Growing Green, Mini-DV, 17 min. (Produced by Squeaky Wheel and Massachusetts Avenue Project)

Meg Knowles, Buffalo State College

Abstract

Growing Green in Buffalo, NY is the story of 30 teenagers coming together to grow food on an urban farm in 8 vacant lots on Buffalo’s West Side. Growing Green is the Massachusetts Avenue Project’s youth entrepreneurial program which trains and builds garden-based businesses with neighborhood youth and trains them in sustainable urban agriculture and food systems issues. The film profiles follows the progress of the garden and the participating youth over a summer growing season. The video project was conceived by 5 youth participating in the program, who applied for a Channels grant to hire local filmmaker Meg Knowles to help them realize their project idea.