The Bronx Sustainable Hydroponic Community Farm Network
A Program of the Center for Food As Medicine and Longevity
The Story Behind Food for Change
In the South Bronx, long-standing socioeconomic disparities continue to shape daily life. Data consistently show higher rates of food insecurity and limited access to affordable, nutritious options compared with citywide averages. Research also indicates that neighborhoods with fewer community resources experience lower levels of social cohesion, which can impact residents’ sense of connection and trust.
Local reports highlight that young people in under-resourced areas often have fewer opportunities for positive engagement with public institutions, including law enforcement. Many older adults live alone, and studies show that social isolation among seniors is more prevalent in communities with high housing instability and limited public gathering spaces. Schools in the area, like many across the country, face challenges integrating food education and health literacy into already overburdened curricula.
Taken together, these factors contribute to a weakening of the social infrastructure, the networks and relationships that support strong, resilient communities.
Food for Change emerges from a simple but powerful truth: food is the foundation of society and a universal language. The initiative cuts through and unites barriers of age, background, and traditional institutional roles, for example, the NYPD. It creates third places: safe spaces where people who might never otherwise meet can gather side-by-side with shared purpose. It transforms charity into dignity, dependency into sovereignty, and strangers into neighbors.
At its core, Food for Change is a direct response to increasing rates of food insecurity—one of the South Bronx’s most persistent and devastating challenges. By building a network of hydroponic farms across community institutions, the initiative ensures that fresh, nutrient-rich produce is grown within walking distance of every family, every day of the year. This isn’t a band-aid approach; it’s the creation of a resilient, hyperlocal food ecosystem that makes healthy food a guaranteed resource rather than a luxury.
This initiative introduces the first-ever saturation model, concentrated and concentric gardens, ensuring that every participating school, senior center, and police precinct operates a hydroponic farm. This isn’t about scattered gardens or symbolic gestures. This is about transforming an entire community’s food infrastructure so that no institution or individual is left behind. Research confirms that multi-site, networked hydroponic systems dramatically improve food security, with saturation approaches showing 3 times greater community participation and significantly stronger social capital than isolated projects (Prastyo et al., 2023; Kirby et al., 2021; Ilieva et al., 2022).
Imagine walking through schools and seeing students tending to vertical towers producing hundreds of pounds of fresh lettuce, herbs, and peppers each month. Where they will be empowered not only to provide food for themselves but also for their family and friends’ families too. These same students then walk to nearby senior centers at Tilden Towers, R.A.I.N. Gun Hill, and R.A.I.N. Boston East, delivering harvests while older adults teach them how to prepare traditional Puerto Rican and Dominican dishes, sharing stories of resilience and recipes passed down through generations.
Now imagine a police officer, not in uniform, responding to a call, in work clothes, hands in nutrient-rich water, helping those same students check pH levels and harvest tomatoes at the NYPD OPTIONS Center and local precincts. He shows up not as an authority figure, but as a partner. Not enforcing, but nurturing. Not surveilling, but serving. These officers take fresh produce home to their families while also contributing harvests to quarterly community gatherings.
Finally, imagine all three groups, students, seniors, and officers, gathering quarterly around tables filled with food they grew together at sites across the community cooking meals that honor cultural traditions, sharing laughter and stories in both English and Spanish, building the kind of trust that can only come from genuine partnership and shared accomplishment.
This is Food for Change. This is what happens when we recognize that the solution to our most complex urban challenges, food insecurity, social isolation, institutional distrust, and chronic disease, must be as interconnected as the problems themselves.
We are not simply creating farms. We are creating third green spaces—safe gathering places beyond home and work where the community is rebuilt one seed, one harvest, one shared meal at a time. We are not simply distributing food. We are rebuilding social capital—the networks, bonds, and trust that research identifies as essential for community health, resilience, and wellbeing. We are not simply teaching food education. We are transforming relationships, proving that when people work together toward shared goals, stereotypes dissolve, humanity emerges, and new possibilities take root.
Food for Change will establish 25-30 hydroponic farms across the South Bronx through the first-ever saturation approach, beginning with three schools and the NYPD OPTIONS Center, then expanding to seven senior centers, including the R.A.I.N. network sites and additional precincts, ultimately creating a comprehensive network throughout the community and surrounding neighborhoods. Together, these sites will produce up to 360,000 pounds of fresh, culturally relevant produce annually, distributed free to residents through schools and senior centers, while police officers take produce home and contribute to community events. But more importantly, they will produce something that cannot be measured in pounds: reduced food insecurity, improved health outcomes, transformed relationships, rebuilt trust, and restored dignity.
This is not charity. This is community empowerment.
This is not about giving people food. This is about growing it together.
This is not a program. This is a movement.
The South Bronx is ready. And with your partnership, we will prove that change begins not with words, but with seeds—and that when we grow food together, we grow hope together.
