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FLINT

2015 Quick Stats*:

  • 324 Garden Starter kits were sold

  • The Demonstration Garden produced 1725 lbs of food

  • 30 participants completed the 14 week training program

About Flint

Flint is a city in southeastern Michigan which gained publicity for their lead contaminated water sources. In addition, to water problems, Flint also suffers from food security and qualifies as a food desert (NPR). Flint is a majority-minority city with a 56.6% African American population.

edible flint

edible flint is a collaborative organization formed in 2009 that is based in Flint. Its mission is to increase food access and community connections in Flint by encouraging and educating about urban agriculture as well as supporting a cooperative through which growers can sell their produce.

Work Groups

Edible flint achieves their work through task forces called Work Groups which focus on five different areas:

Driven by a desire to make connections and foster community, work groups are open to all. Each Work Group has been hyperlinked if the reader would like more information on each Group’s specific role and goals.

Strategies to Improve Food Access and Foster Community

One of the initiatives that edible flint has pursued is garden starter training and kits. The training provides willing Flint citizens with information and strategies to start and maintain a food garden while the kits provide them with physical resources such as seeds. Due to Flint’s struggles with water purity, edible flint has made sure to include vegetable seeds that are particularly impervious to lead. From 2011 to 2015, the number of kits sold each year has increased from 303 to 324 (also shown in the graph above) (2015 Annual Report).


In addition to promoting individual gardens, edible flint also owns a community garden. This garden is called the Demonstration Garden and hosts the garden starter trainings. In addition, it has provided up to 1,795 pounds of food (2015 Annual Report).

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edible flint also hosts an annual Food Garden Tour. There are bike paths or bus routes that stop at food gardens around Flint and the surrounding areas. It's mission is to "celebrate innovative and inspiring food gardens in the Flint area" and one of its goals is to build civic pride (edible flint).

Overall Thoughts and Concerns

  • edible flint is clearly having an impact in the community and is successfully rolling out and increasing interest in programs such as Garden Starter Training and Kits

  • edible flint is very community-based and engaged by opening Work Group meetings to all and hosting events such as the Food Garden Tours in order to build civic pride

  • While the 2015 does report some data, it doesn't specify how the 1,725 lbs of food were distributed and it doesn't include a map or data surrounding the spread of individual gardens 

  • Who is this benefitting? While it is clear that edible flint is trying its hardest to engage the community, what demographics are engaging in these urban agricultural practices? The city is a majority African American, so are they also the majority of participants in edible flint? Neither the website nor the Annual Reports indicate answers to these questions

*All 2015 Quick Stats and Garden Starter Graph provided by edible flint's 2015 Annual Report

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