In 2018, USDA identified 88 separate food deserts in Dallas County, an issue that many nonprofits are stepping up to address, rather than for-profit food chain grocery stores. Access to nutritious food is part of a larger problem around Dallas low-income residents’ social resiliency, which include education, transportation, housing, and health care deficits. A study by the University of Texas system found that residents in South Dallas have a life expectancy of 26 years fewer than those who live in a more affluent area of the city just two miles apart that has more access to healthy food.

South Dallas has historically been cut off from economic opportunities and resources, such as grocery stores, due to the placement of Interstate-30 dissecting the city. The project location will be within a food desert as defined by USDA where a significant number of residents in a low-income region are more than one urban mile away from a supermarket and do not have a vehicle. While a food desert is descriptive of the lack of accessible food, the way in which Dallas food deserts were created is due to the inaction of the local government to take steps that prevent the inequality and inequity seen today. This is known as food apartheid and OCVP is on the front lines to fight this inequity in South Dallas.

Cooperative Hydroponics Lab Initiative aims to impact the South Dallas community by:

● Cultivating a new source of locally grown fresh produce to support local economic cooperation.

● Establishing a “Community Supported Agriculture” style equitable distribution model

● Providing K-12 agriculture curriculum to include both traditional and hydroponic cultivation

Cooperative Cultivation Lab is being developed in partnership with 4DWN Project. The farm site will include:

● Vertical hydroponic based cultivation

● Rainwater collection & solar power generation

● Onsite CSA produce distribution

● Onsite compost production