Jennifer Papa and Jasmine Moreano

00:00 Jasmine moreano, I'm 39 years old. Today is February 2nd 2021. I'm in Totowa New Jersey and I'm interviewing Jennifer Papa. She's my storycorps interview partner, my friend and executive director.

00:21 My name is Jennifer Papa. I'm 51 years old. I live in Ringwood New Jersey. It's February 2nd 2021. I'm interviewing Jasmine moreano. Who is my coworker my partner in crime and my friend.

00:39 Okay, what motivated you to start this organization?

00:48 I think I lost you guys. Can you start that again Jasmine? So I was asking you about our origin story and how did you come to start sitting room?

01:03 I think that I started City green because I was motivated by the belief that beauty of nature inspire people and also that I believe that everyone should have access to healthy food and access to beautiful outdoor spaces and I felt that Gardens are the intersection of these ideas and Community Gardens, especially because they have that added extra of Certain Magical component of people working together towards this common goal. So putting that all together the community yard gardening organization seemed like the way to achieve all of that.

01:45 And what inspired you to get involved in this world Jasmine? Well, I came at it over 10 years ago. I had a very much like a like a food Justice perspective. So I had grown up our parents took us to protests and sit-ins and we see mushrooms and so, you know believing and equality and fairness was just something energy was part of how I was raised and doing something about problems in society was part of how I was raised and my family is from Patterson, large part of my family from Patterson. I lived in Paterson for the first half of my life and I remember very specifically like a Critter book of convergence of different things happening. One thing. Was that the Pathmark that we had gone.

02:45 You know for my whole entire childhood and my aunt stop that my grandparents you closed and so that you don't I was in my mid-twenties when that happened. So it was like Pathmark closed a supermarket opened outside of the city boundaries of Patterson. And what's technically Elmwood Park. I'm right outside of Harrison. But so Pathmark supermarket opened and then I was also like mobile. I was in college. I was visiting friends. I was going to different supermarkets different types of areas of Northern New Jersey. I'm spending time in Bergen County. It was fun to live there and really noticing like the difference in supermarkets who gets what what is like what's in the front of the supermarket, you know who gets like the whole wheat bread and the multigrain bread and so just really like living my life on my noticing

03:45 List of grocery items that my grandmother and my aunt to get we're not as available as the ones that my friends up up in Northern Bergen County could get prices were different and you know what happened to Pathmark. So all of that kind of just pick my curiosity about food about who gets what kind of food who deserves a food who deserves that and at the same time, I think that I was living on my own and I have started a little garden my backyard and I think Community Gardens started becoming a thing that people are talking about actually read article about City green and I was like, oh my God, this is the organization. I'm about to start and I found out that you existed resting because like you're saying that you were raised on that and you notice all these differences with the supermarkets, and I was raised in Bergen County and my husband's family's Lumber business was in Jersey City.

04:45 And you know we had reason to be going into you know, Jersey City. My family's from Passaic and Patterson, not Patterson, but to say can cooked in and I had served the opposite experience of like growing up in a you know, this pretty nice Suburban town and I'm going to the cities and wondering why is this acceptable? Why is this like environmental Injustice acceptable why you know can a school be next to you like this crumbling Factory over here why you know, is there lead in the water? So I came out as heard it from that perspective. I think wanting to beautify spaces and then having that attitude opponent of the food so it's you know, crazy friends and going different places on Mike will this place has this in this place doesn't you know, being that age you don't really like passionate motivated and

05:45 And you know, all of those things came together. And so so what did I do? I I want to Jasmine's resume and you know you I read it and I was like, oh my goodness. This is like the perfect candidate. I had no choice yet, you know, it was just me and like my volunteer family that I forced into action and I remember reading what you put in there and thinking this is like the person that really should be, you know, working at City green, but I had no resources or any way to hire anybody so I held onto it and I think it was about 6 months. I held onto it and then probably small opportunity to hire a part-time and called you in for an interview. Do you remember interview? I remember interview. I remember being so nervous because this was going to be a big career shift for me. I was waiting tables. I was working at a

06:45 Doctor's office and now I have this opportunity to kind of like land my dream type job at my dream organization. I'm sure I remember I really remember the interview were in that small room at that Wyckoff office have the high school and kind of like and then when you get into an interview, it's totally different and I hit it off. I think we spoke for a very long time. It was like we had we came from

07:34 Love at first sight.

