A Female Planted Future

In the heart of Chicora-Cherokee, A North Charleston neighborhood, Germaine Jenkins sprouted opportunity. Planting roots in a vacant city a lot in 2014, Jenkins founded Fresh Future Farm with the goal of taking control of food just in her community while ultimately combating their food apartheid status.

After graduating from Johnson and Wales University, Jenkins dedicated her professional life to inadequate food access and justice in her home state. Located at 2008 Success Street, Jermaine enacted initiatives to “demystify what liberation looks like” through the creation of economic development opportunities through sustainable farming. By nurturing a vacant lot and nursing its soil to abundant nutrients and health, Fresh Future Farm produces bountiful harvests available to members of the North Charleston community and surrounding areas. On-site, Fresh Future Farm is also home to a grocery market where locals can purchase products from the urban farm.

To spread her hope for more food liberation initiatives, Jenkins partnered with Bridget Besaw in 2018 to be filming a documentary on Fresh Future Farm’s work. ROOTED covers topics well beyond the basic goals of Fresh Future Farm, educating viewers on a variety of social topics including African American farming in relation to food justice, the systemic origin of food apartheids, and female empowerment in the Charleston and agricultural communities.

Jenkins serves as an inspiration to the Charleston community in a myriad of ways. As a single mother, she empowers women around her to fight for food justice and liberation, in addition to pursuing dream career ventures. The work Fresh Future Farm has done and the goals the organization has accomplished are overwhelmingly positive for the Charleston community in terms of minority empowerment, food liberation, female activism, and economic growth.

Lexi is the Center for Sustainable Development’s Zero Waste Specialty Intern and is majoring in Business Administration, concentrating in Entrepreneurship, and minoring in Environmental and Sustainability Studies. She hopes to continue to learn more about sustainability throughout her time at the College.

Cover photo from Charleston Magazine.