The Greenmount West Community Center Foundation is an art-based space which serves as an incubator to develop the greatness and talents of Black youth and the community. Currently entering its sixth year of programming, the Foundation continues to move nimbly as an organization, pivoting to meet the ever-evolving needs of youth and the community. The recent history of the Greenmount West community has been shaped most of all by gentrification and displacement, which has resulted in physical and verbal altercations. While many legacy residents still reside in their homes, many others have lost theirs as middle-class property developers have changed property values and priced them out. This community lacks positive spaces to gather; there also are not enough local jobs for kids. While many elders in the community retain significant amounts of knowledge on land stewardship, the gentrification and lack of outdoor space has meant that this knowledge hasn’t been transferred.
Hidden Harvest Farm is an opportunity to splice that gap, and continue the Firesouls’ existing work to activate community in a more meaningful manner. The farm’s goal is to nurture a beautiful and bountiful space in which flowers, fruit, vegetables, herbs, insects, birds, and humans live harmoniously, and to share knowledge, skills, access to healthy food, and community. Hidden Harvest’s Annex garden, which focuses on natural dye plants, has an additional goal of growing, processing and preserving the history of natural dyes and their enhancements and use in everyday objects. Their partnership with the Greenmount West Community Center serves to share farm resources with neighbors and engage youth in programming.
