UrbiCulture Community Farms

A nonprofit organization

UrbiCulture Community Farms needs your help getting food into the hands and bellies of all people no matter their income. We believe that fresh, healthy, local and organic produce is a basic human right. Our programs directly increase the access to fresh food for our community members while also giving them the opportunity to get to know their neighbors and build community at the same time.

Testimonials

"UrbiCulture...when the word comes to mind it warms my heart to know that I was apart of something so amazing . When I walked into Mr. Ortiz office before summer vacation asking if he knew of any summer jobs and he mentioned UrbiCulture, I didn't think much of it. I thought it would be a nice way to earn money but that wasn't the case . UrbiCulture has made such a big impact in my life in the short 5 months that I have been involved in the organization. I have met such wonderful people that inspire me and people I can call my friends . UrbiCulture was a place for me to step out of my comfort zone, presenting me with new situations. A place where I could reflect on life , a place I knew I could go when my heart was heavy and I needed to lighten in . UrbiCulture has brought so much joy into my life and has changed my perspective on things. UrbiCulture does not only give skills in the garden , it teaches you about life , the world we live in, and how to overcome adversity. I am truly blessed to have had this opportunity and grateful to have met people that hold a special place in my heart. Not many people come across chances like this, but those that do take advantage of every last bit, I'm sure you won't regret it." Viviana Barnabas, Junior at East High School, UCF Youth Crop Intern 2015.

One of our former Youth Crop interns, a 17 year­ old from a low ­income family, described her experience with our organization:

"UrbiCulture not only changed my life but gave me an opportunity to see how food grows. It gave me a big push to see what I want to do after high school. It's amazing how much you can help your community and the people around you with a simple garden. People really appreciate it. It's extremely amazing."

Emily Lawler, 2013 Farmer in Training and now a Farm Manager. "My experience as a farmer in training with UrbiCulture Community Farms was both incredibly rewarding and insightful. I learned not only about how to grow nutrient-dense foods in small spaces, but how to really engage people and create sustainable communities. As a leader in the school program, I watched children go from not knowing the difference between two different vegetables to being able to identify, harvest, and cook healthy meals with their families. I cannot begin to explain how rewarding it is when the students come back and delight in sharing how they used the produce from the garden. Many of the students started helping in the kitchen only after getting inlvolved in the school garden program; many more of them brought their knowledge home and even started a garden with their families. I truly feel by connecting children to their food source it not only encourages healthier food choices, but empowers them to engage in taking on bigger projects and becoming leaders as they get excited about sharing the things they learn in the garden.

UCCF's 'Pay What You Can' farmstands have also been a huge reward to be a part of. I find it to be an injustice that healthy, fresh, organic vegetables are sold at premium price while highly processed, nutrient devoid foods are cheap and easily accessible. Often times it is those that cannot afford fresh foods are those who need it the most. I have seen mothers pick up food at our farmstands with tears of joy in their eyes, knowing that they can finally give to their families what they want most- simple, healthy, homecooked meals. These are things that many of us take for granted and it is such a humbling experience to connect with these individuals.

I have gotten to experience firsthand the beauty of this project in its truest sense- people of all backgrounds, ages, race, gender, and socio-economic status working, laughing, sharing, eating, and coming together with a common purpose. UrbiCulture Community Farms isn't just about growing food, it's about cultivating community."

Carolyn Swenson: "I live in the Lincoln Park-La Alma neighborhood (near Gabrielle's Garden) and am a healthcare and public health professional. In so many ways (Gabrielle's Garden) benefits our city and neighborhood to have a service/business like this: they provide
affordable, healthy food in a neighborhood where many residents struggle financially, it is an example of a true local business, they add a green space to the neighborhood, and it simply makes our city more vibrant and interesting."

Lincoln Park Neighborhood Association: "From the perspective of the neighborhood organization, the garden is an asset to our community...