07:39 So when I finally you came on part-time and then that there was like this big moment. Where is City greens Security Federal grant which was a really big deal was 2010. I think and I was able to secure USDA Farmers Market promotion program Grant and that was when I was able to hire you full-time as an Outreach coordinator and you know, it was really like a shift from like having actual staff people not just volunteers not just Americorps. We've been doing a lot of you know, educational programming and you know Community gardening but that I think that Grant and having a real staff person who is excited about this kind of work with a big deal. Yeah, and I was like mad at me now looking back. I'm all those years later. I was like thriving I absolutely like relished being able to

08:39 Go in and knock on doors and do that, you know do that kind of Grassroots like Outreach work and I'm going to all the meetings meeting all the food pantry people and all the different church people and all of our partners and getting to visit them all the time and I'm kind of nostalgic about those days, right? Cuz as you move on your career kind of get so much so removed from where your heart at all sometimes I do you say that now I just raise money and like I used to be in a garden with children and you know working with schools and working with the dean of The Women of Faith in their community garden and right now it as you grow an organization you move away from

09:16 I'm meeting work that you know, the Hands-On work that you really enjoyed the beginning part of the job now now but yeah, it was just me getting out but I remember I had my car in my right eye always have like all these different flyers and I would be going to different corner store and I think you know that really helps me to one. I felt like I was at home. I was working in Paterson. It was email in neighborhoods that I knew I was visiting too many as I now and just getting to know, you know, the the non-profit world the community organizations. It's me leaders in Paterson and then in a hosting our events, like really rounded out those first couple of years of you know, what really like all of this

10:16 Put my it cemented my my bass. I should say in my career and and that the organization between the garden contest or working over at the Rosa Parks and talk to me and garden doing little like Girl Scout programs over there a little mini strawberry festivals in different the garden contest. I think remains both of our favorite event of the whole year the garden contest awards ceremony. It's like the, you know, kind of brings it all together in that, you know on a September evening. Well, do you know women and family gardeners from Paterson? They come to The Learning Garden and you know, we celebrate really what the core of the organization as people Garden in growing food coming together beautifying places.

11:16 But it starts actually around me when we do this recruiting and so now we have you know it in turns our program support doing it. But what we do is just drive around Patterson anywhere. We saw like a little inkling of flowers growing or somebody growing eggplant in their front yard. We drop a postcard in their mailbox or tied her doorknob every year we came up with a canoe delivery system as growing on their neighbors. And then so everyone would apply and choose their categories and then sometime in the middle of summer we go around and schedule visits for everybody and take her to the gardens and that's really was like so much fun. Patterson's like a little big city. So super densely populated lots of different enclaves and types of neighborhoods.

12:16 The way that people are growing okra and eggplant and bell peppers and like the cracks of sidewalks and flower sticking out everywhere. I mean some of the pictures that we that we get out of that car really really something else and even mentioned about like why either of the organization. This transformational power of beauty and that's you know, that's a big point of the garden contest right? Because you know doing everything they can to keep the hill and and seeing this beautiful spaces and seeing how Creative Gardens can be especially with small spaces is super inspirational. So after then we've done that judging

13:14 And Jen and I would go and put your prizes which is always, you know, a good annual event me know it's big big lead up to the Garden contest award ceremony and then it would all kind of end in this like a beautiful lovely ceremony. We have a facility called The Learning Garden is Sunnyside Park in Paterson. So it's a little tiny Children's Garden and small farm site and field trip destination that set up and it's just beautiful in September and when everything was still in bloom and we hang, you know, this is just me and you right and you know her like a little fancy Garden Party to recognize all the work that you know, all of our our folks have been doing and what's really amazing is like the they're returning Garden to come back year after year after year.

