Franklinton Farms envisions a neighborhood and food system that respects, celebrates and values the land, all people, and community.
Franklinton Farms is a highly productive urban farm and education nonprofit located just west of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Our mission is to nourish neighborhood wellbeing and connection through farming, gardening, and education. After beginning in 2007 as a community garden, we are now a prominent provider of sustainable urban agriculture, therapeutic gardening education, safe natural spaces, ecological beautification, and fresh food access.
Franklinton is a rapidly diversifying community with deep Appalachian roots. Many of us and our neighbors experience economic, environmental, and social challenges.
It is difficult to access healthy food options in Franklinton. As a result, the neighborhood has some of the city’s highest rates of nutrition-related chronic health issues.
2007 - 2020
Franklinton Farms, or “The Farms”, is a non-profit organization located in Columbus, Ohio. The Farms was founded in 2007 by a group of neighborhood residents committed to environmental sustainability and social justice.
They first worked out the intersection of these commitments by building and maintaining a small community garden on vacant city land. The site was named Franklinton Gardens and provided space to care for the land, grow food, and build relationships with long-term neighborhood residents.
The outcome was a multi-acre network of food production sites scattered throughout the neighborhood’s urban landscape, which was eventually named Franklinton Farms. As the organizers listened to the stories of others, they began to understand how difficult it was to access healthy foods—in particular, fresh fruits and vegetables—in Franklinton.
In response, they acquired more vacant land, grew more food, and shared more broadly with their neighbors. In time, the evolving collective became aware of other economic, environmental, and social challenges regularly experienced by their neighbors in Franklinton.
This led them to expand into broader food systems work as a way to create equity and build resilience in Franklinton. More than a decade from its start, Franklinton Farms continues to work with neighbors and community partners to build a farm and local food system that improves food security, provides economic opportunity, and supports healthy futures for all.