| Between the years 1994 and 2010, an abandoned and polluted garage in the Dudley Street Neighborhood of Roxbury ("the Neighborhood") was transformed into a major community asset: the Dudley Community Greenhouse. Owned by the community land trust Dudley Neighbors Incorporated (DNI) and operated by the nonprofit The Food Project, this Greenhouse was conceived as a tool to address multiple community development needs, namely in human services and economic development. DNI was able to secure project funding as a type of mitigation project (a Supplemental Environmental Project) that would satisfy the terms of a previous environmental settlement in court. When operations began in 2011, the Greenhouse project's human services goals were incorporated by providing the Neighborhood with access to fresh produce and to instruction on home gardening techniques. The economic development goals, however, were not fully incorporated into the Greenhouse's operations. As a community-based urban agriculture project that aspired for a three-pronged goal of social equity, environmental sustainability, and economic development, this Greenhouse stands out for both its operations within the Roxbury food system, as well as for the economic goals it attempted to incorporate. In this in-depth case study, the Greenhouse is considered as an experiment in holistic community development, and its critical turning points are discussed. |
