In West Oakland, it's relatively easy to find a cheeseburger, a bag of chips, or liquor for sale. Fruits, vegetables and unpackaged or unprocessed foods are harder to come by, however — as many as a third of area residents live with food insecurity.
City Slicker Farms is working to fill that gap.
In 2016, after years of growing gardens in city-owned lots and backyards, City Slicker Farms put down permanent roots at its own 1.4-acre farm park at 2847 Peralta St.
It took six years and $5 million in grants and donations to transform the area from “basically being a toxic waste dump,” said Executive Director Rodney Spencer.
Today, the space includes a 28-plot community garden, a chicken coop, a workshop and toolshed, beehives, orchards, a farmstand, and a playground and lawn where the community can play, relax and hold events.
West Oakland's challenges go "beyond food insecurity,” said Spencer. “To me, it’s just insecurity, period.” Limited housing, income inequality and other factors constrain resources available to area residents. “Your average person working a regular job struggles just to get by,” Spencer said.
Via community programs, the farm seeks to improve food access in West Oakland and empower its residents, particularly the youth. During the summer, the farm offers paid Youth Crew opportunities.
A leadership program gives high schoolers an opportunity to visit the farm weekly and learn about what it means to own land in a community like West Oakland. Students receive a “broad overview of urban farming but also [learn] their role and responsibility as citizens and advocates for social justice,” said Spencer.
This summer, City Slicker Farms will relaunch a backyard garden program to install raised beds for 8 to 10 families, while offering free gardening workshops at the farm park and mentorship from farm volunteers. To date, City Slicker has established over 300 backyard gardens.
Additionally, a garden and nutrition program teaches 150 elementary school students each year to grow vegetables and beneficial plants and prepare nutritious meals. A farmstand sells produce on a sliding scale to make sure it's affordable for area residents.
This spring, Spencer said construction is expected to begin on a market-rate housing development adjoining the Farm Park. Although the farm wouldn't lose any ground, plans call for a new four-story building with 90 residential units and 831 feet of ground-floor commercial space.
Although City Slicker Farms may make the neighborhood more attractive to developers and transplants, its focus remains on serving long-term residents, said Spencer.
“We want to be in the middle somewhere trying to move communities together,” he said. By encouraging newcomers to support the farm and its mission, he said he hopes they'll use their “voices and their power” to address pressing community needs like food justice and housing.
