Green Village Initiative

  Request for Proposals: Developing an Urban Agriculture Master Plan for the City of Bridgeport CT Green Village Initiative, in partnership with the Urban Agriculture Subcommittee of the Bridgeport Food Policy Council, is seeking a consultant to develop an Urban Agriculture Master Plan for the city of Bridgeport. This would identify spaces that could be used as gardens and farms within the city, eliminate barriers to growing food, ensure consumer safety through standardized growing practices, and ensure urban agriculture is community-driven, and support the growth of urban agriculture over the long-term.

Background: Definition: The Bridgeport Food Policy Council defines “urban agriculture” as farms and gardens that exist within city limits for the purposes of household consumption, commercial venture, or education, such as urban farms, community gardens, backyard gardens, and school gardens. Urban agriculture can include activities such as hydroponics, aquaponics, aquaculture, indoor farming, rooftop farming, beekeeping, flowers, livestock (i.e. chickens, grazing goats), composting, and use of accessory structures, such as hoop houses, greenhouses, cold frames, and sheds. Within this document, we use the term “Urban Grower” to describe any person or organization performing these practices. Urban Agriculture in Bridgeport: Bridgeport is emerging as a hub of urban agriculture through urban farms, community gardens, educational school gardens, aquaculture, and indoor, hydroponic operations. Further developing these initiatives can expand employment opportunities, entrepreneurial activities, and fresh food access. Bridgeport is home to Green Village Initiative, a local nonprofit dedicated to urban farming, community gardens, school gardens and leadership development; the Bridgeport Regional Aquaculture Science and Technology Education Center, a high school; a for-profit, high density indoor farm business operated by Metro Crops; over 15 community garden lots for gardeners to grow food for their families; over 25 school gardens that provide educational opportunities; and oyster farming operations. Urban agriculture has many potential benefits for post-industrial cities, including increasing access to healthy food, improving social capital, opportunities for job creation and crime reduction, building community resilience to climate change (Cohen and Reynolds, 2016; Kim, Palmer, & Santo, 2016), technical skill-building, and youth development. Benefits include: ● Access to Healthy Food: A common barrier to a nutritious diet is the ability to afford a variety of fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods. A Bridgeport Community Health Needs Assessment showed that overweight Bridgeport adults reported cost as the Green Village Initiative | 325 Lafayette Street #9101, Bridgeport, CT 06604 | (203) 227-5320 | www.gogvi.org Green Village Initiative is a non-profit organization whose mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport.

Green Village Initiative

●

●

●

●

biggest barrier to healthy eating (Bridgeport Community Allied to Reach Health Equity, 2013). Community gardens have the potential to save at least $475 in food costs per season for individual gardeners (Golden, 2013). Youth Attitudes about Food: Urban agriculture presents an opportunity to change perceptions of healthy food among young people. This was demonstrated in a recent survey of Bridgeport high school students (Greer, Davis, Sandolo, Gaudet, & Castrogivanni, 2017). The study showed that students who reported experience farming and gardening had more favorable attitudes towards consuming local fruits and vegetables, and were more willing to try new fruits and vegetables than students that reported no prior experience with gardening and farming. Improving Social Capital: Planting Justice, a nonprofit organization in Oakland, CA, uses urban agriculture as a tool for the formerly incarcerated to find meaningful work that pays a living wage. Since its inception in 2011, 100% of program graduates have successfully stayed out of prison (Deane, 2017). Bridgeport could benefit from more robust agriculture programming for residents who were formerly incarcerated, such as the Mayor’s Initiative for Re-Entry Affairs (MIRA). Opportunities for Job Creation: Currently, Green Village Initiative employs 3 full-time staff to work with school gardens, community gardens, youth leaders, and manage Reservoir Community Farm; in addition, 15 part-time, seasonal farm jobs have been created. 12 of these 15 positions are occupied by high school students who might otherwise seek out-of-town employment. Skills developed include farming, leadership and training others, customer service and sales, and strategic thinking. Building Community Resilience to Climate Change: Urban agriculture has been linked to increasing rainwater drainage, and reducing the risk of flooding, groundwater contamination, and depletion of groundwater levels (Kim, Palmer, & Santo, 2016). As such, it can assist the administration in fulfilling the obligations of a nearly $40 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant that the City received in 2014 “for flood protection to guard against rising tides, coastal storms and the impact of climate change.” (Mayor’s Office, City of Bridgeport Website, 2017). Additionally, urban agriculture can sequester carbon (soil harnesses carbon and carbon dioxide), from polluted and car-dense environments such as Bridgeport (Okvat, Zautrat, 2011).

