LaSalle Harris considers her South Akron neighborhood a food desert, meaning there isn't much affordable, fresh, healthy food nearby, which she said is often a corner store that sells alcohol, nicotine and processed foods.
She started the Joanna House II Community Garden about eight years ago to plant the seeds of change, but her goal isn't just to teach people how to garden, become self-sufficient and provide a fresh source of food.
Harris, along with his colleagues at the Godrich Food and Agriculture Project (Godrich is a name that adds an extra “o” to one of Akron's most famous names to give it a religious twist), aims to educate, support and unite local residents.
“There's a lot of vacant land around that could be used to help,” Harris said of the neighborhood.
Two USDA officials toured two community gardens in Akron on Wednesday, including Harris's. One of the officials, Dewayne Goldmon, said he wanted to learn more about community gardening for the USDA's urban agriculture initiative.
“This project is about strengthening our food system,” said Goldmon, who serves as senior adviser on racial justice and equity to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. “We're here to learn about urban agriculture and to demonstrate it in practice.”
Goldmon said the USDA initiative will help urban farmers like Harris and those in Godrich feed their communities.
More than just community gardening
Joanna House II Ministries existed before the community garden opened in 2016. Harris founded the ministry in 2009 after completing a drug recovery program and wanted to help women and anyone in drug recovery.
To achieve this, Harris is building support homes around South Akron for women, veterans, and anyone who needs a sober place to stay, and she says the garden is one way people can heal and grow.
Constance Bozeman, outreach specialist with the Summit County Health Department, said Joanna House II stocks Narcan throughout the facility, which helps with the drug recovery mission.
“We are working with employers to ensure they can support their employees in recovery,” Bozeman said, referring to the health department's “Recovery Friendly Workplace” initiative.
Rebuilding community and the love of gardening
Alicia Junius, 18, said she played in the dirt as a child but never worked in the garden or grew flowers or vegetables.
“I've never eaten food straight from a plant,” Junius said. “It's scary. If there are bugs in it, I don't want to eat it.”
Junius is one of many people who volunteer at the Godrich Urban Farm, located at the former Goodrich Middle School overlooking Interstate 77.
She and 12 other teenagers showed up to Wednesday's visit to the Department of Agriculture to show their support, doing chores like weeding yards and removing debris.
“It keeps me out of trouble,” she said. “I'd like to plant watermelons, but I already have them. But pineapples would be nice.”
Creating positive change from devastation
Louise Johnson has dreams for the old schoolhouse: She plans to renovate the roughly five acres and turn the grassy area into a community garden and a lush patch of trees and plants that will produce a variety of nuts, fruits, herbs and vegetables.
The school building is set to become housing, and in one corner, his colleague Graham Towerton hopes to use new technology to turn plastic into fuel to power the site and the local community.
“Why tear down such a historic building in a neighborhood when you can renovate it?” said Johnson, who supports the program through his nonprofit group Business Training Capital Resources.
Her goal is to help local families and youth by teaching them how to support themselves and connecting them to a variety of resources and programs to educate and support their mental and physical health.
Johnson said over the past two years, the program has experienced setbacks with tools, materials and plants being stolen from the site, but that didn't stop her from giving up. By partnering with various ministries, community programs and local leaders, Johnson is confident the team will bounce back and come back even stronger.
Gardening for relaxation
One member of the Godrich team is Master Gardener James Johnson, who joined the program in 2021. For him, the project has become a passion.
Johnson said he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and associated anxiety after serving in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. His day-to-day work no longer seemed meaningful and his mental health deteriorated.
But throughout all these hardships, he turned to gardening, which he explained helped him get through the difficulties and reach a better mental state.
“I'm kind of interested in plants and gardening,” he says, “and I'm really interested in food and herbs, but I really love learning about how herbs work for the body.”
To him, community gardens are life-changing, and he hopes to make that kind of difference in the community he calls home.
To donate to the Godrich Food and Farming Project or learn more, visit https://btcresources.org/
