Photo: Rid-All Green Partnership
Three childhood friends who set out to create an urban farm on an illegal dumping ground in a poor Cleveland neighborhood have built a thriving circular economy now located on an 18-acre campus. Food waste becomes compost, training and paid apprenticeships attract community members, and aquaponics and hydroponics generate local jobs. The farm has two greenhouses, six hoop houses, a commercial composting station, a rain catchment pond, and employs 18 people. The 7,200-square-foot fish farm grows 70,000 tilapia that are sold to local restaurants. Rid-All Green Partnership's circular economy was cemented when in 2020, it began operating a farmer's market in a nearby food desert, and in 2021, opened a community kitchen, market and restaurant on its campus. "This is a real Cleveland story," says co-founder Keymah Durden. "It's as local as it gets — three kids who grew up on the east side who now represent this good-faith and hopeful messaging around agriculture that shows what can be possible."
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