IN THE GROUND
Jordan Wells, Stephen Khamis, Sadhana Srinivasan, Richard Vaca Espitia
In Southeast Raleigh, food insecurity is the most clear and present stressor in the community. This outweighs and influences other significant stressors like transit inequity and affordable housing. With a great part of this region divided by Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, equitable food space and nutritious food options are hard to come by outside of the stereotypical corner convenient store.
However, in recent years there has been an expansive and consistent effort to bolster the neighborhood’s park and greenway system. Providing new community facilities such as community centers, gyms, and a new aquatic center. The existing greenway system runs through each of these and provides a continuous conduit to the center of the downtown core.
This proposal reinvigorates an underutilized portion of the greenway that runs parallel to Chavis Way, a narrow one-sided street in the Prince Hall District. The proposal is both a permanent home for the Black Farmer’s Market (which currently meets informally at the Southeast YMCA), and a food hub for stable local farmers to daily offer fresh food to the neighborhood.