After a multi-year effort, elected officials broke ground on the city’s first public school “food forest” at the Adlai Stevenson Educational Campus on July 15.
One year of work has already been completed to transform the former garden and apple orchard behind the Soundview campus into a 46,000-square-foot forest ecosystem where students will engage in hands-on learning about food systems, climate, sustainability, nutrition and more.
Next, work proceeds to the capital phase to build out the infrastructure and refine its design, and elected officials pledged further funding at the groundbreaking. The entire project is expected to be completed by June 2027.
For the ceremony, dozens gathered in the garden on a sweltering summer day, amid rows of trees and beds growing corn, kale, zucchini, native plants and more.
Joel Heckethorn, principal of Bronx Community High School, said that a former teacher established the garden years ago, but it fell into “a downward disarray” after he retired.
Heckethorn was among the first school leaders to lend support to expand the garden into a forest, and he said much progress has been made in just one year.
Soon, it will be revitalized into an active, multidisciplinary learning space, Heckethorn thanked the elected officials for their investments and enthusiastic support.
“Today is not just about a groundbreaking, but it’s about planning opportunity for our students and our community moving forward,” he said.
Qiana Mickie, executive director of the Mayor’s Office of Urban Agriculture, said when she first walked through the space, it was “in a little bit of a wild state,” but she and others saw its promise.
Far more than just garden beds, the forest will become a workforce center that feeds the community and teaches “food sovereignty infrastructure” in a borough known for food insecurity, poor public health outcomes and a lack of shade from tree canopy.
“The work of truly addressing affordability and food insecurity in our city has never been more critical than now,” Mickie said. As students and their families face many social and environmental stressors, “You deserve a place for respite and healing.”
Council Member Amanda Farías, an early champion of the project, had already secured $125,000 in seed funding for the first phase.
Farías said she grew up around the corner from the campus, and her mother attended the former Stevenson High School. Over the years, she remained committed to keeping the garden going and now to expanding it in a way that benefits residents for generations to come.
“Years from now, I hope today’s students return to this campus as alumni and remember that they helped build something long-lasting here,” Farías said.
State Senator Nathalia Fernandez said she was surprised to learn years ago from Farías that an apple orchard existed in Soundview and pledged $250,000 for the food forest’s next phase.
Fernandez said the project was especially important amid current concerns over food parasites that are causing outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, a foodborne illness that, while usually not fatal, has caused severe diarrhea and hospitalization in infected persons. More than 400 people in New York have already been infected with the illness linked back to fresh produce, such as fruits, leafy greens and herbs.
“As the news is talking about how we can’t even trust the lettuce in our stores, we need to teach our young people about how they can be growers, how they can be providers,” Fernandez said.
Michelle Luna, a representative of Congress Member Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said her office would invest $850,000 in the project’s next phase. Though Ocasio-Cortez was away in D.C., Luna said the Congress member was “thrilled” about the opportunity to create a new green space that is “thoughtfully designed” to capture rainwater and benefit the whole neighborhood’s ecosystem.
The total investment required for the project is likely around $3 million, Borough President Vanessa Gibson told the attendees, and she committed capital dollars to at least match what other elected officials have pledged.
“When we put resources together, we make magic happen, and that is what our children deserve.”
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, subscribe to our newsletter and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram!
