Restorative Urban Agriculture for Community Health (RUACH) is a collaborative project led by Mt. Olive Baptist Church, Oasis Agricultural Learning Center, Eden’s Harvest, and Elder Tree developed to support Black, Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) and other underrepresented farmers in West Dayton.

RUACH will provide agri-business training, networking opportunities, and cooperative business plan development in order to empower BIPOC leaders with important skills required to begin farming and scale their current operations. Support for the development of BIPOC-owned farms helps to counteract the effects of racism, redlining and other discriminatory practices that have contributed to poverty, food insecurity and illness. Establishing cooperative urban farms in West Dayton will provide stable job opportunities and increase access to urban greenspace and affordable locally grown food. In the long-term, this will enable us to promote community health by strengthening the local food system and set West Dayton on the path to food access equality.