm. These hands-on experiences are especially beneficial for kinesthetic learners, who are among the most underserved and troubled segment of our student population.� said Jan McDonald, Executive Director of Rochester Roots. �Our program does so much more than provide low-income families with fresh, local, nutritious food, they wouldn�t otherwise have access to or afford. It�s designed to have youth actively participate in their food system by planting, harvesting, packaging, distributing, and in turn, creating jobs that help break the cycle of poverty for youth in our city�s most impoverished areas,� added McDonald.

Mason Farms, a 750-acre certified organic farm in Williamson, NY is partnering with Roots to provide produce that will be combined with the school�s student-grown produce and sold as an Urban Farm Share. To meet the growing demand for local produce, Roots has also developed an Urban Apprentice Farmer Program, which creates paid jobs for inner city youth who will operate a Mobile Farm Wagon at Clara Barton School to sell the Urban Farm Shares and develop new urban farms in the city.

Providing safe, local produce for low-income citizens by implementing a Community Supported Agriculture model allows them to obtain nutritious, affordable food right in their neighborhood (typically only affordable by families with a mid-to-high income).

The Urban Farm Share will be open to low-income families and all of Rochester. A target of 120 shares will be sold for only $21/week, accepting payments such as Food Stamps/SNAP, WIC, cash, debit and credit. This program is being partially funded by FreshConnect, launched by Governor Cuomo in 2011. Applications for purchasing the Urban Farm Share are available at www.rochesterroots.org.

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Press Contact

Rochester Roots, Inc.
121 North Fitzhugh St., Rochester, NY 14614
Phone: (585) 232-1463
www.rochesterroots.org

About Rochester Roots

Rochester Roots is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization on a mission to create school and community educational programs that teach nutrition, gardening, sustainability and entrepreneurship, improve the urban food system, and educate and prepare inner city youth to acquire jobs. Roots� multi-dimensional programs are designed to lift the inner city youth of Rochester, NY out of poverty in a myriad of ways.

Rochester Roots� main half acre farm site is at the Clara Barton School No. 2, which is located in one of the neighborhoods that has been hardest hit by the economic downturn � the Plymouth Exchange Neighborhood (PLEX). Roots serves a school district that has the highest poverty rate among the �Big Five� districts in the state, with nearly 90 percent of students in half the schools qualifying for free lunch and a high school graduation rate just above 46 percent. Area schools and neighborhoods have high degrees of racial isolation, and decades of �supermarket fight� have left the city with less than 10 major grocery stores to serve its 210,000 residents. These trends, in addition to job loss, population decline, and the rise in vacant land and properties have left many young people in our city with a sense of hopelessness and isolation.

Research for the Urban Farm Share pilot project was funded by NYS Department of Agriculture & Markets in 2011-12 as part of a Phase I expansion of our Healthy Urban Food System Model that integrates six agriculture related activities: 1) Urban Agriculture-Based Education, 2) Entrepreneur Education, 3) Food Preparation Education, 4) Nutrition Science Education, 5) Farm Internships and Apprenticeships, and 6) Community Education, as well as new initiative presently in development for a rural Incubator Farming Commons.

About Mason Farms & Farm Market

Mason Farms & Farm Market will provide certified organic and IPM vegetables, fruits, and herbs for the Urban Farm Share. Mason Farms & Farm Market was established in 1810 by Joseph Mason and his son, John. Today the farm is owned and operated by Paul Mason (6th generation) and his son, Doug (7th generation). In 2010 they marked 200 years of family farming in the Williamson Township. The farm is recognized as a NYS Bicentennial Farm. The farm consists of approximately 500+ acres of vegetables and 100+ acres of fruit. They harvest approximately 60 different seasonal crops plus many varieties of those crops. They offer only the finest seasonal New York State homegrown produce from their own fields and orchards.

About FreshConnect

The program is designed to assist New York farmers by increasing the sale of locally-grown food in communities. The program will also bring fresh food to underserved communities, improve nutrition education, and help create local jobs.

The FreshConnect program marks the first step in "Farm New York," the Governor's new initiative to invest in the state's agriculture industry, a vital component of the state's economy. Farm New York will focus on ways to support and expand New York farms through farm product sales, branding, marketing, distribution, local food processing innovations, and improving the business climate by reducing the regulatory burden on farmers.

FreshConnect is designed to meet the needs of communities. In some places, new markets will serve rural or urban communities that do not have sufficient access to grocery stores; in others, markets will provide low-income, high-unemployment neighborhoods with healthy, New York-grown produce, as well as jobs by staffing the markets with local youth. Other markets will provide residents and tourists with an array of New York farm fresh products. More info @ http://freshconnect.ny.gov.

Figure 1:
Entrepreneur Interns and Urban Apprentice Farmers will distribute the Urban Farm Share produce from a replica mid-1800�s farm wagon.