Project will create High Point's 9th urban garden

The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·2 min read

Feb. 4—HIGH POINT — Two High Point groups are coming together to convert a vacant urban lot on E. Green Drive into a community garden, providing food, employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for residents.

Growing High Point, a nonprofit whose objective is to turn vacant lots into sustainable urban farms, along with 45 members of Leadership High Point, a Business High Point-Chamber of Commerce initiative, have teamed to begin developing the property. The garden is a service-learning project selected by the 2022-23 Leadership High Point cohort.

Since 2016, Growing High Point has been acquiring and transforming vacant lots into farms. The project on E. Green Drive will be the ninth. It is expected to break ground later this month and be completed in early spring.

High Point currently ranks No. 14 in food insecurity nationally, according to data from the Greater High Point Food Alliance.

Growing High Point Executive Director Willa Mays is up for the challenge.

"It takes a good bit of courage tackling problems that are large and seemingly intractable," she said. "But there's always a solution."

In addition to being a food source for the community, the garden also benefits Growing High Point's Farmers-in-Training program, which helps aspiring farmers build the skills needed to become successful growers and entrepreneurs. Mays said she and her team hope to place two budding farmers at the site.

"We're working through the lens of urban agriculture, and two of the things that we're really trying to do is provide pathways to small business success for individuals, and also to create a sense of opportunity and hope in our community," she said.

Mays said she also wants to use the new site as an opportunity to employ area youth, teaching them to grow and prepare food to be sold via Growdega, Growing High Point's mobile grocery store.

Ryan Nance, a Leadership High Point participant and project chair for the Green Drive Urban Garden, is optimistic about the groups' partnership and its impact.

"By collaborating with Growing High Point, we are able to leverage their experience, infrastructure and training program on this project, allowing us to maximize our return on investment while helping ensure sustainable, long-term success," he said.