Posted on Tuesday, September, 3rd, 2019 in Newsroom.
Community gardens in Española and Albuquerque reclaim agroecología, heirloom seeds, and cultural roots for the next generation.
PROJECT FEED THE HOOD, a community garden initiative of the Southwest Organizing Project, started out in much the same way as the Healing Foods Oasis—with a blighted tract in a forgotten pocket of Albuquerque. Founded in 1980, SWOP began rallying communities in the South Valley and the International District, near the state fairgrounds (where the nonprofit planted its first community garden), to register people to vote, advocate for better housing, and seek groundwater testing for contaminants around Kirtland Air Force Base. They also coordinated the Recuerda a César Chávez Campaign, which culminated in the City of Albuquerque’s renaming a major street after the labor activist.