C&CPF Grantee-Partner, Northend Christian CDC, established an urban farm to create an independent food system.
The Oakland Avenue Urban Farm has worked since 2008 to support the North End community in Detroit. A project of Northend Christian Community Development Corporation, it has grown from a couple of city lots into a multi-acre farm and civic commons.
In 2020, Northend Christian CDC grew its food justice programs to include a community land trust and a land fund for Black farmers. In collaboration with other organizations, Northend Christian CDC created the Detroit Cultivator Community Land Trust, which stewards 10 acres across 50 city lots, with the mission of preserving land as a way to preserve community. And it launched the Black Farmer Land Fund, which awards Black farmers funds to purchase land and equipment to grow their own food.
“I believe there are over 90 people who have been awarded to date,” Natosha Tallman, director of programs for Northend Christian CDC . “But out of that, there are about 12 who formed the grow-op. So it’s a cooperative, and Oakland Avenue Urban Farm serves as the food hub.”
Northend Christian CDC was selected to receive an award from C&CPF and used the funds to both support local organizations directly with awards and to create a brand identity for the neighborhood, “We Are North End Neighborhood.”
The branding became a path to centralized communication in the neighborhood, offering residents the opportunity to control their own narrative.
“They’re doing a lot of work around gathering stories of folks in the community, of elders and others,” says Takeshita. “[Correcting] Wikipedia and other sources of information to be able to tell their own story as opposed to other people defining what the North End is.”