14:14 Who still are motivated by the garden contest on enter it and keep on doing her gardening?

14:29 So I have a question for you Jen that I know we answer by herself was I'm going to wait until everybody else. How is like the work different than what people think you know, what's unexpected about citygreen. What are the things that you know that stand out to you that it's something that likes books Don't Know About Us.

14:51 I think that you know people always ask us. How is your garden like your garden organization? How is your garden? Like we have one Garden, you know, and I think that people really underestimate the breadth and depth of our work how many educational programs are running how many people were working with how many different kinds of Community Partnerships we've created and I think people trapped underestimate the community component of what we're doing, you know, we've always been driven by what does the what the community wants. Do, you know, like I started the organization as a community garden organization and didn't really anticipate, you know, moving into so much education and fight but schools approached us and like the Boys & Girls Club and Community organizations that wanted to have an hosta garden program at their facility or after Organization for the kids that went there.

15:48 So I think that people you know don't understand a lot about how much Outreach work. We do how much partner and we do how much listening and pivoting we do in response to in response to the community like really easy for people to understand but I think that Community component, you know, all the intangibles of of what a community garden can promote I think is what people don't understand when they're looking at it from the outside. I really love that part of the story where you say you started with the first The Women of Faith Community Garden and how you had the suspicion that in mind for what city green was going to be and quickly after that first card. It changed right at all these Community requests and so

16:48 Really envisioned vacant Lots turning into Community Gardens and Universal that was much more difficult than I anticipated. It was hard to get access to vacant land and there's a lot of tax liens and then, you know caught up in auction sales and things like that. So, you know working with Community organizations really was the was the key to moving everything forward and you know, I really try to like not impose my vision of what you know City greens should be on the community where you know, I didn't grow up in that City like you did but you know, my family is from from City similar to that, you know, so I just was always trying to be careful about that about not imposing my my vision on somebody else's town.

17:32 Switch to shifting into an assist a little bit before I got there shipping's educational programming, you know or any, you know, any big ship that we've done just goes to show how flexible you need to be for a non-profit and when I guess all jobs in general that we talked about that people say it but that in practice it's totally different like, you know, I'm real and like year 1 and year 2 or 3 totally different than what I thought, you know, it's like big and small things. I'm disappointed by the organization and you know for the staff and for all of us to see how that happens and we love hearing stories I do and I know the rest. That's because they're part of our income our story to you know, how the story of City Green

18:32 I also use all of the examples of them as part of you know, who is sitting and what is citrine do growth USA City greens experienced so far send to get access to their public park and put it in our own Learning Garden. So all the other Gardens were you know, so we're Gardens weed helps grow at other people's places. This was our garden and as such we could host field trips and summer garden camp and the garden contest and Harvest Festival. And so that was a really great point of growth and I think it was a great point of growth for a relationship like with the city government and with the public school system, we built it with middle school kids and we were able to host High School interns there for the first time.

19:32 Haverford Farmstand so there was like a lot that grew out of having that access to a little bit of a bigger space. It was like a half an acre which was ginormous at the time. So that was a big one that was 2008. And then in 2011. We have the opportunity to lease the five-acre schultheis Family Farm & City equipment be preserved as open space and I always tell the story about how I brought the board of directors president over there and I was like, look at this opportunity and Mike the house was falling down and the land was Baron and she said to me what are you crazy? Like so how are we going to do this? And I was just all Vision. Like are you I just could not pass up the opportunity to take on a project like that 5 Acres, you know, 10 minutes down the road from Patterson where we had all of our work. I saw so much potential the air and and so we took on that lease we put in a proposal and we renovated the house.

