Added Value

Red Hook Community Farm and the Farm at Governor's Island

On a late summer day in 2002, Ian Marvy and Ben Balcolm, an upstate farmer selling at the Red Hook Farmers’ Market went for a long stroll to see the harbor and have lunch. As they crossed the intersection of Columbia and Sigourney Streets Ben paused to consider an empty baseball field. Rather than seeing a broken fence, smashed bottles and a field of weeds, Ben saw a farm with great solar exposure, wind protection, and a chain link fence for security. The vision and foresight of this rural farmer inspired us to take action and work to build a vibrant urban farm right here in the heart of Red Hook.

Working in close concert with Partnerships For Parks, The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and our neighbors, we have begun to transform old Todd Memorial into Red Hook Community Farm.
In addition to being a working farm where produce is grown, the Farm serves as the primary platform for youth empowerment programs and our Farm Based Learning work. Through these programs Red Hook Community Farm has become a place where we can nurture a shared vision, develop the skills necessary to build a more sustainable world, address global warming by lessening the environmental impact of our community and improving access to healthy affordable food.

Since opening the Farm in the Fall of 2003 our demonstrable outcomes include:

• Serving as a daily educational/work site for more the 115 teens through our youth programs,
• Growing 12 tons of produce for donation, sale and consumption,
• Creating $120,000 in local economic activity, and
• Generating $70,000 in revenue for youth stipends.

On the Farm our staff and Youth Leadership team are sowing the seeds of change by:

• Providing on-going, standards-based educational programming for more than 280 elementary school students,
• Leading workshops for more than 1300 schoolchildren annually,
• Conducting “In-Service Days” for more than 25 partner organizations,
• Hosting service-learning and informational sessions for youth and adults from as close as Carroll Gardens and as far away as Columbia, South America, and
• Creating opportunities for 3,850 people to volunteer, donating an average of 10 hours of service towards community improvement.

Partnering with the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation, Added Value has launched a three acre farm just across the water from Red Hook and under the gaze of the Statue of Liberty. The farm is located on the Governors Island Picnic Point, by the swings and the firehouse. As we build the Farm on the Island over time, it will add more educational opportunities for South Brooklyn’s youth. And eventually it will help bring the Island together as a community, with each person able to contribute to the Island’s sustainable development, whether resident, employee, student, vendor, or visitor, creating a proud legacy for the greater community to which Governors Island belongs.