…go home and want to change the way they eat, but their parents can’t afford it or don’t understand why it’s important because of the culture they grew up in. Cocaine doesn’t grow in our community but kale does, and that’s what we really need to be selling to each other.”
An oasis in a food desert in Northeast Denver, CO, his project focuses on healthy, organic food. Each plant in the garden is purposeful, putting into themes that are specific to the health disparities found in this community being one of low-income and people of color.
Cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and respiratory challenges are rampant in the Northeast Denver neighborhood. This project was designed to focus on collaboration, utilizing the resources of existing organizations, businesses and individuals.
In the film, Vita shares “Tribalism is ingrained in us. We’re supposed to rep our hoods, our community. But when it becomes violent, when it becomes destructive, that’s why I realized that enough of this has happened.”
Instead of filling young minds with thoughts of violence, sex, drugs and materialism, Vita is planting the seeds of self-sustaining health right in our own back yards. Now, that’s gangster!