Strike a Chord: Harlem Grown Offers Single Moms Chance to Flex Green Thumbs

by Caroline Ballard | 06/25/2014 | 7:54am

Strike a Chord: Harlem Grown Offers Single Moms Chance to Flex Green Thumbs

WFUV's Strike a Chord Campaign is focusing on a greener metropolitan region.

Tameka Chapman was used to spending ten-hour work days behind an accounting desk. Now, she has a bit of a different schedule. For the last year Chapman, a mother of two has managed a hydroponic, or soil-less, greenhouse in East Harlem. Chapman is the first employee of Harlem Grown’s apprenticeship program, which hires single mothers in the community and pays them a living wage. 

The better hours weren't the only thing Chapman liked about her new job. "When I first started working here it was just amazing how you can become one with nature. It wasn’t something that I was very used to," she said.

That lack of nature in East Harlem is what initially sparked the idea for Harlem Grown. "One day I was just walking looking for something to eat and I counted 53 fried chicken restaurants in a three block radius of right now here," said Tony Hillery, Harlem Grown's founder.

Hillery found an abandoned community garden, reapplied for its permit, and left his career as the manager of a limousine company. Now Harlem Grown’s small urban farm churns out veggies and fruits for the neighborhood and leads sustainability efforts at P.S. 175 across the street.

"We have six bins in the lunchroom we recycle everything. Bottles cans juice-packets, milk cartons, foil wrappers, the caprisun juice packets. And we compost daily into the farm next door," said Hillery.

Harlem Grown is not quite full grown yet, though. It’s looking to hire more mothers to its apprenticeship program this year.

 

Weekdays at Noon

Ticket Giveaways from WFUV