“The positive effects of parks don’t just impact locals,” says Tim Watkins, president and CEO of Watts Labor Community Action Committee. “It’s time to understand that every new park or community space benefits everyone. We need to change how we view new parks in Los Angeles County,” Watkins continues. “We often focus only on the benefits a park brings to a local neighborhood, in an isolated way. We should instead see the effect that a vibrant city full of parks, gardens, and other open spaces has on everyone in our city.”

A community garden in Watts is a perfect example of a project that has the potential to change people’s lives in a community that has long been economically depressed and underserved. Watts has a large population of children and young adults under age 24, staggering unemployment,

health and nutrition challenges, only one major grocery outlet, and a dearth of park space. With a groundbreaking $1 million low-interest loan from an anonymous Trust for Public Land (TPL) donor, TPL and the Watts Labor Community Action Committee (WLCAC) purchased 2.48 acres, once the site of buildings burned down in the Watts Riots 40 years ago, to create MudTown Farms, an urban agricultural demonstration center with the potential to become the heart of a network of community gardens.

WLCAC-bone of the oldest and largest private nonprofit community development corporations in America- plans to use the site for professionally-managed community gardens, a revenue producing farm, a resource for nutrition and low-cost healthy foods, a community building, job training, and wellness activities.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn helped make the project a reality. “I am thrilled that we were able to save a garden that provides much-needed open space in a community where we do not have enough,” she says. “This partnership between the Trust for Public Land and Watts Labor Community Action Committee will enable kids and adults from Watts to have better nutrition, and gain skills in gardening and farming skills and experiences that they would never have without MudTown Farms.”

Larry Kaplan, TPL’s Los Angeles area director, hopes MudTown Farms will become an economic solution for the greater community. “A lot of folks will go through this site the people in the adjacent housing project of Jordan Downs, nearby schools, and other community members,” he says, adding that MudTown Farms’ impact could extend into outlying neighborhoods in many ways: “For example, if MudTown Farms provides a mechanism to inspect produce grown in backyards and certify it as organically grown, people will be able to both sell and buy locally-grown organic produce at the farmer’s market.”

“You may not live near MudTown Farms,” adds Bob Reid, “but projects like this have a positive ripple effect that makes Los Angeles a better place a more livable city for all of us.”

If you would like to become a part of the WLCAC campaign and help create parks and other open spaces, please contact Tina Watkins at (323) 923-1474.