20:32 Provided office space for us that we had all in one spot. Remember we were working out of those funny little offices and Wyckoff and do you know our employees had their tools in the truck and nowhere to keep them? And you know now we have Equipment and supply storage and office space and obviously, you know acres to grow food on you know, so much more cushion firm and then lyrics to create this, you know, an even bigger Learning Farm so and educational States that's really been amazing at restoration who planted everything with native plants. It's just it's really beautiful Oasis squish between Route 46 on the Garden State Parkway and now but it's so beautiful and it's really attracted a lot of Wildlife In Need You and I always think about when we moved in there, you know, the house was barely functional. Yeah, we did the roof.

21:32 We're done the floors. We ripped out all the seventies carpet. We had no heat and we moved in there and it was freezing. It was November of 2011 when we moved our offices into there. And you know, that's one of the things I've always loved about working with you is that you and I are neither of us are plastered by those pains of growing organization, you know, my dad brought over some space heaters and you know waiting for the for the plumber to come and all that kind of thing, you know, we've never been afraid to you know manage some of those adverse situations cuz I think that we both always prioritized to work really so dedicated to the mission and the commitment and you know kind of willing to sacrifice those sort of inconveniences on challenges to move things forward Brian. Nonprofit organization is

22:23 You know, you never have the resources you need so but that's never really bothered either one of us. We just do it and like hang up the decorations by ourselves or five stuff but not really like being in the thick of work. I think it's important to have the little side project with your coworkers.

22:48 Yeah, I know. It's really fun. You and I are both born in the city of Passaic St. Mary's General Hospital in my grandmother's and my parents broke and coaching. My grandmother's lived in Clifton around there. Why is it important for you to be able to work, you know in these cities?

23:16 I mean

23:20 That's like what I always wanted to do from like being a child like my, you know, my first dreams of making the world a better place like started in Patterson, and they never they never left by Tina all throughout high school and college, you know in the early part of my career. It was always about going back to Patterson because I guess I inspired me still continues to do so the building Great Falls.

23:57 Garret Mountain I mean it's it's my home and I guess there's even though there's all sorts of Pabst it people can take like you grow up and like go somewhere else and try something totally now or you know grow up and go back home and I just always wanted you to stay around here and you know be a part of the city of your part of the fabric of the city remain keep my roots here. That's where my family is. I have seen I just feel like it's just like always been my home and I'm constantly inspired by the people that leave me and the faces I see it and our local history or local culture, you know, all the convergence of cultures in Paterson and the surrounding cities in Clifton and Passaic. It's all of my

24:57 How did Summers there and and Cliff is in between cells? For those of you who know we're having a lot of municipalities. So we have like way too many individual towns to begin with and there and they're all kind of like little so what happens in our County in Passaic County is you have the lower half of the county has like three big cities near Paterson Passaic that take up not as much as area but I'm bad for the population is on Basin and you know that any kind of goes out from there.

25:39 And still I and so one thing about maybe this was like a growth was getting the veggie mobile. I'm being able to go to different communities being and being able to go to Statesboro example. That was I was so happy because to say come on like Patterson doesn't have a big reputation. It's a small city with a lot of mean and a lot of great people and

26:07 And being able to and I guess like I said, just like the in my home, you know, because her family that look like mine the same experience as my family and that want to see you don't want to see her or community be better is why I stuck around and didn't end up going anywhere else.

26:29 I remember when you were being interviewed, we have the veggie mobile which is our mobile refrigerated food trucks that we do farm stands with, you know, throughout the area and we had it in Passaic City Hall, which we where we are every year every week in the summer from June till October and the moms. There are just lining up and wanting to buy the produce and are excited that were there and I remember you being interviewed in you sang. This is food access in action. This is like here that here were here's the tracking Gyros the food and hear the people wanted. This is the connection that road is trying to make yeah. Now that was that was just a couple years ago, right? That wouldn't I was more recent ones and that is email.