Mission

UrbiCulture Community Farms is a multi-plot farm committed to providing food to people of all income levels by sustainably growing affordable, local food in the Denver metro area. We engage our community by educating our youth and neighbors on growing food and promoting healthy, active lifestyles, beautifying our neighborhoods with edible landscapes, and lessening the distance from farm to plate.

We accomplish our mission by working towards the following goals:

I) Expand opportunities for Denver residents to access healthy, affordable, locally-grown produce, regardless of income level.

II) Engage youth in learning about sustainable food production and distribution and social business skills through our paid summer internships for Denver high school students.

III) Educate Denver neighborhoods about sustainable, urban farming through service learning and volunteer days, adult and family classes, skill-based workshops and internship opportunities.

Background Statement

UrbiCulture Community Farms started in the summer of 2009 as a LLC at first and was called UrbiCulture Farms. Co-founder, Candice Orlando came from the T.V. Dinner generation and her family struggled financially and sometimes a $1 hamburger is all they could afford. Going into her mid 20's she still didn't know much about what food looked like in the the ground until she started going to school at Naropa. Her thesis project at Naropa was on starting a front yard and backyard multi-plot farm in Denver. She wanted to do this to show how beautifully you can landscape with edible produce, use scarce water for food and not lawns and to have food grown in communities that would help feed people who normally are not able to afford organically grown produce. Co-founder and husband to Candice, Jon Orlando, also wanted to start a farm in Denver so together they ventured in the crazy idea of starting a multi-plot farm.

Their first front yard conversion was in the Sunnyside neighborhood. The yard was a dirt lot filled with goathead weeds. Along with 5 other yards its first year UrbiCulture was born. Candice and Jon decided to see how they fared starting a community supported agriculture program where people buy a share of produce in the beginning of the season to help the farmers (us) buy seeds, soil, irrigation and tools. Since it was our first year doing this we only charged $50 for a share to see if people liked it and if we could produce enough food to make it worth it.

Well, people loved it and so in 2009 we added yards from all over Denver. We had 7 yards that we farmed and only 20 CSA members. We started harvesting fruit from trees and donating to two Women's Domestic Violence Shelters in Denver. UrbiCulture was growing!

In 2010 we let go of 2 yards that were shady and far away (we were learning a lot and were trying to be a little more strategic about where we were putting in gardens) but we added 3 more. We were growing quickly but there was a feeling that we were not giving food to all people no matter their income level.

At the end of 2010 the community came together and decided they wanted UrbiCulture to become a non-profit so we could focus on getting food into the hands of all people no matter their income. So we formed a board of directors and had our first meeting in 2011. It was an exciting time!! We had a working board eager to transform Denver into a food wonderland! We came up with our mission:

UrbiCulture Community Farms is a multi-plot farm committed to providing food to people of all income levels by sustainably growing affordable, local food in the Denver metro area. We engage our community by educating our youth and neighbors on growing food and promoting healthy, active lifestyles, beautifying our neighborhoods with edible landscapes, and lessening the distance from farm to plate.

We had a total of 8 gardens around Denver and added a few new programs including No Fruit Left Behind where we harvested from unused fruit trees and canned the fruit or give it away to low income households.

It took a year to get our 501c3 status after applying, waiting, answering lots of questions and sadly not being able to have our CSA as a part of the non-profit. So we started an LLC to manage the CSA but everything else was under the non-profit.

In 2012, we exploded! We were asked by Columbian Elementary School to put in a school garden. Candice had worked with an organization called Youth Cultiva and had always wanted to hire low income high school students to help with the gardens. This was the perfect opportunity to do that as well as work with a low income elementary school. Columbian has a free and reduced lunch rate of 95% so getting fresh food to these students was very important to us. We found there are a lot of school gardens in Denver but usually in schools that are middle to upper income.

We took a 6500 square foot weed stricken piece on the school grounds and transformed it into an amazing school garden with beds from the Kitchen Community and then some in ground beds as well. The students planted the garden in the spring and then we had two high school students who watered it in the summer. We also started a free summer program for 4th and 5th graders. In the Fall the food went into the cafeteria and was sold to parents and teachers on a pay-what-you-can basis.

