Testimonials
“My experience with the Urban Creators started a long time ago… between age 12-14. I joined because I was already close to Daekwon (one of the Co-founders son), and we would already hang and help out. Then, the opportunity came that we could actually work there. My experience with Urban Creators came at such an impressionable time in my life that it truly helped mold me into the man that I am today. At some point during my adolescence, we branched off and created our own Arts and Entertainment company (Free Spirit Cloud Company) with the goal of using art as a medium to bring communities closer together and establish Philadelphia as the art capital of the world. UC has given us a platform to host artistic showcases, create revenue, educate youth, and so much more. All we can do is use every lesson and resource to create as much as we can in hopes that we may be fortunate enough to help someone the way Urban Creators helped us”. (2020)
– Robert Smith
“My first interaction with UC was on a hot summer day when my dad (Co-Founder, Devon Bailey) asked me to give these people a hand across the street. Eventually I ended up working in a youth program at the farm where I learned the valuable skills and principles I’ve used to build my foundation today. The farm became a huge assets to my future, as me and some of my closest friends started investing our time in the arts scene by creating an arts and entertainment company that connects people with different mediums of art and resources. UC eventually invested in our idea, and Free Spirit Cloud Company became an official business in 2019, and is now contracted to manage all events at Life Do Grow. This has given us the opportunity to build the foundation of Free Spirit and move to a professional level in the Arts and Entertainment industry My experience with the farm might be the most important experience in my life and the key to my success”. (2020)
– Daekwon Walker
“I have always had that instinct in me to fix what is broken, but the Urban Creators helped point me in the direction I needed to travel. My experience working with Urban Creators landed me jobs at Greensgrow farms, and becoming a youth council member for the Triskeles Foundation. In 2017, I was appointed as a committeeman of my Neighborhood, then promoted to Ward Leader in 2019. The injustices that I learned about as an Urban Creator are now my platform as a ward leader. Whether it aligns with my party or not, North Philadelphia is my top priority.
Being with the Urban Creators, I realized that my fight for justice comes through urban design and architecture, and I am now pursuing a Masters Degree in Urban Planning and Architectural Preservation at Temple University so I can empower residents to take control of their own neighborhoods by owning their land. I still manage Carlisle Garden where I host my own summer work study for Philadelphia teens, and am now apart of the Urban Creators core Neighborhood Organizing team. The Urban Creators has always served as a great stepping off point to give people the necessary resources they need to become successful.” (2020)
– Tyler Ray
“I’ve worked with the Urban Creators for three years. I was only 15 at the time and didn’t know how much fun I was going to have. Meeting and working with the Urban Creators that summer changed my life. I didn’t know how good it felt to help people around your community until my first summer with them. Planting food and working in the garden was something I learned to truly love. I learned life lessons, networked with people and built more friendships then I can count.” (2018)
– Shania Holmes
“I started as a volunteer at the farm in 2013. Over the years at the farm, volunteering turned to a summer job. I began giving tours to small and now large groups, helping with check-ins and icebreakers, Co-leading to now leading my own work crews.” (2018)
– Ammiel Townsend
“I’ve acquired more of a leadership role as assistant Farm Manager. My role as assistant Farm manager has allowed me to take on an increasing level of responsibility from the overall maintenance of crops to managing groups of volunteers. To have access to a space where healthy food can be grown in the city of Philadelphia is a blessing within itself. I envision the farm developing into a space of opportunity for others to come learn sustainable agriculture and implement what they have learned into their daily life, like a miniature farming school.” (2018)
– Samuel Harris
“I’m stepping up to be a leader of development…so I can do it in my community. they’re helping me to get ready to own my own business, I’d rather bring kids over here, see how it is, sit them down, have them talk to ya’ll… they’ll probably change. I changed a lot.” (2018)
– Nysaar Sibert
