Urban Roots
Urban Roots—formerly Community Design Center of Minnesota—was incorporated in 1969 as a 501(c)3. Over the years, Urban Roots organizers have provided a range of community development services with a common thread of empowerment, engagement and innovation.
Since 1996, Urban Roots has provided paid internships to youth on the East Side of St. Paul. Interns develop leadership, entrepreneurial and life skills through the program’s Market Garden, Conservation, and Cook Fresh programs. Each year up to 80 interns, ages 14-24, participate in Urban Roots’ progressive, tiered programming connecting to each other and the world around them.
Urban Roots’ Market Garden interns plant, maintain and harvest small-scale crop production within the organization’s urban farm. Urban Roots promotes entrepreneurship by teaching youth to manage gardens and produce for distribution through CSA shares, farmers markets, Roots for the Home Team, hunger relief efforts, families, restaurants, and small batch preservation for seasonal sales. Organizers work alongside community partners to make sure the organization's farm is representative of the diverse cultural communities on the East Side.
Urban Roots’ Market Garden Program wouldn’t exist without the hard work of its staff: Skyler Hawkins is the farm manager, Jaclyne Jandro serves as youth program manager, Marcos Giossi is the farm coordinator, Paloma Cardoza is the coordinator of youth programs, Alfredo Alvarado is the group’s market coordinator, and Hayley Ball is the executive director of Urban Roots.
In addition to the daily operations of the farm, Urban Roots operates two community gardens, participates in the St. Paul Public Schools Career and Technical Education Advisory Committee on Agriculture, provides agricultural service-learning opportunities, and creates an extensive food distribution system to help feed the community.