20 Aug 8th-Aug 14th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Ready to Grow Phoenix community garden gets a boost thanks to historic donation. BY GEORGANN YARA I n south central Phoenix, a small garden is home to plants plus food education programs for kids and adults and an open-air market. Here, 13 women toil faithfully even amid 110-degree heat to nurture and harvest tomatoes, cucumbers, squash and other crops that will feed their families and, for some, become edible products that can be sold to generate income. The Heart & Soil People’s Garden is an oasis in the middle of a designated food desert where residents are more than a mile away from a grocery store or fresh food source. It’s also where seventh-gener- ation farmer Nika Forté teaches women how to grow fruits, vegetables and herbs and then transform them into sauces, mixed salads and other dishes. “I’m a firm believer in woman-empow- erment,” says Forté, Heart & Soil’s garden director. “You teach a woman to grow, you teach a nation. You teach children to grow, you teach the next generation to grow.” Thanks to a recent, historic donation, the garden and its programs will flourish even more. Making an impact Heart & Soil is among the beneficiaries of a donation by The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation to Local First Arizona of $1 million, the largest private donation in the nonprofit’s 21-year history. The donation will allow Local First to double the size of the urban garden to about a half-acre, and expand its program- ming to the Phoenix community, with about 60% earmarked for Heart & Soil over two years. The donation has enabled the purchase of a neighboring lot that will host class- rooms and restrooms and allow for more growing space. “I want to engage more people and have more classes, build classrooms for kids and teach people how to grow in their own space for their home or wherever they’d like to,” Forté says. The remaining funds will support Local First’s business accelerators Fuerza Local, Nivel Ejecutivo and We Rise, all of which are designed to help Spanish-speaking and Black entrepreneurs succeed. The Parsons have been huge supporters of Local First for the last 10 years, says Local First founder and CEO Kimber Lanning. Two years ago, Lanning brought Renee to the garden. She met Forté, who pointed to a vacant dirt lot nearby and mentioned that it would be amazing to expand. Renee met some of the women who grew produce in the garden and heard their personal stories of how it changed and impacted their lives and the surrounding community. “She loved what Heart & Soul was,” Lanning says of the impression the garden left on Renee. In a news release, Renee called the garden “an oasis of healing and health,” and said that “the garden is more than a place where food is grown, it is a hub for education, empowerment, safety, health and belonging.” Growing the garden Entrepreneur Bob Parsons is most well known as the founder of GoDaddy and Parsons Xtreme Golf. He and The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation donated $1 million to Local First Arizona, the largest private donation in the nonprofit’s history. Part of the funds will benefit Heart & Soil People’s Garden. Renee Parsons (left) stands with Heart & Soil garden director Nika Forté. (Photo courtesy of Local First Arizona) ▼ Food & Drink >> p 22