Food Security is Coming to Hartford: Small but growing organization will stop at nothing less
Levo International, Inc. (Levo), a social enterprise dedicated to empowering people to end poverty, has been taking significant steps in recent months to bring about meaningful change to the food desert in Hartford. They are planning a major leap forward this spring and beginning tomorrow at 9 am, they are looking for 1,000 volunteers to help make it happen.
Today Levo is announcing the initiation of a holistic project that will make more healthy food available to City residents, provide workforce development and improve community health. The effort, involving partnerships and cooperation with numerous corporate and community organizations, is designed to demonstrate that real impact on food security is possible in relatively short timeframes, if the community commits.
Hartford, CT: Since the very first family project in Haiti in 2016, the organization that became Levo International, Inc. (Levo) has innovated products and processes to increase the accessibility of economic opportunity and food security. This week the social enterprise announced a dramatic initiative borrowing the theme from the famous NCAA basketball tournament, and using the month of March to encourage volunteerism to bring the vision to reality. Focusing on serving the north end residents of Hartford, Levo secured access to property at 441 Homestead Avenue and is finalizing opportunities with additional properties to expand the reach of its urban agriculture initiative. In just a month, the organization expects to expand the harvest potential for Hartford by 100,000 pounds of vegetables. There is a lot of work to be done and to accomplish the transformation this weekend kicks off with a substantial “March Madness” volunteerism drive through which the organization expects to build out the agricultural components of the project.
The start-up made a name for itself through its development of simplified hydroponic farming methods internationally, and around the Hartford area it has become well known for its green stained 2x4’s holding up white pvc pipes filled with plants. While the technology gets a lot of attention, the business approach is what the founder is most enthusiastic about. “Our hyper-local decision-making model and our insistence on building financially self-sustaining projects are what are driving our growth and impact,” according to Christian Heiden, the 25 year old Eagle Scout who launched the enterprise as a family project as a sixteen year old. “Our business approach centers on accessibility of methods and creates leverage for community development.”
Levo is building a broad coalition of public and private partners to convert a long dormant industrial site into a retail engagement and education center. The center will provide access to healthy food, offer a variety of training programs, be a source of innovation, and improve the community landscape. Ron Williams, Levo’s Farming Operations Director, says that his small staff is dedicated, but relies heavily on volunteerism to achieve outsized results. “Our volunteers make all the difference,” insists the St. Lucian native.
Levo is a 501(c)3 non-profit corporation, that operates as a social enterprise. Heiden explains that what that means is that “our most important metric is impact, but we still use traditional business disciplines to ensure the long-term sustainability of our solutions.” This full range of disciplines will be on display as the Homestead project comes to life. The plan is to have a farm stand style retail outlet on a high traffic street that is convenient for commuters into the city as well as neighborhood residents. There will also be regular community education programs, and frequent community events. According to Heiden,“If affluent consumers make very small changes to their buying patterns, they will provide valuable support to changes in the food system while actually improving the quality of their purchases.” Those purchases will subsidize the discounted and free distribution of healthy foods to those without ready access to them.
The food security is only the beginning of the ultimate project, however. Levo’s focus on simplified hydroponics is intentional. The simplification keeps material costs and energy costs low, and it also allows for people with very little training to operate. Through this increased access Levo to engages low-skill labor, trains them in basic hydroponics and then enables them to advance to higher skilled opportunities. For the past two summers, Levo has conducted workforce preparedness programs for high school students, leading directly to the employment of a number of those young people at Levo. Levo also conducts adult, community based training, such as the Spanish language programs it runs in conjunction with the Hispanic Health Council. Levo provides education programs for public and private schools around the state and offers after school and summer enrichment programs for students from kindergarten to high school. “The Homestead location will be a base of operations for education initiatives as well as a site from which new innovative programs can be developed and delivered,” according to Williams. “The idea is that the most lasting way to create change is through education.”
“Food insecurity is a critical problem around the world,” insists Heiden, “and also one that is solvable. I am convinced that with a little momentum, we can actually eliminate the food desert we experience in Hartford.”
About Levo International: Levo International, Inc. is a registered non-profit 501(C)(3) committed to empowering people to end poverty. Founded in 2016 by Christian Heiden, it incorporated in 2017, Levo operates in Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and throughout Connecticut.