CUP: Store

Talking Trash: Throwing Out the Big Apple

Urban Investigations

The Fresh Producers

Although the Hunts Point Produce Market in the Bronx offers one of the largest selections of fresh fruits and vegetables in the world, some Bronx residents feel there aren’t enough places to get fresh produce in their neighborhoods. Where does our fresh produce come from? Where does it go? Who decides what communities have access to fresh produce?

In our latest Urban Investigation, CUP, Teaching Artist Kathryn Sclavi, and designer Joelle Riffle worked with a group of high schools students from the Knowledge and Power Preparatory Academy International High School (KAPPA) in the Bronx to investigate these questions.

Students got out of the classroom and into the garden to dig deeper, to visit sites like a community garden and the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. Students interviewed stakeholders like New York City Council Member Ritchie Torres, Hunger Free America’s Executive Director Joel Berg, and Black Urban Growers (BUGs) Founder Karen Washington. Students created The Fresh Producers booklet to teach others about where our fresh produce comes from and who makes these decisions.