Oscar almengor

plank road food hub

The Plank Road Food Hub is a facility in which helps directly combat both Food Deserts and Food Swamps and the lack of healthy options in the area. To negate the unhealthy effects of being in a food desert and food swamp the Plank Road food hub will provide a range of healthy options for residents at more affordable prices through direct interaction with farmers at the farmers market space. The business school that is nestled on the site, blending in with the farmers market program, provides the opportunity for financial independence for residents of Plank Road as it has been a historically poor area. The business school will have a heavy focus on teaching residents to become entrepreneurs and assist them in setting up their own business, with a focus on restaurants causing a chain reaction of healthy eateries. This is in an effort to reduce the potential of gentrification of the Plank Road area and instead give an economic edge and power to the residences of the Area. The farmers kiosk is designed so that it is directly attached to the business school exposing visitors to the busy circulation of people shopping for healthy food options further cementing a culture of healthy eating to those attending the business school. On the site there will be 3 green houses in which local produce can be grown and donated to the community on a need-to-need basis as well as provide the restaurants, teaching kitchen, and commercial kitchen ingredients for their dishes.  The site will attend to not just entrepreneurs, farmers, and general residents of the area, but can also provide children and adolescents a place to come after school as programs such as the teaching kitchen will provide after school activities during certain hours. It reduces the chances of children and adolescents involving themselves in delinquent acts(since crime is an issue on Plank Road) as studies show that after school activities can have a tremendous effect on the behavior of students and their tendency to gravitate towards crime.