We also took over a 7,000sq ft lot in the Santa Fe Art District. This would change the face of UrbiCulture. A woman walked by the lot every day while going to the light rail and knew it needed to be transformed into something beautiful. She contacted Candice at UrbiCulture and together they asked the owner of the lot if they could use it. With his permission, people came together from the community and decided on the following:

Mission Statement

To provide the La Alma/ Lincoln community better access to fresh, affordable, produce that is grown right where it is purchased, while sharing knowledge about nutrition through affordable classes, engaging citizens in urban farming, and building a stronger sense of connection within the community through a mutual love of food. We have a 'pay what you' can Farmstand every Saturday from 9am-noon from June until October.

Vision Statement

We envision Gabrielle's Garden as a community food hub - a food-producing garden, farm stand, and classroom. As food is fuel for the body, we hope to be fuel for social interaction and change. By re-purposing otherwise unused space, and working with local artists, we hope to help stimulate the community and beautify the land. We want to embrace creative and eager minds, teaching them the value of urban farming, of nutrition, and of food justice. We want to alleviate stress and provide happiness and healthfulness through greater access to better food. We will listen and respond to the needs of the community, growing and changing with them, and giving them more control over the food that they eat. Most importantly, we want to pass along to our youth the knowledge and tools needed to ensure that the connections between farm and table and between food and health are never lost.

The community decided that UrbiCulture would help grow the food and that we would host a pay what you can farmstand modeled after the restaurant SAME Cafe (So All May Eat).

Everything about Gabrielle's was amazing. People donated their time, resources (the fence was donated and put in for free, someone came and graded the land and the water tap was put in for free) to make it happen. We designed it so there would be a community space, a stage and a mural. Artist donated art for the garden and so this urban farm was born.

2013 marked the busiest we had been yet. With two new gardens that would host 'pay what you can' farmstands, UrbiCulture began making a mark in the community. Celebration was a weed stricken lot in the Virginia Village Neighborhood that was on a church property. There were several members of the community who wanted to see a garden there and asked UrbiCulture to help. In partnership with the church the weeds were transformed into a beautiful space filled with food, fruit trees, laughter and friendship.

We had 13 plots, 3 farmstands, a school garden and 1 acre of food being grown in the city in 2013. It was a busy and exciting time but felt a little stretched thin.

The Fall of 2013, the board had a strategic planning meeting and decided to focus in 2014 on maximizing our potential with our current projects, both in terms of food production and community engagement, instead of physically taking on more plots. In 2014 we have 9 plots, 3 'pay what you can' farmstands, a school garden and an amazing community full of volunteers and food!

In 2014, we were involved with Cultivate Health a partnership between UrbiCulture Community Farms, Regis University, Aria Denver and the surrounding neighborhoods. The goal of Cultivate Health is to support the health and wellness of residents living in this multi-generational, mixed-income community. This project will create infrastructure and programming that promote an active lifestyle, increase access to healthy food and offer integrated health care services. Aria Denver will feature a one-acre production garden managed by UrbiCulture Community Farms as well as community gardens, and permaculture pocket gardens. Plans are also underway for a community school garden at nearby Beach Court Elementary. Regis College is developing a Center for Urban Agriculture and Nutrition, which will offer classes to community residents as well as to university students. Cooking classes, healthy eating courses and other community-based learning opportunities will be part of this project's holistic approach to wellness. UrbiCulture has begun the build out of the production gardens and has started working with Regis staff on curriculum development. The production gardens and the educational component will be fully implemented in 2016.

That is just a snapshot of our history.

Organization Data

Summary

Organization name

UrbiCulture Community Farms

other names

UCF

Year Established

2011

Tax id (EIN)

27-4755229

Category

Food, Agriculture & Nutrition

Address

PO BOX 40579
Denver, CO 80204

Service areas

Denver County, CO, US