GRAND OPENING AND RIBBON CUTTING
FOR SOUTHSIDE COMMUNITY LAND TRUST’S
404 BROAD STREET HEALTHY FOOD HUB
A Capstone in Southside Community Land Trust’s 40+ Year History
Providence, RI (June 14, 2022)—Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for its completely renovated, 12,000 sq ft building at 404 Broad Street in Upper South Providence on June 24, 2022, at 8:45 am. 404 Broad Street will feature a Farm-to-Market produce processing center, SCLT program and education facilities, and three healthy food retail enterprises.
What: Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting, 404 Broad Street
Who:
Margaret DeVos, SCLT Executive Director
Rochelle Lee, President, SCLT Board of Directors
The Honorable Sheldon Whitehouse, US Senate
The Honorable Jack Reed, US Senate
The Honorable Jorge Elorza, Mayor of Providence
Darrèll Brown, Vice President, Conservation Law Foundation, Rhode Island
Helen Fagan, President & COO, Rhode Island Commerce
Michele Lederberg, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer, and Chief Administrative Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of RI
Peter Marino, President & CEO, Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island
Carol Ventura, Executive Director, RI Housing
*Confirmed speakers to date
When: Friday, June 24 at 8:45am
Where: 404 Broad Street, Providence, RI 02907
SCLT was founded in 1981 by South Side residents, including newly arrived Hmong refugees, who reclaimed an abandoned parcel by working together to create the City’s first community garden. SCLT now operates an extensive array of agricultural programs that feed more than 15,000 people each year.
It provides low-cost land leases to 40 farmers around the state who supply fresh fruits and vegetables primarily to food-insecure Rhode Islanders through Food on the Move, VeggieRx (SCLT’s produce prescription program) and Produce in the Parks, as well as to farmers markets, restaurants and food businesses.
It operates 21 community gardens in Providence, Pawtucket and Central Falls, and partners with schools, housing, and community organizations to manage another 37 gardens. SCLT operates three urban production farms and two large incubator farms that practice and demonstrate biointensive, small-scale agricultural production.
404 Broad Street will further SCLT’s mission to address food insecurity, a problem that affects one in four BIPOC Rhode Islanders, and to continue to build a more equitable, sustainable food system in the state.
At the USDA-compliant Farm-to-Market Center SCLT staff will aggregate and process farmers’ produce before distributing it to wholesale buyers.
The three food retail businesses—a small grocer featuring produce and imported African foods and two restaurants run by Southside natives—are partnering closely with SCLT to expand residents’ affordable, healthy food options.
SCLT will house its offices on the second floor, along with its youth entrepreneurship center where Youth Staff develop skills to prepare them for work in the state’s food and farming and sectors.
About Southside Community Land Trust
SCLT’s mission is to provide access to land, education, and other resources so people in Rhode Island can grow food in environmentally sustainable ways and create community food systems where locally produced, affordable and healthy food is available to all.
Our programs, community gardens and farms serve people in urban neighborhoods where fresh, affordable produce is nearly impossible to find, leading to residents’ disproportionately high rates of diet-related chronic diseases.
Its current location is 109 Somerset Street, Providence, RI, 02906.