Friendship Gardens
EVER-GROWING COLLABORATION
While great work had been achieved
at the prison, Friendship Gardens
was soon looking for a new space
for its Urban Farm. A lucky turn of
events came soon after Owen participated in a local event, SEED20,
sponsored by Social Venture Partners,
a local venture philanthropy organization. Following his participation,
Owen received a call from Wells
Fargo’s Community Relations office
saying that they had heard his pitch
at the SEED20 event and that they
wanted to work with Friendship
Gardens to find a new space for their
Urban Farm.
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PEACHY
“Because of my SEED20 pitch, Jay
Everett at Wells Fargo Community
Affairs knew of our plans to establish
an urban farm as part of the Friendship Gardens program,” Owen said.
“Months later he called me and said
‘are you still looking for a farm space?
Wells Fargo may be in a position to
help with start up funding.’ It is was a
great phone call!”
This partnership was invaluable. After
some searching, Friendship Gardens
found a defunct greenhouse and two
and a half acres of land at a local, urban
high school. It also allowed for a new
and unique collaboration to evolve: