What's now just an empty patch of dirt is about to bloom into something much bigger—a community garden bringing fresh fruits and veggies to neighbors who say they're stuck in a food desert.
- MLK Community Garden aims to combat food insecurity in a Bakersfield neighborhood lacking grocery stores.
- The garden will be built on an empty lot with $700,000 funding from the City of Bakersfield.
- Residents will have access to fresh produce and workshops on growing food in their own backyards.
- Expected to serve around 200 people, the garden will take about 8 months to become operational.
- Community volunteers are encouraged to participate in the garden's development.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
If you take a drive down Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in Bakersfield, you won't see any grocery stores.
Instead, it's mostly empty lots, liquor stores, smoke shops, and walls covered in graffiti.
For Jacqueline Avarsa, a mom of two who's living in the area for six years, that's a serious concern.
Avarsa tells me,"There are a lot of liquor stores, but not the grocery stores we actually need. Our kids need access to healthy food."
It's not just the lack of food options—she says the neighborhood is also missing something else important, space for kids to just be kids.
Avarsa continues,"I see a lot of kids looking for a green space, somewhere they can run and play. But we just don't have that around here."
That could soon change in the next 30 days.
Nick Hill the interim executive director of the MLK Committee, is helping lead the Community Garden. He says the City of Bakersfield invested around $700,000 over the next five years to turn one of those empty lots into a community garden.
Hill shares,"We want people to see that they can grow their own food, right in their own backyards. This garden is going to be a place to learn, grow, and come together."
Nick Hill tells me the plan includes raised garden beds, irrigation systems, and hands-on workshops to teach residents how to grow their own produce.
Once up and running, the garden is expected to help feed around 200 people in the neighborhood but that could take up to 8 months.
As Food insecurity is a growing issue in Kern County.
In 2023, Feeding America reported that nearly 22% of people here didn't have reliable access to food around 56,000 of them were children. Leaving residents in the community to deal with a temporary solution.
Avarsa ends,"It will be something in the area that could have us look nice, a lot of places are just empty instead of having an empty lot a garden is a great idea."
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