Fwd: Philadelphia Urban Agriculture Plan Rebooted! Virtual Public Meeting launch

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Phil Forsyth

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Mar 30, 2021, 2:26:01 PM3/30/21

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Philly Orchardists,

POP strongly encourages everyone who is a grower and/or resident of Philadelphia to participate in this virtual public meeting. Make sure community orchards are well represented in the city's first ever Urban Agriculture Plan!

See details below and be sure to make time to respond by May 15th.

Phil Forsyth, Co-Executive Director

Philadelphia Orchard Project

www.phillyorchards.org

215-724-1247

Pronouns: he/him

"65 community orchards, 1472 fruit trees, and growing!"

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Ash Richards <Ashley....@phila.gov>
Date: Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 5:05 PM
Subject: Philadelphia Urban Agriculture Plan Rebooted! Virtual Public Meeting launch
To: Ash Richards <Ashley....@phila.gov>

Greetings Urban Agriculture Plan Steering Committee,

I hope this email find you and your community healthy and comforted by this new season of abundance and warmth.

Thank you for your patience in receiving updates for the Plan and its processes. It brings me great joy to announce to you that Growing from the Root (Plan website), Philadelphia's first Urban Agriculture Plan is relaunching today with the opening of the 2nd Virtual "Public Meeting" website.

2020 REFLECTION

As a Team, we recognize that the planning process was put on pause for quite some time. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we made the difficult decision to cancel the second Public Meeting, which had been scheduled for late March 2020. In addition, within May 2020, the Project Team made the decision to halt project work in order to address issues within the team’s dynamics. As a result, Philadelphia Parks and Recreation designed a five-month facilitation process designed to proactively address accountability within the team, resolve interpersonal conflict, and reconcile harm through education and facilitated conversation between Interface Studio and Soil Generation.

The pandemic and racial reckoning we experienced as a City over the last twelve months has put even clearer focus on the need to build a sustainable local food system that has foundations in anti-racism and self-determination, Please see this WHYY article if you want to read more about the process and read the attached letter from our consultant team members.

2021 NEXT STEPS

We are kicking off the next phase (launching today) of the community engagement process that will uplift Philadelphia's rich history of urban farming and gardening, and clearly define the resources, policies, processes, and programs necessary to sustain it for future generations. The feedback received will inform the plan for long-term and permanent urban agriculture that contributes to the equitable development of Philadelphia and provide recommendations to the City and partners on how to best coordinate and strengthen their work on agriculture. Please see the Flyers (English and Spanish) for the virtual meeting website attached, and the website for the virtual online portal here: https://sites.google.com/view/phillyagplan

With this virtual meeting, translated in English and Spanish, we are asking residents to comment on different policy areas that impact the viability of urban farming in Philadelphia. There are 10 ‘stations’ or opportunities for feedback. Each station focuses on a key topic identified by growers at the start of the engagement process. The virtual format offers residents the opportunity to learn about various aspects of farming in Philadelphia before asking for their input. Topics include (not limited to):

History
Access to land
Resources for community gardens
Animal keeping
Farming careers and business development
Education and inter-generational learning
Cultural practices in growing and gathering
Food systems and policy

Residents can expect to spend between 15 and 30 minutes engaging with each 'station'. The virtual meeting website will run for at least six weeks, and aims to engage residents and growers across the City. Residents without computer/internet access can take part by calling (215) 645-2145 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday - Friday or by emailing GrowingFr...@gmail.com. This call and response format we’ve built into this interactive website will ensure our urban farming policy is rooted in the knowledge and needs of local growers. Please support the process by sharing with your networks!

Thank you for you all again for your patience and support thus far. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to get in touch. I will reach out soon regarding next steps for the Committee.

Many thanks and be well,

Ash

Ash Richards (Pronouns: they, them, theirs)

Director of Urban Agriculture

Co-Chair of FPAC Urban Agriculture Sub-Committee

Philadelphia Parks & Recreation

One Parkway Building

1515 Arch Street, Philadelphia PA. 19102

office phone: 215-683-8459 (Working from Home, please email)

mobile phone: 215-531-0670 (Please leave a message)

web: https://www.phila.gov/programs/garden-programs/

e-mail: ashley....@phila.gov

Accountability Letter to the Public.pdf

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