Will Allen , farmer , founder and CEO of Growing Power Inc ., is recognized as a preeminent practitioner of urban agriculture in America and throughout the world . Will grew up on a small farm in Maryland , the second-youngest of six children of a sharecropper . Despite a strict rule of his father ’ s – no sports until all farm chores were done – he became a standout basketball player in high school and the first African-American scholarship athlete at the University of Miami . He eventually became the basketball team captain , and still holds a number of Miami Hurricanes records . Will graduated with a degree in education . Will was drafted in both the National Basketball Association and the American Basketball Association . He played in the ABA for a year and then entered the European League , playing for Belgium . While living in Belgium , Will reconnected with his farming roots . He observed the intensive methods used on small plots by local farmers , and began applying those methods in a garden where he grew food for his family and teammates . Upon returning to the United States , Will began a career in corporate sales and marketing . Job opportunities brought him to Oak Creek , a suburb of Milwaukee , his wife ’ s hometown and site of her family farm . Eventually , Will tired of corporate life and took over operation of the farm . In 1993 , wanting a place to sell his produce , he located a vacant garden center with three-acres on Milwaukee ’ s north side . As it turned out , the small property was the last tract in the city of Milwaukee still zoned for agriculture . Will realized he could not only sell food from his own farm in Oak Creek , he could grow food on-site in a neighborhood where there was little fresh food to be found . The ultimate direction of Will ’ s life truly changed when young people from the neighborhood , including kids who lived in the largest lowincome public housing project in Milwaukee , began to ask him for advice and assistance with growing their own vegetables . Almost overnight , Will took up the mantle of teacher and trainer , and the impromptu gathering of neighborhood children became the Youth Corps , a program that continues today . In 1995 , Growing Power Inc . was born : a not-for-profit center for urban agriculture training and building community food security systems .
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