BoysGrow brings youthful joy to LINC's farm-to-family mission
Somewhere on the other end of their walk, a job waits. It might be cleaning some tools, weeding a tomato plot, mending a fence.
But no rush. The walk along a gravel path in these 10 acres under a south Kansas City summer sky is just as much a part of the BoysGrow experience.
Pick up a stone and give it a throw. Look in on chickens. Take a baby goat up in your lap.
“It’s about getting young people outside and getting them engaged,” said John Gordon Jr., the executive director of BoysGrow, “not just in growing food, but in being a part of the earth and getting their hands in the dirt.”
Lunch time at BoysGrow in South Kansas City comes with expansive views.
There’s an origin story behind this. It goes back to when Gordon was working with troubled youth in the juvenile justice system in Northern California and learned of a boy and an unusual foster home placement.
Learn more:
But first, take a look at the work that’s happening here at BoysGrow — the work of a productive farm.
And this summer the produce they are growing — including tomatoes, kale and basil — plus eggs from their hens and the fresh salsa and sauces — are being sacked and delivered to nearby Grandview School District families as part of a LINC-managed program to get locally grown, nutritious food to communities of need.
BoysGrow has joined a list of more than 60 providers LINC has brought into the program — the Local Food Purchase Assistance program (LFPA) — which is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and directed in Missouri by the state Department of Social Services.
Since May 2023, LINC and the local producers have distributed more than 500,000 pounds of food to more than 80 distribution sites, reaching more than 40,000 people across an 11-county area.
BoysGrow is located inside the Grandview School District, meaning some of the 40 to 50 boys working the farm are seeing their product go to families in their own schools.
“We are honored to be part of the collaboration,” Gordon said. “Getting produce into hands of families that need it and to make it as easy as possible to get nutritious food is great.”
The teenagers at work on the farm will tell you it’s not easy.
There’s constant weeding and looking for squash bugs, said 13-year-old Jarron Mebane of Kansas City. They build tomato plots and calcify soil, said 14-year-old Jude Fox. Construction work has included building compost bins and rebuilding fences, said 15-year-old Xavier Brownlee.
But, says Brownlee: “It’s fun to use my hands to create things.”
Says Fox: “I like feeling stronger; I feel myself getting more disciplined every day.”
“It’s kind of hard,” says Mebane. “But hard is good.”
This is what Gordon imagined some 20 years ago during his work with juveniles in Northern California.
One teenager in need of a foster home got placed on a small farm. He had his own garden plot. He was responsible for his tools.
The BoysGrow team packages produce to go to families in the Grandview School District.
The youth began to shape a new “identity of being able to care for something,” Gordon said. Soon Gordon landed on “the concept to recreate the experience” for other boys.
Gordon returned home to the Kansas City area and started the farm in 2010 in Kansas City, Kan. Four years later, the chance came to obtain the 10-acre expanse in south Kansas City near Interstate 49 and Missouri 150.
The program grew and now has more than a dozen staff to work with the 40-to-50 boys who arrive daily in the summer to work the farm. Many live in the Kansas City Public Schools boundaries and catch a school bus in West Kansas City to ride out to the farm.
It’s a two-year program, designed to build leadership skills as second-year boys mentor the new class.
“We emphasize the soft skills,” Gordon said. The teens learn to be on time, bear responsibility for tools, work in teams, resolve conflicts and — naturally — appreciate the beauty of the summer farm.
The free time on the farm is as much a part of the experience as the work, said Mahreen Ansari, the marketing and events planner for BoysGrow.
“When you go and you look at the boys who are outside, who are working in the fields, who are out there playing football or soccer,” she said, “the first thing that comes to mind . . . is joy.”
To add that direct connection, through LINC, of sending their work product directly to the nearby schools “is the cool narrative,” Gordon said.
Xavier Brownlee, left, and Jarron Mebane share a moment with one of BoysGrow’s baby goats.
The LFPA program has been a significant boost for many families over the past year, said LINC Caring Communities Coordinator Shaniece Garlington at Martin City K-8 School in the Grandview School District.
“I’ve had families in tears,” Garlington said, “saying, ‘I didn’t know how I was going to feed my family.’”
Families don’t have to ask. They don’t have to fill out any documentation. The LFPA program simply makes local food free and available to all.
BoysGrow and the way it involves youth in the work, is a special addition to the LFPA program, Garlington said.
“They’re sowing a seed,” she said. “They’re sowing a seed of support. They’re sowing a seed of help. They’re sowing a seed of love.”
Kana Love, right, and her daughter, Nia, 6, take home a sack of BoysGrow produce from the LINC after-school program at Martin City K-8 School in the Grandview School District.