Our Mission
Urban Acres’ mission is to serve high quality fruits and vegetables to those who otherwise don’t have access through pop-up stands or home delivery. Besides providing high quality fresh produce we also strive to provide jobs in the community , while building strong community relationships and partnerships.
Our Goal
Our goal is to introduce a healthier way of eating to adults and children. Urban Acres Produce is an LLC owned by the Central Baptist Community Development Corporation which was originally developed and founded through a church and community partnership for the purpose of addressing the lack of convenient access to healthy foods in low income sections of the Eastside and Northeast .This initiative is designed to enhance the distribution of Delaware fruits and vegetables to non-traditional and underserved markets in the state with the establishment of a local-focused distribution network linking Delaware producers with Delaware restaurants, schools, small retail outlets and other institutional outlets.
Our Story
In 2010, Urban Acres started as one produce stand at 9th and Pine Street that operated on Saturdays. Produce was purchased from two vendors and from our local community garden.
In 2016, Urban Acres closed on land donated by the Wilmington Housing Partnership which converted to a community and production garden.
In 2017, the Church Street Community Garden opened! The garden has 26 raised beds, 13 for community members and 13 for Urban Acres’ Produce.Members of the community use the garden as a meeting place to strengthen the community support. Vacant for many years, the properties became the centerpiece garden of the Eastside. Construction on the grounds transformed the property into a community garden where residents have the opportunity to grow their own vegetables, and participate in other community activities.
Over ten years later, Urban Acres has expanded to seven locations, and has developed a partnership with Christiana Care to participate in “prescription produce” which is a research project to study the effect a change to a high vegetable and fruit diet would have on patient health. In this program, Urban Acres delivers produce to the homes of Christiana Health Care patients as well as having stands outside of several Christiana Hospitals in New Castle County.
Urban Acres and COVID-19
In an effort to be proactive Urban Acres Produce started to package fresh fruit and vegetables in packages with an average cost of $15.00 per package, that is delivered free to the clients. Urban Acres has used 5 different sources to purchase produce with some produce donations.
During the pandemic, they have made a total of 1,928 deliveries. One week they were able to make 235 deliveries. Of those deliveries 1,207 were for voucher clients from Christiana Care and 721 were to residents in New Castle county from donations received. Deliveries have been made all over New Castle County. Produce is picked up on Monday and Urban Acres’ employees deliver to each family from Tuesday to Friday each week. A total of 244 families, 136 from Christiana and 98 from the community, have been benefited by our efforts. With those deliveries we have driven a total of 3,875 miles using two vehicles and 6 staff members.
Urban Acres is grateful for all the donations received and will continue with this beneficial program as long as the donations continue to come in!