Oliview Community Building Farm Project
This is an agriculture social economy project located on Oliview Farm in Shasta County.
Restorative justice repairs the harm caused by crime. When victims, offenders and community members work together to decide how to do that, the results can be transformational.
Overview
The world is changing. Climate change, the impact of social media and our lives moving online, proliferating scientific and political inaccuracies, and ever-growing social and economic inequality are just a few of the trends in our world today. Each of these, in their own way, has the potential to impact young peoples’ lives in increasingly negative ways.
At the same time, job training and availability is decreasing. Commensurate with that, local food production is declining at the time when food systems pressure is increasing: drought, climate change, and development incursion into agricultural lands are all threatening sustainable production and local economies.
The way we exist in this world as humans isn’t working for the vast majority of us. The opportunity inherent in drastic changes is that innovation becomes a mandate rather than an option. The Oliview Community Building Farm Project (“Project”) is proposing a different approach to two key challenges – lack of opportunity for young people and a dearth of local food production – in Shasta County:
- Building on Oliview Farm’s years of informal outreach and education through creating a space for the mentorship of “at potential” young adults, in a garden setting, to greater educational achievement through empowering their creative powers by:
- Supplying food to local communities for good health, robust local economy, and for security against the rapidly increasing occurrence of disaster and social stress locally and nationally.
Intent
This Project will change the lives of participants and improve overall community health in Shasta County through building skills and confidence in a population that’s too often ignored. Benefits to the community include:
- A more robust local food supply for Shasta County communities;
- Increased ability of participants to address the significant challenges they are facing on a personal, community, and regional level; and
- An overall stronger and more resilient community for participants and those around them.