Making it cool to grow veggies

A new mini-grant program launched by the Office of Sustainability targets “people in our community most negatively impacted by food-related injustice.” Twenty grants of up to $3,000 are going to groups like Black Lives Veggies, which “teaches sustainable and organic gardening skills to people of all incomes.” Larry Franklin, who founded the group, explained that his goal is to “put a spin on gardening like it’s basketball – we make it cool to grow vegetables.” Lucia Athens, the city’s chief sustainability officer, emphasized, “Food injustice in our community is real. No one in a city as wealthy as Austin should be going hungry. We are thrilled to offer support to these groups that are improving access to food in our community.” See the complete list of grant recipients here.