Mundive says the Spaces of Opportunity incubator program enabled her to reach her dream of owning a business. Mundive produces fresh juice blends, fruit and vegetable cups, salsas and various arts and crafts that celebrate her Mexican heritage. “I am very thankful for the program,” said Wendy Mundive, a vendor who joined the incubator program in 2019. Since its introduction, nearly a dozen micro farmers and other food entrepreneurs have participated in the initiative. In addition to their horticultural work and community partnerships, Spaces of Opportunity also facilitates an incubator program. (During the pandemic, the cafe was relocated to the farmer’s market.) Spaces is also home to a climate-controlled vertical growing space, known as the High Tunnel, which allows students to grow foods on the farm year-round. Lassen, a local elementary school, by providing food for culinary classes and the school’s student-run vegan restaurant, Healthy Roots Cafe. Spaces of Opportunity has also partnered with V.H. Spaces of Opportunity’s Farmer’s Market is open to the community every Saturday morning. Credit: Unlimited Potential
More than 200 patrons visit the farmers’ market each Saturday morning. Since the start of the pandemic, they’ve distributed over 70,000 pounds of food per year to families in need. The consortium, thus far, is meeting its mission and more. Wann added that with Spaces of Opportunity, the group has been able to restore food sovereignty to the community while honoring the history of south Phoenix as an agricultural hub. “In my opinion, the term should be food apartheid because these are systemic issues and are amplified in marginalized communities.” “I don’t use the term food desert, simply because we live in the desert,” said John Wann-Angeles, founding director of the Orchard Community Learning Center. Systemic racism and discrimination has been prevalent within the area’s health and food systems, creating disparities in accessibility. “The area has been perpetuated by segregation,” said Viera. The expansion of two major interstates highways in the 1950s also further ostracized and displaced these communities. For decades landfills, industrial parks and waste facilities were erected in these neighborhoods without regard for residents’ health or way of life. Scattered throughout south Phoenix are the city’s oldest Black American and Latino neighborhoods, which have faced decades of industrial development. The story of the lot isn’t unique among the area, though. But the land, owned by the Roosevelt Elementary School District, had been desolate and empty for nearly four decades before Spaces transformed it. Back then, Phoenix as a whole was seen as an agricultural hub, known for its many natural resources. ‘Perpetuated by Segregation’Īt the start of the 1900s, cotton grew on the 19-acre land that Spaces of Opportunity now occupies. Over the past seven years, Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation and Valley Leadership have also joined the partnership, bolstering their mission and bringing in additional funding sources. Unlimited Potential is one of five original founders behind Spaces, along with the Orchard Community Learning Center, TigerMountain Foundation, Roosevelt School District No. Emma Viera, executive director of the nonprofit Unlimited Potential Our mission and vision has been to inspire health and wellness among the residents of south Phoenix. Crises like the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbate the impact that food insecurity has on these already vulnerable communities.Ĭompelled to address these inequities, a consortium of Arizona’s community-based organizations have joined forces to create a sustainable food system, providing educational opportunities for the community, an economic engine for small farmers and a place for individual gardeners to hone their own skills. Feeding America estimates that half of these are children who don’t have reliable access to healthy, nutritious foods. In Arizona, one in eight people face hunger.
Known as Spaces of Opportunity, the plush urban farmstead is a vital resource for a community located in the middle of a food desert. Overlooked by South Mountain in southern Phoenix, bountiful rows of kale, okra, radishes and citrus trees bloom on a 19-acre community farm.
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