New round of POISE grants provides $349,000
When the COVID-19 outbreak hit Allegheny County, Raqueeb Bey had to figure out a plan for a team of urban farmers to plant and harvest its crops while practicing social distancing.
Ms. Bey, founder and executive director of the Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers of Pittsburgh Co-op, said members and volunteers turned out beginning in April wearing masks and gloves and used plenty of hand sanitizer while they prepared beds and began planting at the organization’s 31,000-square-foot farm on Monticello Street in Homewood.
The co-op also had to reconfigure its weekly farmers market, which kicked off last Saturday at the House of Manna Faith Community on Frankstown Avenue, Homewood.
It was critical to continue supplying food in the neighborhood during the COVID-19 crisis, said Ms. Bey, because Homewood is a predominantly black community where families have been hit hard by job losses and other economic worries as the pandemic forced businesses to close and lay off workers.
Homewood also lacks a neighborhood supermarket, and its residents suffer from “food apartheid,” said Ms. Bey.
“African Americans were already dealing with food insecurity, and with COVID-19, there was food insecurity everywhere,” she said.
Thanks to a $25,000 grant from POISE Foundation, the co-op is going to increase its yield this season and buy personal protective equipment for those involved with growing and distributing the food.
The funds came in the latest round of grants from POISE’s Critical Community Needs Fund, which launched in April to provide money for small nonprofits and churches that assist vulnerable individuals and families in black communities.
POISE this week announced 34 grants totaling nearly $350,000, bringing the fund’s total grantmaking to $669,000 for 65 groups in the region.
POISE also said it has surpassed its original fundraising goal of $750,000 for the critical needs fund.
As of Friday, the fund had raised nearly $890,000 from individuals and organizations, including major contributions from the Heinz Endowments, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Henry L. Hillman Foundation and the
Pittsburgh Foundation.
More grants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 are planned, POISE said.
“We hope these small investments we are making in our grantees … help them take one step closer to bringing stability, equity and humanity to the black community,” said Mark Lewis, president and chief executive of POISE.
Besides increasing the number of raised beds at its farm site and purchasing PPE, the Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers will use its POISE grant to add more beehives and start a community supported agriculture network through which it can deliver fresh produce and other products to people’s homes.
On July 4, the co-op plans to build a healing garden at its site, where it will harvest medicinal herbs used to treat anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, said Ms. Bey.
It will also offer meditation and yoga that day at the new healing garden.
Plans for the healing garden were in the works prior to the pandemic and recent protests held in response to the May 25 killing of a black man, George Floyd, while in the custody of police officers in Minneapolis.
“Now it’s needed more than ever,” said Ms. Bey.