What's Happening At Food Well Alliance - November, 2020

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Welcome to our monthly blog, keeping you in the loop about what we’ve been working on and what’s coming next. Check back each month for updates or sign up to receive email newsletter updates here. If you have any questions about the content written here, please email info@foodwellalliance.org.

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Food Well Alliance bids a fond farewell and an enthusiastic "See You Soon!" to Director of Programs & Outreach, J. Olu Baiyewu.  J. Olu has joined the City of Atlanta as the new Urban Agriculture Director.  We lift up gratitude for J. Olu's contributions to and leadership at Food Well Alliance.  

During his time with us, J. Olu brought intentionality and thoughtfulness to partnerships and programs serving metro Atlanta community gardeners, urban farmers, and local food organizations, as well as to the organizational development of Food Well Alliance.  J. Olu led the design of diverse and expanded resources to support Atlanta's local food work that center the voices and needs of growers.  

His contributions have been numerous and include:  

  • Launching the Urban Agriculture Tool Lending program in partnership with the Atlanta Community ToolBank 

  • Transitioning the Community Garden Program from the Atlanta Community Food Bank to Food Well Alliance

  • Co-leading an organizational Core Values process to guide our work

  • Centering growers' voices and needs at the core of our programs

The City of Atlanta is fortunate to have J. Olu as part of their team, and Food Well Alliance looks forward to working with J. Olu in new ways to support urban agriculture in the City of Atlanta and across our metro Atlanta region.  Thank you, and see you soon J. Olu!

Farm and Garden Resources:

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Through our farm resource partners Eco-PARADIGM and Small Farmer at Large, we supported farms in completing cool season planting and other seasonal farm tasks, as well as with tractor work to address issues like farm flooding and land preparation. Learn more about our Farm Resources here.

Our Community Garden Volunteer Program also facilitated small group volunteer workdays in accordance with CDC COVID-19 guidelines at eight different gardens - Tapestry Garden, Indigo Learning Garden, Young Generation Movement Garden, One Accord Community Garden, Stone Mountain Community Garden, Hartnett Community Garden, Parkview Community Garden, Lake Claire Community Garden - with a total of 55 volunteers serving 161 hours. Learn more about volunteering and our Garden Resources here. 

We also installed a 3-Bin Compost System at the Camp Truitt GROWL Community Garden in College Park as part of our 2020 Community Garden Grant program.  Community Gardens, stay tuned for the 2021 Community Garden application opening in early 2021.