Week 7:
Matthew 25

March 4, 2013

Without further delay, a photo essay.

The entrance to the Matthew 25 Ministry Hub headquarters at 225 K Ave. NW in Cedar Rapids. This building is also the home of Block by Block, the multi-organization partnership headed by Matthew 25 that renovated more than 270 homes in the wake of the 2008 flood. Most of that work is done, but M25 still owns several properties in the neighborhood that have been or are in the process of being renovated as sustainable, affordable single-family homes. It’s fitting that Block by Block is headquartered here, because the Time Check neighborhood is in the hundred-year flood plain and was one of the communities hardest hit by the flood (and slowest to recover, since any development on the flood plain now requires an application to FEMA).

As the flood rehabilitation progressed, Block by Block started to realize how deep and varied the community’s troubles really are. Historically one of the lowest-income parts of Cedar Rapids, the Taylor and Time Check neighborhoods are both in census tracts classified as “food deserts” by the USDA – meaning they have little or no access to fresh produce. Rates of obesity in fifth graders are eleven points higher than the national average. Out of these realizations came the idea for the Ellis Urban Village, an affordable, green community made up of residences and local businesses, anchored around Iowa’s first Urban Farm and a comprehensive Urban Food education center. The initial plans for the Urban Village are shown above.

The name of the program I’m working with, which runs the Urban Farm and is in charge of M25’s nascent school garden projects, came from a flood-era pick-me-up: painted signs with the words “Cultivate Hope” on them stuck in flowerpots all over the city. I love that part of the story.

So here’s the desk I sit at every day. Because of the time of year, there’s not a lot of hands-on work to do – the Farm is frozen solid under at least a foot of snow at the moment. So I do computer things. Turns out there’s a lot of this to be done. Grant-composing, recipe-hunting, powerpoint-creating, flyer-designing. Though I am endlessly grateful for the chance to develop these skills in a professional setting, I also think it’s a very good thing that this Fellowship usually takes place in February and March instead of January and February – that way, Fellows can do a mix of administrative support and hands-on farm work. How do people in office jobs survive? More on this question in the next post.

This is Clint (executive co-director; in the orange) and Jerry (neighborhood investment coordinator) allowing me to interrupt a meeting in the spacious, sunny meeting room. I appreciate a lot that the office is a dynamic space; people are always wandering around, asking each other questions and having small impromptu meetings. I hear that there are some offices where people will email each other questions instead of walking five feet to talk to them. That sounds like actually the worst thing ever. Why would I want MORE emails in my life?

One of the coolest things about the M25 headquarters is that it is not only an office. It’s got all this other awesome stuff attached. The above pictures are from Groundswell, which is a community gathering and youth empowerment space complete with stage, projection set-up, kitchen, couches, and art gallery. Local bands can book the space for concerts for dirt cheap, and the popular open mic nights include music, poetry, and original short films. I don’t know a lot about the Cedar Rapids creative scene, but from what I can gather Groundswell creates an important venue for artistic expression of all kinds that perhaps didn’t exist before, especially for young people.

Also connected to the main office are a large warehouse to store and construct stuff for the Farm and gardens (cold frames, compost bins, seedling trays, etc.). This is also the space that the Iowa Valley Food Co-Op uses for monthly distribution. The Co-Op is pretty neat – they bring together products from dozens of local food producers, and members can order how ever many of a given product they want for that month. There’s the normal CSA-type stuff – lettuce, carrots, zucchini, eggs – but there’s also baked goods, fresh herbs, local honey, homemade sausages, and all sorts of other delicious things. President Emeritus Les Garner is a member! I’m a little jealous.

This past week we had a group of AmeriCorps NCCCs come in to do their introductory team-building assignment with us. They were awesome. They built all sorts of things (cold frames, mini greenhouses), labeled all the shelves in the warehouse, and painted these incredibly wonderful signs. One of our plans for the Farm this growing season is to create sponsorship opportunities for each plot, so that companies/individuals can sponsor a plot for a year and get their name on it. Because these names are going to change every year, though, the plots will also need permanent names for internal use. The NCCCs researched famous figures from Cedar Rapids’ history and then painted signs with their last names. They’re SO COOL. Did you know the inventor of the trampoline was a Cedar Rapids resident? Bet you didn’t.

This is not a picture I took. But it is a lovely picture of one section of the Urban Farm on a summer afternoon. I hope I will get to see the farm before graduation! Seems like a good opportunity for a little Environmental Club service trip. Maybe I’ll talk to Matt about that 🙂

Until next week!

-Molly