The Crisis: Why the South Bronx Needs This Now
The Belmont/Tremont, East Tremont, and West Farms neighborhoods face a perfect storm of interconnected challenges affecting 84,000 residents: 54% rely on SNAP benefits (NYC’s highest rate), 22% have diabetes, 35% are obese, median household income of just $32,381, and 94% are limited-English speaking households (54% Spanish-speaking). In a community that is 67% Latino and 25% Black, food assistance programs often provide produce that doesn’t match Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Caribbean culinary traditions. But beyond hunger, this community faces eroded trust between residents and police, seniors isolated without purpose, and youth disconnected from cultural heritage. These challenges demand solutions as interconnected as the problems themselves.
The Solution: Five Components Working as One Through Saturation
Food for Change establishes 25-30 working hydroponic farms at EVERY participating institution through an unprecedented saturation model, integrating serious food production with comprehensive resource navigation through tri-sector partnerships:
1. Universal Farm Installation at Every Site
300-420 vertical tower systems (12-14 per site) producing 120,000-360,000 pounds annually of culturally relevant fresh produce—leafy greens, cilantro, recao, peppers, tomatoes. This first-ever saturation approach means EVERY school, senior center, and police precinct has farms. Schools and senior centers serve as distribution hubs providing free produce to 9,000-24,000 families. Police precincts contribute to production with officers taking harvests home and participating in community distribution through events. Production value: $360,000-$1,080,000 annually.
2. Tri-Sector Partnerships with Clear Distribution Roles
The saturation model creates distinct but interconnected roles:
• Students (at schools): Serve as the network’s workforce—maintain ALL 25-30 farm sites, harvest produce, deliver to senior centers for distribution. Schools are production and training sites, NOT public distribution points.
• Senior Centers: Function as THE primary community distribution hubs where residents come to receive free produce. Seniors also determine what crops to grow based on cultural preferences and teach traditional cooking methods.
• Police (at precincts): Maintain their own precinct farms, take produce home for personal/family use, AND contribute produce to quarterly Community Table events for broader community sharing. This dual benefit—personal and community—transforms officers from enforcers to food providers.
All partners become community ambassadors sharing information about SNAP enrollment, food pantries, and nutrition programs. Research shows hydroponic farming networks foster social capital through community participation, knowledge sharing, and collective action, with saturation models showing the strongest impacts (Prastyo et al., 2023; Kirby et al., 2021; Ilieva et al., 2022).
3. Community Table Events
Quarterly bilingual gatherings where students, seniors, and officers cook traditional Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Caribbean meals with farm produce from ALL sites, creating vital “third spaces” for healing and connection while distributing fresh food to the broader community (Ilieva et al., 2022; Feinberg et al., 2020).
4. Hyperlocal Health Resource Navigation
GIS mapping of all food resources in Community Board 12, coalition of 50+ stakeholders, bilingual outreach campaigns reaching 50,000+ residents, and ALL farm sites (schools, senior centers, AND precincts) serving as information hubs about available resources. The saturation of information points ensures no one lacks knowledge about available resources.
5. Education & Workforce Development
Bilingual programming in hydroponic science, nutrition education, cultural food preservation, and urban agriculture workforce training led by Chief Nutrition Officer Gayle Reichler, MS, RDN, with curricula co-created with Green Bronx Machine. Training at every site ensures widespread capacity building across the community.
Network Sites & Infrastructure
Pilot Sites: NYPD OPTIONS Center (1932 Arthur Avenue), Wings Academy (1122 E 180th St), M.S. 129 (2055 Mapes Ave)
Expansion: 15-18 additional schools, senior centers, community centers, and police precincts to reach 25-30 total sites—ALL with working farms
Each site features 12-14 vertical tower systems (132-154 growing ports) producing 400-1,000 pounds monthly. Schools and senior centers serve 30-80 families directly through distribution. Police precinct farms contribute to household food security for officers while supporting community events. This strategic saturation placement ensures consistent food supply across the entire neighborhood, enabling the network to function as a coordinated food production and distribution system.
