Grown In Ivanhoe Earns MARC Honor

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A local Kansas City community's effort to address its food desert issues has earned recognition in the form of a Sustainable Success Honor from the Mid-America Regional Council.

Through KC Healthy Kids' bi-state healthy kids initiative to fight childhood obesity, the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council's Grown In Ivanhoe project has had great success in making systemic changes and making food more accessible in its neighborhood.

Grown in Ivanhoe is an innovative educational and experiential approach to food security. The Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council's community gardens project is one of seven honorees in the fourth year of the annual awards handed out by MARC, a non-profit association which promotes regional cooperation and develops innovative solutions in communities.

"This award means validation for the Ivanhoe neighborhood residents," said Dina Newman of the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Council. "It shows that something good and positive is happening here. We are moving in the right direction."

Winners will be recognized at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center (4801 Rockhill Road, Kansas City, Mo.), Friday, Dec. 2 from 8:30-11 a.m.

The Ivanhoe community, which is boarded by 31st Street to Emanuel Cleaver Blvd. and Prospect to Paseo, has made great strides in developing a culture and tradition of growing healthy foods in its community.

Without a grocery store in its neighborhood and limited transportation for its residents, the Council addressed its food desert issues through combinations of education, infrastructure development, experiential learning and systematic environmental changes.

The Grown In Ivanhoe project is empowering the community by enabling residents to grow and sell their own produce. New gardens have popped up in the neighborhood and are allowing growers to produce food for the community and for their families.

A one-third-acre garden north of the Nutter Ivanhoe Neighborhood Center at 36th and Woodland, which was formerly a vacant lot, 12 raised beds at East 35th street, and the Scouts' Sprouts seven raised garden beds, have produced around 1,000 pounds of food this growing season.

The food was harvested two to three times per week, taken to the center and left for residents at no cost. In addition, the gardeners harvested 400 pounds of green tomatoes and donated some to Succotash Restaurant for their fried green tomato plate.

"This has been an extremely important project for our neighborhood because for so many people getting to a decent grocery store was just one piece of the puzzle," Newman said. "By making our produce accessible we believe this is a way to address the issues that our residents face every day."

"In addition to providing healthy eating options, we are teaching the young kids about gardening, urban farming and introducing them to the entrepreneurial side of vegetable production," Newman said. "They see how this could be a business and maybe they might consider going into urban agriculture when they go to college. They are eating better and learning important skills."

Other Sustainable Success Stories winners include the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Habitat for Humanity Kansas City, Metropolitan Energy Center, City of Prairie Village, Eudora USD 491 and Pembroke Hill School Parents Association.