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YNDC Gets $297K Grant for Food Projects
OUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. has been awarded a U.S. Department of Agriculture grant of $296,816, the office of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, announced Wednesday.
The three-year grant, part of the Community Food Projects of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, will be spent on teaching “food entrepreneurship in Youngstown,” Ryan’s office said. “The goals of the Community Food Projects are to help meet the food needs of low-income people and increase self-reliance of communities in providing for their food needs.
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture is an agency within the Department of Agriculture.
The executive director of YNDC, Presley Gillespie, said in a prepared statement, “This critical funding will allow us to significantly expand our initiatives to train and encourage residents from neighborhoods across our city to start new food-based businesses and market gardens on vacant land.” Besides encouraging residents to start or maintain their own gardens, YNDC’s sponsorship of urban gardens provides fresh and healthful food for those who tend them, Gillespie noted, as they rebuild their neighborhoods.
Under YNDC, 25 gardens have been planted to date on the south and east sides of the city. The bulk of the grant funds will be directed to the 1.7-acre Iron Roots Urban Farm, 820 Canfield Road. There a wide variety of crops from okra to rhubarb to lettuce and radishes have been planted.
The funds will allow YNDC to hire another staff member this year and next year pay for five instructors to teach both how to develop a garden on vacant land and classes on cooking and nutrition.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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