- Last Updated on Saturday, 30 March 2019 02:52
Activists Tackling Food Insecurity in Clairton
Roughly 70 volunteers, fundraisers, local activists and agtech (agricultural technology) enthusiasts came together at AlphaLab Gear - a startup and innovation hub in Pittsburgh - to support a sustainable year-round greenhouse project for Clairton, PA.
It has been 12 years since the residents of Clairton have had a local grocery store. If it were not for a small corner store run by Economic Development South called Produce Marketplace, it would be a textbook food desert by every measure. And since nearly 30% of Clairton residents do not have access to a vehicle, each trip takes hours by bus.
Greenhouses for Everyone, a nonprofit, is raising funds to expand Produce Marketplace’s capacity by building a greenhouse. If successful, it will sit on the store’s roof on St Clair Avenue.
The GoFundMe campaign runs until April 15 and its success level will determine the final build, affecting which plants can be grown, and in what quantities. At the $6,000 level, 8,000 heads of lettuce per year can be grown. At $10,000, that number triples, leafy varieties increase, plus microgreens like cilantro and basil.
The complete list of goal levels is available on the project’s GoFundMe page, at: www.gofundme.com/clairtongrows
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