Other Ag News: Manhattan Urban Farm to Prioritize Youth Development

A long-abandoned three-acre plot in the Washington Heights neighborhood of upper Manhattan will soon be home to a youth development program and flourishing urban farm.

Dr. Rosa Yolanda Pineda, pictured here in a 2024 farm field day hosted by Cornell Small Farms Program, is one of the principal drivers behind an urban farm and youth development project in upper Manhattan, where teens will grow crops and learn about soil health, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Photo provided by Connectemonos.

That’s the dream of Dr. Rosa Yolanda Pineda, one of the primary leaders of the project. Pineda and Omar Gonzalez did research on the plot in 2018 and started asking questions. “I’ve lived in Washington Heights for almost 50 years, and this piece of land has been abandoned for as long as I’ve been here,” she said. “It belongs to the Department of Education of New York City, and it’s basically in the backyard of a high school campus. What better use for that land than to make it an educational space for young people to learn to grow food?”

Pineda’s non-profit organization, called Connectemonos, or “Let’s Connect” in Spanish, has been doing youth development and empowerment work for more than 20 years. This urban farm project connects several of her passions.

Pineda was born and raised in Las Matas de Farfán, near the frontier with Haiti, in the province of San Juan, Dominican Republic, where her community grew beans, plantains, root vegetables and raised animals. “Particularly for those of us who grew up eating what we grew, I believe it’s a generational responsibility for us as immigrants to pass our knowledge on to our young people,” she said. “We need people to understand the importance of having healthy food options in the city.”

Pineda says young people in New York City don’t have enough opportunities to connect to their roots, both in the sense of their family traditions as well as the actual roots, stems, leaves, and vines that produce the food they eat.

She noted that urban youth get excited about growing food when they get a chance. “There’s a myth that kids today don’t want healthy food,” she said. “But everyone wants to eat well. It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor, or if you live in the country or the city.”

“This has always been an immigrant community, and a community of entrepreneurs,” Pineda continued. “We have gotten a lot of interest from restaurants. One in particular is a pizzeria where we want to incorporate locally grown vegetables into their menu. Everyone should have the option to choose healthy food where they live. We have to deal with the fact that places like Washington Heights are food swaps, lacking healthy food choices.This comes down to a justice issue.”

Justice, perhaps, is the essence of Pineda’s work. “In many places, we’re finding a loss of a sense of community, so we’re trying to find ways to show young people that they have alternatives,” she said. “They need to have spaces where they can realize the power they have. When young people are civically engaged, not only does it help them, it helps the whole community.”

Connectemonos delivers educational programming about social change, and a big part of that is acting locally. The organization works to reclaim green space and recreational spaces in Washington Heights. The urban farm will expand on that mission.

Pineda and others have already put a lot of sweat equity into the farm plot. From 2018 to 2020, Connectemonos organized cleanup days where members of the community came together to pull weeds and remove litter. By 2021, Superintendent Ramirez and the school campus community officially approved the use of the site. The city public school system has since taken responsibility for addressing structural issues like repairing retaining walls to make the site safe and accessible in 2025. Pineda expects to be given full authorization to start building raised beds and planting vegetables later this year.

This three-acre plot, undergoing structural improvements in early 2025, will soon be home to Manhattan’s largest urban farm, managed by the Connectemonos youth development project. Photo provided by Connectemonos.

Whether in a rural area or in a tucked-away corner of Manhattan, starting a farm requires a tremendous amount of planning. In preparation for getting the first seeds in the ground, Pineda and her colleagues have been working with the Futuro en Ag project of the Cornell Small Farms Program (CSFP) since 2023.

Pineda has attended several online and in-person events and trainings put on by Futuro en Ag, covering a range of topics from developing market channels to understanding farm taxes to raising chickens. She and colleague Ramón Toribio attended a two-day Spanish-language workshop for Latino/a/x farmers and aspiring farmers anchored by Futuro last winter, and they have been meeting regularly with Futuro technical staff to develop a business plan and a marketing plan.

Mildred Alvarado, director of the Equitable Farm Futures Initiative programming at CSFP, has found it a joy to work with the Connectemonos team.

“Connectemonos is not just a name,” said Alvarado. “Rosa Yolanda, Omar, and the rest of their team really connect with people, especially youth and the entire Latinx community. They are consistent in their mission to support young people through communing with the land and nature.

“Their example shows that it’s possible to dream and achieve what you set out to do when you work for it. It is a real pleasure to work with them,” she said.

María José Oviedo, a CSFP bilingual ag educator, is working with Connectemonos to develop resources related to soil health.

“In urban environments, understanding and implementing techniques related to soil health contributes directly to the project’s sustainability, improving soil structure and the availability of nutrients, making more efficient use of water, and many other things,” Oviedo said. “Also, adopting sustainable practices will increase the productivity of the soil and the quality of crops in the medium and long term.”

Oviedo hopes that among the achievements of the collaboration will be that young people will learn practices that will allow them to internalize key concepts and awaken their interest and creativity.

Pineda has found the relationship with CSFP eye-opening. The Futuro en Ag educational programs in Spanish put her in touch with Latino/a/x farmers from around the Northeast. She takes what she learns from others’ experiences and adapts the lessons to the urban context.

She admitted that there are many challenges ahead. “But I believe that the values we hold, our love of family and community, our hope – all of these things, we have to transmit them to the people around us,” Pineda said. “No one is going to come here and save us. We’re the ones who are here, so we’re the ones who will have to do it.”

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