Cultural Harvest in Rondo

The measurable outcomes for this project thus far consist of post-event evaluation survey results, documented notes from participant storytelling, and images of participants engaging in activities. Thus far, one of the four events has taken place. At this event, community was introduced to the concept of planting and growing in the context of cultural wealth (that is, recognizing the knowledge of planting and growing certain crops and ways of preparing them in nutritious ways as a form of wealth). Discussions on this topic were had at the event and with the 32 people in attendance, folks shared their experiences and expertise around planting and growing in the context of cultural wealth. The plant-focus for this first event was collards. Although we also discussed sunflowers, pea shoots, broccoli, and cauliflower.
From the surveys, we learned some things that went well (the community building component, the meal, the cultural blessing of music and dancing, and the conversational piece) and what can be worked on to help make future events be more successful (better marketing, more opportunities to engage with everyone/more than just the people at their table).; We were able to successfully host 4 different events centered around relationship to land, plants, herbs, growing, farming, and cooking in the Black and African American community. Each event included everything that was promised: a meal, an elder/youth spotlight to amplify the intergenerational focus, a grounder to help center us around the event theme, a conversation-based community-building component for sharing knowledge, a cultural blessing of the space that will include drumming, singing, and dancing, and a research/information sharing component and an activity that will ensure that everyone who participates leaves having learned something they did not know before.
Outcomes as a result of funding:
* 4 events
* Community building
* Sharing of expertise
* Sharing of personal experiences/knowledge of planting, growing, and preparing food
* Hands on experiences: decorating pots, potting and re-potting plants, cooking demonstration, creating plant-based elixirs, exploring gardening (relationship to land/dirt), learning about different plants and their benefits
Members of the rondo/frogtown community were able to engage in the content provided and goals were achieved:
* Community built (each event had specifically designed questions and activities to build community with participants & had opportunities for participants to connect with each other freely)
* Intergenerational spaces: 7 months - high 70s and spotlights that highlighted that intergenerational aspect
* Participants came together to share their knowledge around food and herbal growing, preparation, and cooking
* So many nuggets of information were shared from folks' personal experiences, elders in their communities and families (communicated through conversations and surveys)
* Emphasis on Black and African American experiences - highlighting food sustainability (plants we can grow in our own gardens, yards, community gardens and seeds to grow them), health and healing (highlighting different plants and herbs and their medicinal benefits), and connections to living and past ancestors