Touring innovative classroom farm with students, BP Adams unveils plans for state-of-the-art school greenhouse

November 30, 2017 Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams holds a cucumber grown by students with Councilmember Laurie A. Cumbo (center), Teens for Food Justice CEO and founder Katherine Soll (second from right) and P.S. 56 Lewis H. Latimer Principal Eric Grande (right). Photo: Erica Sherman/Brooklyn BP’s Office

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On Tuesday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams unveiled more than $7 million in his capital budget investment for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) to add schools to his “Growing Brooklyn’s Future” initiative, which has brought cutting-edge technology to cultivate urban farming education in classrooms across the borough.

At the co-located P.S. 56 Lewis H. Latimer and Urban Assembly Unison School in Clinton Hill, he joined students in touring the site of a future state-of-the-art greenhouse jointly funded by Councilmember Laurie Cumbo, to which he is allocating $2 million. The courtyard facility will have a growing capacity of 25,000 pounds of produce annually, and will be constructed as an addition to the existing third-floor classroom farm at the school. It will be created through a partnership with Teens for Food Justice, a nonprofit organization that works with teens to build their knowledge of healthy eating and growing food.

“Young people across the borough will now have the opportunity to learn about growing fruits, vegetables, herbs and plants that will empower them to make healthy choices, taking care of their bodies and minds as well as our shared environment,” Adams said. “This is about keeping Brooklyn’s kids at the forefront of innovation and growing their futures. Growing Brooklyn’s Future is a green revolution that starts in our classrooms and winds up changing lives in living rooms across our borough, leading to healthier children and families.”

Additional FY18 funding that Adams added to Growing Brooklyn’s Future included $2 million to fund an urban rooftop garden at Brownsville Collaborative Middle School in Brownsville; $1.5 million to expand a green roof project at PS 40 George W. Carver and Gotham Professional Arts Academy in Bedford-Stuyvesant, following previous allocations of $350,000 in FY16 and $450,000 in FY17; $1 million to create an urban farm and greenhouse at P.S. 312 The Bergen Beach School in Bergen Beach; $500,000 to construct a green roof at P.S. 146 The Brooklyn New School in Carroll Gardens, which follows a previous allocation of $115,000 to the school in FY17; $200,000 to establish a healthy gardening hub at LIFE Academy High School for Film and Music in Gravesend; $200,000 to support a greenhouse for life sciences, health and wellness at P.S. 121 Nelson A. Rockefeller in Mapleton; and $167,000 to furnish a hydroponics lab and urban sustainability center at Origins High School in Sheepshead Bay.

The allocation aims to address the growing public health crisis of preventable disease, including rising incidences of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol in many parts of the borough, particularly in underprivileged central and eastern Brooklyn. These areas have been classified as food deserts due to a dearth of fresh and natural food sources for fruits and vegetables. Cultivating urban farming at schools is part of Adams’ vision for addressing this scarcity and revolutionizing the borough’s relationship with food and the environment, as well as empowering children and young adults with the ability to grow their own food, according to a press release.

Following a tour of the school’s existing classroom farm, which utilizes aquaponics and hydroponics, Adams presented funding recipients with honorary checks with the seal of Brooklyn Borough Hall, as well as an oversized check, made out to “One Brooklyn,” for “Growing Brooklyn’s Future.”