This article is part of Rapid Growth's Voices of Youth series, which features content created by Kent County youth in partnership with Rapid Growth staff mentors, as well as feature stories by adult writers that examine issues of importance to local youth. Luke Fann catches up with New City Neighbors, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit's after-school program, to learn how area urban teens gain a head start and connect them with impactful experiences. 


Learning about nutrition, cooking, and food scarcity helps prepare youth for adult life and deepens their empathy. New City Neighbors, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit, gives area teens that head start and connects them with impactful experiences. 

With three farms across the area and a cafe to serve the community, kids learn agricultural skills and make food alongside their peers. Helping urban youth learn about agricultural development and preservation is key to NCN, which recently secured a five-acre urban space on Ball Avenue NE to expand.

Ricardo Tavárez is in his sixth year as NCN executive director. He hopes more inner-city teens can learn about producing food from farm to table. 

“We take food for granted sometimes, and when our youth learn about food prep or about growing healthy food, they also learn about food scarcity in our community,” he says.

The work at NCN is not just about teaching about these real-world issues, it’s about supplying the community with food to eat — and healthy food, at that. Youth in the NCN program are helping families who need food get farm-to-table meals. 

Nate Engle, of the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), sees three main benefits to fresh food from the farm being supplied to neighborhoods: economic impact, health benefits, and social aspect. 

“We are what we eat, and if we eat more healthy foods, more often, chances are we’re comparatively healthier,” he says.  

Recognizing how economic impact and social aspects intersect is also important. 

“There’s a higher chance you know the person who delivers those fresh foods or knows the person that grows them, or you get them and then take them to your grandma or an elderly neighbor,” he says. “Food systems that are more local in nature strengthen local communities by building relationships.”

In essence, NCN empowers teens to create better relationships with their community. Tavárez agrees. 

“Being able to bring healthy food to someone helps them build a relationship with the farmers who are actually growing the food,” he said.” There's not a third party that's selling them the food. They actually get to interact with the people who grew it.” 

Photo by Luke FannWith three New City Neighbors farms across the area and a cafe to serve the community, kids learn agricultural skills and make food alongside their peers.

Why New City Neighbors is Youth-Oriented

Part of NCN’s mission is “empowering youth to reach their full potential.” 

“We intentionally focus on youth because we believe that they're not just the leaders of tomorrow, but they're the leaders of today,” Tavárez says.

With the right resources, he says, youth can enact change.

“We believe that youth in our neighborhood have ideas that are worth listening to; that they can shape the community for the better; and that they often know more about the social issues that need to be changed in our community than we do. So we want to empower them to have a good starting place to tackle some of those issues and shape our community for the better,” he says.

Engle elaborates on how programs like those NCN offers can help the younger generation later in life.

“Agriculture and food also represent a pathway for youth to grow careers,” he says. “Young people can get training and higher education to become chemists, biologists, veterinarians, plant pathologists, soil scientists, agronomists, supply chain and logistics managers, or any number of other professions.”

These are just a few of the career options that benefit from the training that NCN gives its employees, whether they be farm apprentices or cafe workers. These opportunities soon will expand, as the recent purchase of urban farmland allows the organization to reach more inner-city teens and serve more of the community. NCN has already worked with over 200 youth employees, a number that will grow with this new development.

Photo by Luke Fann New City Neighbors, a Grand Rapids-based nonprofit, gives area teens that head start and connects them with impactful experiences.

The Future of New City Neighbors

The Ball Avenue farm was only acquired last fall, but the second phase of the organization’s plan is already in motion. 

The “On Solid Ground” campaign is now in its farm-development phase, where donations are used to buy agricultural equipment. By 2026, the goal is to have the space ready for the third phase, where a farm education center will be fully fitted to teach local youth about agriculture in an environmentally sustainable manner.

Tavárez hopes the community is ready for the space to be maintained as one of the last few urban green spaces in the Creston area. 

“We're very excited to develop [it], keep it green, and use it to take our youth empowerment to the next level,” he says. “We're hoping to get a lot of excitement and energy from our community to continue supporting us.” 

The benefits of this campaign don’t end there. Engle speaks to how important it is to conserve these spaces, and how Grand Rapids is at the forefront of urban agriculture development.

“Healthy urban places are symbiotic with healthy rural places,” he says. “If you have vibrant cities, you probably have vibrant rural communities outside them. We see challenges when we sprawl with our developments ... We want dense urban cities in Michigan, and we want healthy rural cities and villages surrounded by productive farms and forestry land.”

Whether or not you are a teen, you can help NCN and preserve urban agriculture across the city. Engle recommends contacting the Urban Agriculture Committee and asking if you can attend a meeting. The Kent County Agricultural Preservation Board also holds meetings where you can get questions answered.

In addition to donating, you can volunteer at the New City Farm or become a shareholder and receive fresh, farm-grown vegetables. Current opportunities for youth include a farm apprentice program; applications are on NCN’s website. 

Luke Fann is a sophomore at City High Middle School, where he has been an editor since 2022 and a journalist since 2021 for the school newspaper, The City Voice. He writes about current events and technology. He also enjoys creative writing, especially fantasy and sci-fi. Luke has won several awards for his writing at MSU’s MIPA Summer Journalism Workshop for both Creative Storytelling and the Art of Storytelling.