Kingsborough Community College part of the City University of New York, held its annual Eco-Festival celebration on April 13^th through the 15^th. On April 13-14 the Center for Economic and Workforce Development provided two highly publicized highlights to the overall program- the newly formed Urban Farm and the Brooklyn FoodWorks Initiative, both of which focus on sustainability within the food service industry. 

The morning of the 13^th CEWD held the ground breaking ceremony for the Urban Farm at Kingsborough who has partnered with the Active Citizen Project (ACP). In 2009 ACP launched the EATS project. Using farming techniques, the project works to increase the supply of healthy food by growing fruits & vegetables in the urban communities where they are consumed. ACP serves as a catalyst to change consumer behavior by helping communities build a self sustaining garden/farm within 36 months that offers low cost, high nutrient fresh food.

Kingsborough will be the 5^th site where an EATS project is developed in NYC. This partnership unites industry with community in helping to build and document the process of bringing a conception of an urban farm to a college campus. The farm will be at 12 month, high-yielding farm where vegetables, fruits and herbs will be grown for sale to the KCC community as well as for Tourism and Hospitality’s Culinary Arts program. Kingsborough students will be trained as urban farmers and learn how to harvest, process and sell fresh produce.  By June CEWD and ACP hope to have 4 markets, offering not only fresh produce but ready to cook/eat food that will be sold at 50% market rate. The urban farm will serve to promote awareness about sustainability and the importance of bringing fresh produce to the students of KCC and its surrounding communities.

In the afternoon of April 14, the newest initiative from CEWD- the Brooklyn FoodWorks held a panel discussion entitled: Sustainability and Urban Agriculture at Kingsborough. Brooklyn FoodWorks promotes sustainability in the food industry and was created as part of the CUNY GreenWorks project, that was designed to expand sustainability initiatives throughout the City University of New York.   Brooklyn FoodWorks streamlines CEWD’s food initiatives, supports food entrepreneurs, the urban farm and bring awareness about how the food industry can be another area of sustainability.

Brooklyn FoodWorks currently offers various support and resources for the entrepreneurs with offering continuing education courses that focus on sustainability and by providing them with a pool of qualified and trained employees that have completed the free workforce and hospitality training offered by CEWD.   In the coming months CEWD will go one step further and begin to survey sustainable restaurants to find out more about their workforce needs and the issues and concerns that may arise by being a sustainable business.  To learn more about the recent panel discussion that discussed the growth, interest and impact of urban agriculture in the restaurant industry, please visit us at cewd.net.