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It's Getting Hot in Here

Fayetteville is a green hot spot in Arkansas, The Natural State. With a mild climate, Arkansas has plenty of outdoor opportunities such as hiking, camping and caving. The people of Fayetteville like to get outdoors, and the city has an extensive trail system for bicycles & pedestrians, and many beautiful parks, such as Lake Fayetteville. There is also a FREE city bus service called Razorback Transit, provided by the University of Arkansas and serving the campus, downtown, and shopping centers. Ozark Natural Foods is our community co-op with organic and local selections, including an aisle full of bins for buying food in bulk (which is cheaper and uses less packaging). Green business and restaurants are popular, and there are several places you can go to buy fair trade and organic products, like Good Things Boutique, free range meat or vegetarian / vegan entrees, like Greenhouse Grille. The city government has appointed its own sustainability coordinator, and our project is fortunate to be able to work with Mayor Jordan and the city council members. Our local timebank, Fayetteville Community Exchange is a great way to get to know people and save money, and there is also a movement towards using Ozark Hours, a local currency. Because community gardens and sustainability initiatives thrive in Fayetteville, we're very lucky to have this opportunity to partner with and learn from local leaders.

The OMNI Center for Peace, Justice & Ecology (a grassroots non-profit organization) sponsors a youth leadership-in-service program called TLC: Teen Leadership Corps. Composed of high school and college students, TLC combines monthly training in non-profit management with field experiences, like a trip to our local eco-retreat center, Wattle Hollow. To support the program, we choose fundraisers that not only raise money but also raise awareness about fair trade (through our Equal Exchange fundraiser) and environmental issues (through our CREDO Mobile fundraiser). TLC is hosting the Summer of Solutions program for the first time this year! Even though our project is just getting started, we already have strong contacts in our community.

Community gardens are very popular in Fayetteville, and there are many organizations focused around food production, workshops, gardening, rooftop gardens, permaculture, native species & prairie conservation, seed saving, and more. We'll be working in collaboration with the city, local non-profits, clubs and student groups, restaurants, businesses, churches, and local experts in gardening and food systems / agriculture. Our main goals are to meet the demand for a real local food system that is self-sustaining, create green jobs, and compensate a workforce to help all these gardening groups maintain their space (some of which is completely undeveloped; other spaces are suffering from neglect). We hope our project will boost the timebank and local currency movements, while meeting the needs for local food production and a green-collar workforce, by giving gardeners & food producers an alternative income source while developing actual capital as the project grows.

Please join us!