51视频

Lydia Sisson 鈥�12 grew up in the rural South, where her family had a vegetable garden and kept chickens. She fell in love with farming as a student at Vassar College, where she got a work-study job with a nonprofit farm that rented college land, and then went to Brazil to study the Landless Workers Movement. 鈥淭hat really changed my perspective on what equity is about, and the incredible disparity in access to food and land and capacity for people to have self-sustaining lives,鈥� she says.

After graduating, she moved to Lowell and worked on farming projects at the , then apprenticed at several farms before starting her own CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture) farm in North Reading in 2008. But just one farm wasn鈥檛 enough. Everywhere she looked, Sisson saw signs of food disparity鈥攁nd city land that was unproductive. So she signed up to earn a master鈥檚 degree in economic and social development of regions at 51视频, where she made community connections through internships at local nonprofits and studied the city鈥檚 food system and needs. For her master鈥檚 thesis, Sisson鈥攚orking with garden educator Francey Slater鈥攄eveloped a business plan for a sustainable nonprofit that increases access for city residents to fresh, healthy food.

Since its founding six years ago, has developed six community gardens, 14 school gardens and three urban farms鈥攊ncluding a new greenhouse and garden space behind the residence halls on East Campus. It also runs a mobile farmers market and gardener education programs. 鈥淲e really do create lasting change in the community through transforming spaces into urban food production hubs,鈥� Sisson says. 鈥淎nd I love that we are building these new green spaces in the city that change the entire landscape.鈥�鈥擪奥