Rickey Hall grew up in the West Blvd corridor. He remembers the stores that used to sit on every corner, the neighborhoods and neighbors that looked out for each other and the schools that helped shaped him including Amay James Elementary school, an all-Black school between Clanton Road and Tyvola Roads.
“We had inferior books, but we did not have inferior minds,” he said. Read More at the City of Charlotte
Rickey Hall was born in Charlotte, North Carolina on January 22, 1957 and has lived in West Charlotte for his entire life. Mr. Hall is an important member of numerous neighborhood coalitions and organizations such as the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition and the West Side Community Land Trust. He intends to bring greater food and economic security to West Charlotte through his work with community gardens and the opening of a co-op market called the Three Sisters Market. Throughout the interview, Mr. Hall discusses food insecurity in West Charlotte resulting from food deserts and the importance of the community working internally to combat issues plaguing the area.
Listen to full story here.
Access to healthy food options along the west boulevard corridor is a huge issue.
“If you ask people door to door, block to block, house to house, what are one of their needs — they will tell you we need a grocery store in the West Boulevard corridor,” Rickey Hall said. “It has long been a dream.”
Seeds for Change will improve health through community gardens and a co-op grocery store, educate through an aquaponics lab and cooking classes, offer job training and bring the community together.
Local Media Features:
UNC Charlotte urbanCORE: “A cooperative, community-led solution for food insecurity in West Charlotte.”
Fox 46: “Sowing seeds for change: West Boulevard Coalition community garden flourishes”
Spectrum News 1: “Male Mentors Wanted: Charlotte Group Provides Fresh Food, Jobs to Underprivileged Neighborhood”
Carolina Farm Trust: “In this short clip from our docu-series “The Farmer That Feeds Us”, Rickey Hall (Board Chair of the West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition) speaks about racial injustices in food systems. Residents of Charlotte’s West Side have been advocating and fighting for a full-service grocery store for decades.”
Our Honey can also be found in Rhino Market! Look for us in the Morehead and Uptown Locations!
Currently For Sale (10/13/22):
Red / Green Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Honey
Okra
Eggplant
Hot Peppers
Collards
Sweet Potatoes (limited quantities!)
Coming Soon:
Corporate, Social, and Religious organizations in Charlotte and the surrounding areas are more than welcome to help build the farm, the soil, and the community that the farm serves! Email Farm Manager Mason.
A military child born on Fort Bragg, Victoria Watlington made her way to Charlotte after receiving her degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Florida. Honing her leadership skills through roles in manufacturing organizations and managing multi-million dollar initiatives, she decided to continue her education, ultimately earning her MS in Engineering Management.
More than her career in engineering, Victoria is a strong community advocate and has spent more than ten years serving the community through various service and professional organizations. A resident in the Westover Hills neighborhood on the West side, she served on the board of the West Blvd Neighborhood Coalition and as Chair of their Land Use Committee, guiding efforts in partnership with the City of Charlotte’s urban planning department that resulted in the development of the West Boulevard Corridor Playbook. With the support of the community, Victoria now serves as District 3 Charlotte City Council representative.
During her swearing in ceremony (December 2019), Victoria stated “To the neighborhood leaders who have been carrying the torch long before I arrived, I thank you for leading by example. To the Rickey Halls and the Frank Coleys, the Brenda Campbells, the Beverly Clarks and many more. You are the backbone of the community. Full of conviction, compassion, integrity, courage and resilience, I am so grateful that you invested in me, and I’ll look to you as equal partners in this season.”
Later this spring, organizers will break ground on the first greenhouse and outdoor planting beds, employing community residents to help. A long-term governance structure would be developed for the project, and organizers will conduct a feasibility study for the co-op grocery store. (They’ll be looking closely at a Greensboro project called the Renaissance Community Co-op, which runs a 10,00-square-foot grocery store.).
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