Big steps towards Land Sovereignty and Community Design

Big steps towards Land Sovereignty and Community Design

Dear Urban Creator friends, family, partners, and allies, 

We wanted to share some exciting updates with you all! 

At the beginning of June, we officially submitted our application to the Philadelphia Landbank for ownership of Life Do Grow farm!   This is an extensive process, and will likely take 6 months before the city makes their final decision, but the application is in and the process has begun. 

Meanwhile, with real land security finally on the horizon, we have begun a community design process to engage many of our closest neighbors, stakeholders, partners, and supporters in a process of honoring the history of our land, and building a long-term vision for the future of Life Do Grow farm. 

Between our in-person Design Meeting at the farm on 6/26, and our virtual Design Meeting on 7/8, nearly 100 community members, stakeholders, partners, funders, and city partners joined us in contributing ideas for how Life Do Grow can evolve over the next several years. 

HERE you can see a short film captured during our in-person design meeting on 6/26

HERE you can view the slides we used during our virtual meeting, including notes taken from each of our break out groups (each of which focused on a specific ‘theme’ for how the Life Do Grow can evolve to uplift Food & Wellness, Education, Art & Storytelling, and Community Economic Development in North Philly). 

We will host another in-person design meeting in mid-September for community members to review and make changes to the first draft of the design team’s designs. And in October we plan to host an event at the farm to unveil and celebrate the final plans. 

We are so grateful for the love and support of our community. The past 11 years have been the journey of a lifetime, and we are excited to begin envisioning what the next 11 years can hold. 

In solidarity, 

The Urban Creators