South-Central’s Garden of Pride : Food project of Crenshaw High students wins $50,000 from RLA

Food From the ‘Hood is a fledging venture in South-Central Los Angeles, and its young, home-grown founders hope to make the retail food company a local success to be emulated. The group is off to a splendid start, having just received a $50,000 grant from Rebuild L.A., now known as RLA.

The venture is a private/public effort, all the more notable because such grass-roots partnerships will be increasingly important to reviving urban neighborhoods in a time of tight government funds. And to think it all started with a patch of land behind one of the classrooms at Crenshaw High School.

The land, designated for agricultural use back in the 1960s, had lain fallow for many years for lack of funds. Biology teacher Tammy Bird and her students, with the help of the nonprofit group Gardens for Kids, planted the patch a year ago. The project became Food From the ‘Hood, a produce business that just completed a harvest of lettuce, collard greens and other vegetables that will be distributed to needy families in South-Central.

Initiative and hard work got the students this far. Now for some enterprise. Food From the ‘Hood will use the RLA grant to produce and market a salad dressing based on its own basil and garlic recipe. The students’ understanding of the process, planning and problems of running a business came from corporate and business people such as consultant Melinda McMullen, RLA official Susan Gonzalez, a Hawthorne-based salad dressing company named Sweet Adelaide and Norris Bernstein, creator of Bernstein’s salad dressing. Financier Kirk Kerkorian’s Lincy Foundation funded the grant.

Should Food From the ‘Hood succeed, profits will be used for scholarships and to help others in the community. We hope it does. Even small entrepreneurial steps can empower communities with a sense of independence and pride.