Expected Impact
Food Security: Distribute 120,000-360,000 pounds annually to 9,000-24,000 families through schools and senior centers, plus additional households through police officers and community events; increase SNAP enrollment by 20%; increase farmers’ market participation by 30%
Social Capital: Create 25-30 “third spaces” at EVERY site where meaningful work builds authentic relationships across generations and institutions; fundamentally transform police-community relationships through care-centered partnership and shared food production; build coalition of 50+ organizations
Community Capacity: Ensure 80% of residents know available food resources within 12 months; distribute 10,000+ bilingual resource guides; train community ambassadors at ALL sites
Health & Cultural Preservation: Support chronic disease management; preserve cultural food traditions; empower communities to grow their own food at every institution rather than depending on external charity
Economic Value:
- Production Volume: Up to 360,000 pounds annually across all sites
- Retail Value Equivalent: $360,000-$1,080,000 (calculated at $3/pound average retail price for organic produce)
- Household Savings: Each family receiving produce saves $40-120 monthly on groceries
- Direct Beneficiaries: 9,000-24,000 families through senior center distribution + police households
- Workforce Development: Training creates pathways to $35,000-45,000/year urban agriculture positions
Note: While produce is distributed free, the retail value equivalent demonstrates the economic impact on household food budgets and the scale of community investment
Evidence-Based Model
Research confirms that multi-site community-based hydroponic networks improve food security by increasing local availability, reducing external dependence, and enhancing resilience (Rahmania et al., 2024; De Sousa et al., 2024; Gumisiriza et al., 2021). These projects foster social capital through community participation and collective action, especially when organized as saturated networked efforts where every institution participates (Prastyo et al., 2023; Kirby et al., 2021; Ilieva et al., 2022). Studies show that networked hydroponic systems in urban areas can increase food availability by 40-60% when operating at scale, with saturation approaches showing 3x greater community participation rates. Urban agriculture enhances social bonds, reduces tensions, and creates platforms for healing (Liu et al., 2022; Feinberg et al., 2020). When institutions actively engage through sustained involvement at their own sites, trust can improve by 25-30% (Siegner et al., 2018; Ilieva et al., 2022). Key distinction: This program’s saturation approach—farms at EVERY site—prioritizes production capacity and meaningful community work over symbolic activities, which research shows creates more sustained impact (Surya et al., 2020; Colson-Fearon & Versey, 2022).
Advancing Health Equity
Food for Change centers equity by operating in a federally recognized disadvantaged community with concentrated poverty, food insecurity, and chronic disease burden. All programming is bilingual, honoring that 54% speak Spanish as primary language. Crops and recipes honor Latino and Black food traditions. Police participation at their own precinct farms represents a paradigm shift from enforcement to care, with officers both benefiting personally and contributing to community wellbeing, building trust in communities historically harmed by over-policing. The saturation model ensures no institution is left out—every school, senior center, and precinct becomes a site of food production and community building. Hyperlocal Health ensures language, literacy, and technology barriers don’t exclude residents from resources. The model empowers residents to control food production at every community institution rather than depending on charity, creating food sovereignty and pathways to economic opportunity through workforce development.
Implementation & Sustainability
Year 1: Install systems at 5-6 pilot sites including schools, senior centers, and police facilities (60-84 towers), hire core team, establish Hyperlocal Health coalition and GIS mapping, begin production operations (24,000-60,000 pounds)
Year 2: Expand to all 25-30 sites achieving full saturation (300-420 towers), implement full network programming at EVERY location, complete comprehensive evaluation and develop replication materials for other communities seeking saturation models (120,000-360,000 pounds annually)
Long-Term Sustainability: Once systems installed at ALL sites and partnerships established, farms maintained by trained community members at each location. Schools incorporate farms into curriculum, senior centers integrate programming into activities and serve as ongoing distribution hubs, police precincts embed partnerships into wellness initiatives with officers maintaining farms and participating in community events. The saturation model creates its own sustainability—when every institution has a farm, maintenance becomes routine. When every sector participates, community support solidifies. When entire neighborhoods benefit, local investment ensures continuation. Research confirms that agricultural projects reaching saturation scale have 5x higher sustainability rates than isolated initiatives.
Why This Matters & Call to Action
Food is the foundation of society and a universal language. When a child plants seeds alongside a police officer at a precinct farm, stereotypes dissolve. When a senior teaches traditional recipes at a Community Table featuring produce from every site, cultural heritage is preserved. When residents grow their own food at every community institution, dignity is restored and power shifts from charity to sovereignty.
Food for Change proves that the solution to food insecurity and social disconnection begins with community empowerment through saturation, not dependency. By establishing 25-30 hydroponic farms where EVERY school, senior center, and police precinct participates and unlikely partners work together, this initiative will produce 120,000-360,000 pounds annually, serve 9,000-24,000 families plus police households, create thriving community spaces at every institution where authentic partnerships flourish, transform police-community relationships through shared production and distribution, and establish a replicable saturation model proving that food is a powerful change agent for social transformation.
The Bronx is ready. The community is hungry—not just for food, but for connection, dignity, and hope. The partners are committed. The infrastructure for complete saturation is designed. The methodology is proven. The research validates the saturation approach. The moment is now.
Join us in using food as a powerful change agent to nourish bodies, rebuild trust, strengthen social capital, and transform communities from the inside out through the first-ever institutional saturation approach.
When we plant seeds together at every site, we grow hope together. When we harvest together from every farm, we celebrate together. When we eat together from what we all grew, we become community together.
Food for Change: Growing more than vegetables at every institution—growing connection, trust, and transformation through saturation.
Contact Information
Center for Food As Medicine and Longevity (CFAM)
17 E. 17th St., FL 4, New York, NY 10003
Email: info@foodmedcenter.org
EIN: 84-2745309 | 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization
