Wille & Marisa Miller - Miller City Farm

 

Miller City Farm

City of South Fulton, Fulton County

By Wille & Marisa Miller

At Miller City Farm, we believe resilient communities come from intentional collaboration between local government, businesses, and community pillars such as schools and faith organizations.

It may not seem like it on a surface level, but food and farms are the crucial to the success of these institutions.

It is no coincidence that food deserts and Title VI schools often go hand in hand, and it's our children who suffer. How are malnourished students supposed to concentrate?

Thats where collaboration comes in. Together, we were able to tackle two problems with one farm by engaging students in STEAM learning while teaching them about nutrition.

But the more work we did with schools, the more prevalent the issue of food insecurity became from the community at-large.

We realized that churches in our community could play a huge role, but had not been engaged properly. Churches are one of the biggest landowners in our community, and many seek to serve the less fortunate. As churches are starting to focus on hunger, we saw a huge opportunity.

Through my own work with the South Fulton Food Policy Council, I was able to meet and engage several local pastors in developing and installing church gardens to feed their membership.

There are a lot of problems with education and healthcare, but we need to remember that we can do something about it if we work together. The farmers in this room are here to help. We have solutions to problems that seem to be getting worse, and we'd love to work with you to make our communities stronger.

How can local farms support your programs, institutions, and communities in a holistic manner?