Mayor Walsh has announced the creation of the Urban Farming Pathways Initiative, a jobs training program for citizens returning from incarceration. The program, which will be overseen by Youth Options Unlimited (YOU) Boston, will train 25 young people in urban agriculture on a city-owned parcel. In its first year, the initiative aims to grow 5,000 pounds of healthy produce to distribute to 1,000 residents through five farmers’ markets in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan.
The initiative will be funded by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Neighborhood Jobs Trust, the Boston Foundation and Partners for Places.
YOU Boston will work with City Soil, the Urban Farming Institute and other community partners to develop programming. A division of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, YOU Boston works with youth and young adults ages 14 to 24, particularly those from neighborhoods with the highest level of poverty and violence and those reentering the community from incarceration.
Read the press release to learn more.