Think Green is for Peace In our Streets and Beyond; Think Green is for Wellness, Health, and Holistic Living.  Think Green is for economic and community development.  The vehicle is the transference of vacant lots into peace gardens that bear vegetables, fruits, and flowers.  This key vehicle allows Umoja’s Think Green Peace Campaign to address all of these areas to improve the quality of life in Philadelphia as well as create a model program that can work internationally in the markets that the House of Umoja reaches.

The Think Green Campaign will begin in the Carroll Park Neighborhood as a model then spread citywide. It will involve the selection of youth by Overbrook, High School, whom have been identified as potential drop-outs.  These youth will be paired with senior citizens from our church community.  Together, they will be a team to more efficiently utilize the abandoned lots in the neighborhood to become gardens.  Fourth Councilman, Curtis Jones, Jr., will bring together all of the block captains within this district to identify eligible lots.  Councilman Jones, serves on the environmental committee of the City of Philadelphia’s City Council and also has an interest in “Green Technology” as well as the environment.

52nd Street, Lansdowne Avenue, and the 69th Street business districts will be asked to contribute to a fund that will provide monies to purchase seeds identified by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society.  The Horticultural Society Recycling Commission located at Ford Road & Chamonix Drive has contributed soil for our existing garden and is a resource for non-organic soil.  Saul High School will continue testing the soil before planting to ensure proper growth and development of the produce.

This community development program can be a vehicle for entrepreneurship, because the produce can be sold to the grocery stores and marketed in the same manner as “farmers market”.  We will also utilize this vehicle to engage our youth in understanding their rich heritage in agriculture.