Submitted by klevin on Fri, 2010-07-09 12:36

In partnership with the Historic Faubourg Treme Association, Institute of Community Development, the New Orleans Police Justice Foundation, North Rampart Community Center, North Rampart Main Street, Inc., and Treme Bridge Marketplace, Covenant House New Orleans (CHNO) will launch the “Marketplace at Armstrong Park” today, Friday, July 9th from 3 to 6PM and will continue every Friday at this time indefinitely.

More than ten vendors will sell prepared meals, seafood, produce, handcrafted items, and more at the marketplace, the first-ever endeavor for CHNO and Armstrong Park, located at the corners of Rampart and St. Peter streets. Youth and staff from “Covenant Farms”, CHNO’s newest Social Enterprise Business program for Covenant House kids focusing on agriculture and urban farming, will be selling their own fruits and vegetables at the marketplace.

“Covenant Farms” is working with local professionals within the food and urban farming industry to create a start-to-finish program in which CHNO youth will clear land, plant produce, tend to and harvest product, learn cooking processes for food, in addition to marketing and selling the product. The youth are also building all of the boxes the food is planted in, the fencing, and other necessities for the gardens—most of which is being done with donated or recycled and reused materials.

“Within each farm, every youth with have an area that is theirs, where they get to choose what to plant as well as market their own produce at the farmer’s market,” said Stacy Horn Koch, Executive Director of Covenant House New Orleans. “We’d like to eventually link up with some micro financing partners, so that these youth can start their own businesses. Covenant Farms and our other Social Enterprise Business programs offer youth the opportunity to use their own creativity to figure out who they are.”

“Covenant Farms” is a part of the larger Social Enterprise Business initiative at CHNO that engages youth in hands-on job education in three capacities at present; urban and sustainable agriculture through “Covenant Farms”; food service and hospitality through “Covenant Café”; and landscaping through “White Dove Landscaping.”

 “This is what our programs are all about - it’s being able to help our youth become sustainable and the opportunity to be able to look at a project when it’s completed and say “Wow. I really had something to do with that. This is absolutely beautiful,” said Wayne Bruno, Director of Business Development with CHNO. “With “Covenant Farms”, we’re hoping to be able to work through the community to have many gardens in different neighborhoods instead of empty vacant lots.”

Aaron Campbell, a CHNO youth who participates in both the “Covenant Farms” and “White Dove Landscaping” programs has developed a passion for the business and hopes to branch out on his own one day to pursue a career in landscaping and urban agriculture.

“I’ve got some gardening and landscaping books that I study,” said Aaron. “I’d like to get my landscaping and contracting license and probably within the next five years own my own business.”