For people living in and around South Phoenix, accessing healthy food easily isn’t always possible. But the opportunity to have space to grow your own food — or your own food business — just got easier.
On Tuesday, March 31, dozens of people gathered at Heart & Soil People’s Garden off of 1st Street and Durango to mark the grand opening of the new Garden Education Center. The space will serve as a community anchor for agricultural education, entrepreneurship training and neighborhood empowerment, particularly for women and historically underserved communities. Notable guests like Renee Parsons from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation, Vice Mayor Kesha Hodge Washington, Arizona State Conservationist Keisha Tatem, and Paul Brierley, Director of the Arizona Department of Agriculture, attended the official ribbon cutting.
“Our work spans everything from beginning farmer training and land access, to food entrepreneurship and helping young people build healthy habits early,” said Kimber Lanning, Founder and CEO of Local First Arizona. “This space will be essential for participants to hone their skills planting seasonally, organically managing pests and learning through a cohort model how to grow food for themselves, their families and their communities.”
This is a major milestone for both Local First Arizona and the Heart & Soil Garden, which launched in 2022 as a vacant lot in the heart of South Phoenix. A $1 million gift from The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation in 2024 — the largest in Local First Arizona history — made the Education Center expansion a reality, while also helping to fund the organization’s business accelerator programs for Spanish-speaking and Black entrepreneurs.
“Health and wellness have always been deeply important to me, and access to fresh, nutritious food is a big part of that,” said Renee Parsons, Co-Founder of The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. “This effort shows us what is possible when a community comes together around a shared vision. They’re not only growing healthy food in the garden, but they’re also nurturing stronger, more connected neighborhoods.”
Today, Heart & Soil is cultivated by 12 active women growers and produces more than 14,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year. The community can look forward to hands-on training, community workshops, youth activities and Local First’s recently launched Ag Business Boot Camp.
For more information, visit heartandsoilgarden.org.
