There is a new grant opportunity for those in Pulaski County looking to establish a community garden or build up their backyard farm.
The ‘micro grants’ are available from the Central Arkansas Sphinx Foundation in amounts between $4,000 and $8,000. Grant Writer Kalven Trice says the grants can be used by many groups.
"Churches, individuals, schools, nonprofits, and other small-scale farmers to address any of their needs in being able to produce and distribute fresh vegetables.”
Trice says they are especially focused on areas without ready access to grocery stores, particularly in southwest and eastern Little Rock.
"Over by the airport, down to Geyer Springs, in that area specifically and in the Midtown area, those are the areas we have limited access to fresh vegetables.”
In addition to the grants, CASF offers workshops and other resources to help build the garden space and to educate small-scale farmers on how to grow their operations.
"We have a horticulturalist and other master gardeners that provide workshops monthly on how to raise vegetables," says Trice. "We are one and two generations removed from being on the farm, so we thought it best to number one, provide infrastructure so that it could be sustainable once the grant was over.”
Arkansas ranks highest in the nation for hunger, with nearly 19% of families considered food-insecure. Trice says the organization aims to decrease this statistic by increasing the availability of fresh food in urban communities considered "food deserts."
"There's not an access to grocery stores and fresh vegetables. So what we started doing was working with community gardens to again provide resources for them to be able to have the vegetables in the neighborhoods, in the communities.”
The foundation is also hosting an informational workshop on July 8, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Philander Smith University in Little Rock. More information and grant applications are available at CASFgrants.org
