Dec 14, 2017
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams provided his plan for over $7 million in his capital budget investment for Fiscal Year 2018 (FY18) to add seven new 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 PS 56 Lewis H. Latimer and Urban Assembly Unison School in Clinton Hill, he was joined by students at the site of a future state-of-the-art greenhouse, which his initiative is now funding, that will have a growing capacity of 25,000 pounds of produce annually.
The courtyard facility, constructed as an addition to the existing third-floor classroom farm at the school which Borough President Adams also visited alongside Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo, will be created through a partnership with Teens for Food Justice, a non-profit organization that works with teens to build their knowledge of healthy eating and growing food.
Additional FY18 funds from Brooklyn Borough Hall will also fund the creation of aquaponic and hydroponic classrooms, school greenhouses, and rooftop gardens at schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Bergen Beach, Brownsville, Gravesend, Mapleton, and Sheepshead Bay. Borough President Adams will highlight the potential of urban farming to revolutionize the borough’s relationship with food and the environment, and the importance of having children and young adults gain first-hand experience with the power of growing their own food.
Borough President Adams will present 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.”