Why a Master Plan: Currently, urban agriculture activities in Bridgeport are limited in long-term sustainability. A clearly stated long-term plan adopted by the City will provide clarity and direction for the community and encourage investment of time and resources toward long-term upkeep of sites. This creates stronger partnerships between the City of Bridgeport, the gardening community, and the organizations working with growers, and clearer processes for resource procurement. A long-term plan creates the framework for the community to depend upon and further develop urban agriculture in Bridgeport. A unified vision and framework that protects and sustains urban agriculture will have a significant impact on the ability of thousands of individuals to conveniently grow and access food for their families.

Green Village Initiative | 325 Lafayette Street #9101, Bridgeport, CT 06604 | (203) 227-5320 | www.gogvi.org Green Village Initiative is a non-profit organization whose mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport.

Green Village Initiative

Process: The Urban Agriculture Subcommittee of the Bridgeport Food Policy Council has been working together for the past year to develop strategies for further development and sustainability of urban agriculture in Bridgeport. We are seeking a third party consultant to work closely with the subcommittee and the City of Bridgeport to draft and finalize an Urban Agriculture Master Plan that reflects the Bridgeport community’s vision, desires and needs. The Consultant will report to a Steering Committee, consisting of members of the Urban Agriculture Subcommittee of the Bridgeport Food Policy Council, representatives of the City of Bridgeport and partner organizations, community members and neighborhood representatives. The Consultant will report to the Steering Committee through: • In-person meetings, monthly. • Phone meetings (with key Steering Committee contacts from GVI and the City of Bridgeport), every other week. • Email, as needed. The Urban Agriculture Master Plan for the city of Bridgeport will be developed through a grassroots process. This requires gleaning suggestions directly from the community via partner organizations and neighborhood residents, including through public outreach meetings. The Subcommittee will assist in securing meeting locations (considering childcare), and conducting outreach for meetings. GVI and other organizations will provide refreshments for meetings. We anticipate 6 to 8 public outreach community meetings over the course of this project. This will consist of both: • Planning and conducting meetings focused solely on this project; and • Being added to previously planned community meetings as an agenda item. Steering committee meetings can be scheduled to align with public outreach meetings to reduce travel costs.

Deliverables: 1. Urban Agriculture Master Plan for the city of Bridgeport 2. Action Strategy and Recommendations for implementation of the Master Plan

Green Village Initiative | 325 Lafayette Street #9101, Bridgeport, CT 06604 | (203) 227-5320 | www.gogvi.org Green Village Initiative is a non-profit organization whose mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport.

Green Village Initiative

Scope of Work: 1. Draft, revise, and finalize an Urban Agriculture Master Plan for the city of Bridgeport with policies, goals and objectives. a. Glean and track community input through: i. Working with partner organizations to present and glean input during meetings with their constituents (e.g. Make the Road; Bridgeport Neighborhood Trust). ii. Holding open forums for public input, at various partner organizations’ locations. iii. Holding meetings in several neighborhoods. b. Advise on outreach strategy and marketing materials (such as flyers) created by Steering Committee. i. The Steering Committee and the Bridgeport Food Policy Council will get the word out via partner networks, posting flyers, etc. ii. The Consultant should advise on best practices for marketing and outreach. c. Create supportive documents such as visuals and presentation materials i. Develop handouts for the public communicating how and where urban agriculture exists in Bridgeport and what it could look like. This could be done through creating community profiles. 2. Establish an Action Strategy and Recommendations for implementing the Plan. a. Develop draft recommendations for an action strategy to be implemented.

Submit a Proposal: To submit a proposal for this project, please send the following information to Juniper Blakeman, Americorps VISTA Service Member at the Bridgeport Food Policy Council, via email at [email protected] by February 10th, 2018: • A draft Schedule of Activities to complete the project • A Cover Letter and Resume demonstrating experience, skills and ability necessary to complete the project • Budget requirements needed to fulfill the Scope of Work Proposals will be reviewed by the Urban Agriculture Subcommittee of the Bridgeport Food Policy Council, consisting of Green Village Initiative, Americorps VISTA Service Members, the City of Bridgeport and local partners. Please contact Juniper with any questions at: [email protected].

Green Village Initiative | 325 Lafayette Street #9101, Bridgeport, CT 06604 | (203) 227-5320 | www.gogvi.org Green Village Initiative is a non-profit organization whose mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport.