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Friends of the Lifers Youth Corp, the community farm group with a mission towards “youth delinquency prevention,” will finally be getting some land of their own after a very public falling out with the Jersey City Redevelopment Agency saw the group exit their original location. The newly approved lot is located at 174-178 Martin Luther King Drive and will be open to the public Monday through Saturday from 9am-6pm.

The terms of the lease for Friends of the Lifers is somewhat unique for community gardening, which would ordinarily fall under the “Adopt-a-Lot” provision created in early 2011. The purpose of the law was to make better use out of vacant lots, often in need of rehabilitation, by allowing members of the community to “adopt” them for gardening purposes. But these lots were envisioned as more limited in scope than Friends of the Lifers would need for their programs. For example, “Adopted” lots do not allow commercial ventures except for fund-raising events intended to help pay for work directly related to the lot. In the case of Friends of the Lifers, which focuses on re-integration of former convicts and donating food or selling food to local markets, the budgetary needs are much greater as are the avenues available for selling produce.

In a letter written by Mayor Healy’s Chief of Staff Rosemary McFadden and Deputy Mayor Kabili Tayari, some of the future plans for Friends of Lifers were explained for the Council.

According to the letter, “The Friends of Lifers will employ and train 10 individuals and 5 volunteers on how to grow hydroponic and organic vegetables including but not limited to: eggplants, squash, collard greens, tomatoes, peppers, scallons, cherry bomb tomatoes, cucumbers, chili peppers, cabbage, green beans, thyme, oregano, basil, salad greens, bok chow, various types of lettuces – butterhead, romaine, purple mizuna, arugula, five star, red oak, pachoi, and totsoi, and cotton in a hydroponic green house. The Friends will also be trained in marketing, customer service and landscaping. An added feature will be an educational component -teaching children ages 5-13 how to grow vegetables.”