Niegel La Borde
Project: The Bed-Stuy Community Plant Initiative
Our project addresses food insecurity and educational disparities in Bedford-Stuyvesant by distributing free plants to community members. This initiative serves three interconnected purposes:
Community Need: Bed-Stuy qualifies as a food desert with limited access to fresh produce. Simultaneously, local schools face challenges in providing hands-on STEM education. By distributing edible plants, we create accessible entry points to both fresh food and scientific learning.
Project Activities: We will host bi-monthly distribution events around Bed-Stuy, including community centers and schools, providing free vegetable seedlings, herbs, flowers, and simple growing instructions. Each participant will receive a plant kit containing soil, containers, and educational materials on plant science. We will host workshops to teach basic agricultural skills and data collection methods.
Community Impact:
- Agricultural STEM Engagement: Participants will gain hands-on experience with plant biology, fostering interest in agricultural sciences.
- Food Desert Awareness: The project will document and highlight local food access challenges while providing immediate resources.
- Community Research Network: We will recruit 25 community scientists to track plant growth, document food system challenges, and develop neighborhood-based solutions.
- Budget Request: $1500 to cover plants, growing materials, educational resources, and stipends for student scientist.
- Evaluation: Success will be measured through plant distribution numbers, participant surveys, and documented research findings shared through a community science journal.
Bio:
From Bed-Stuy’s concrete landscape to groundbreaking plant science, Niegel La Borde bridges worlds. After graduating from St. Andrew’s boarding school and discovering his passion for biology at the University of Hartford, La Borde earned his Master’s from Northeastern University before making history as the first Black American to receive a PhD in Agronomy and Horticulture from the University of Nebraska. Consistently finding himself the only African American in research settings, La Borde transformed this isolation into inspiration. Today, he teaches high school sciences in Red Hook, Brooklyn, mentoring young minority students toward STEM careers while co-founding Hancock Farms, where he develops specialized plants for urban environments. La Borde’s innovative work extends to vertical farming initiatives addressing urban food security challenges. His apartment rooftop garden—flourishing with everything from flowers to watermelon—serves as both laboratory and community hub, where neighbors often receive homemade jam and honey. Through education, innovation, and community engagement, La Borde exemplifies how agricultural expertise can transform urban spaces. His work creates sustainable food systems while building pathways to scientific careers for underrepresented communities—making him uniquely qualified to implement this grant’s goals for community-centered urban agriculture development.