Pocketbooks and Populations: Food Access is About More Than Grocery Stores - Farm and Dairy

In 2015, three vacant lots sat across the street from Martin Luther Lutheran Church, in Youngstown, Ohio.

Today, those lots contain the Hope for Newport Community Garden, a place that provides free, fresh produce for the community and offers gardening classes and other educational events for children.

It started with Carole Conatser, a member of the church, reading about community gardens in other cities and states. Many of those gardens were started in vacant lots. She noticed the vacant lots right next to the church.

“I thought, ‘that’s a waste,’” she said.

As she read about more community gardens, Conatser also realized the closest full grocery store is several miles away. Many in the area do not have cars.

“We were right smack-dab in the middle … of a food desert,” she said.

So, in 2015, Conatser helped found the garden with the church. They have funded the garden through grants from the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation and the Raymond John Wean Foundation, among other organizations, and donations. Over the years, they added a meadow and an orchard.

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