27:16 That's why we do this right and Department from the ground up, you know, we start with one Farm Stand in the city of Patterson. I think in front of the English.

27:35 Stop this one. But now you know, we have 7 to 10 veggie most fuel stops every week. We have City Hall markets and three cities every week. We have a CSA. You're not doing this all over the place. And now you're leading an advocacy campaign is part of our, you know vision of of where we're going to, you know, take some of the data and groundwork that we built and how we're trying to build some, you know, legislative change into it so that we have some lasting impact what excites you about how this work has grown evolved like from pounding the pavement with your Flyers to you know, now starting to the lobby to state legislator.

28:20 Okay. So what are the most exciting part is that?

28:26 That the work is

28:29 You know not just personally meaningful but it's and it sounds cheesy is that we're really making a difference in people's lives like at the very core of what it takes for a mother to feed her family. We are making it easier for her right? We are making it more affordable. We're making her choice to buy farm fresh food. I'm easier for me to bring in the farmers markets to where she needs to see them. We're making the food priced and incentivize so that she can like, you know, that's it talk about being a fruit acts as an action that either the most exciting thing really is that we're making it impact and sometimes it's hard to know that or like see that but when we went in campaigns and

29:29 I think that you know, one of the one of the great parts of being able to where I am able to see that the most and it's so exciting and motivating is when we have to go to conferences or when we go to webinar and I meet other people in somewhere fields and then we got to compare our work our data are impact at what's happening nationally because most of the work that we're doing is part of national movement standing National programs.

30:03 And so when you look at that, you know, you don't think you're like Patterson and Clinton in Passaic. They're small cities. And you know, what are we? You know, what are we doing sometimes and you get to turn around and meet other people and look back at me like always Howard doing a lot for doing so much and so many people are benefiting from these programs that were operating and I understand that and then turning towards advocacy. I'm as we said, like what's natural extensions after him after we've done the programming after we do the Statewide program. You know, where do we turn our attention to and how do we can you make a noise like a huge impact and you know, it's through policy and legislation.

30:48 I think you know we go to these conferences and we realize we're the only organization that does the community work on the education and has farms and gross food and runs markets, you know, and then also moved on to that house EP so I think that we experience so much of it on the ground in so many different ways that it it just lends itself to that and I hope that every move forward that will be successful making some of that policy change because that will be you know, that will leave a lasting Legacy of the of the work that we've invested ourselves in.

31:20 Which as you know, we've invested our Wholesales. I mean this has become part of like are both of our Lives. You know, like I raise my children like through City Green I was the founder of the organization and I am the founder and executive director and I had three small children who are you know, they were volunteers whether they like it or not like the whole time and I was a working mom and having to like run home to after school activities or field phone calls or pick kids up and now Ten Years Later you're home with two babies. And now you're the working mom and my kids are off and then you know, I'm able to focus my energies in a different way. I think it's been cool that we've been able to leave our personal lives like, you know into it. So, you know, we've made a very family-friendly here.

32:10 Nonprofit organization for sure, you know what I mean? Like, you know memories of my husband like for fundraisers carrying bags of ice from like the Livery trucks and you know your husband like popping in to do parking Duty or something like that are tender and then dealing with the cops when they show up when we're blocking the street and its organization and I guess because of the way that you started the organization when you had your kids were small really intentional about being family friendly and I guess you know that that also is just about being a woman let organization, you know, when all of our pictures are women right now.

33:07 Like sometimes we have to bring her babies to work, you know, I'm leaving to work. Yeah, you know, I learned a lot of good lessons from you about that too. Because you know, I was not I was not a mom when I start at today green, but

33:25 Not try I think one of the emails I like the most helpful things. You've told me that he can't do it. All right, what is it and like, you know you go about your day like free prioritizing which one is the one that's going to get kicked to the bottomless today and I just didn't like being okay with that right like going to work and you know having your boss you're laughing about her know that something's going to suffer or no, you know what you're going through rushing now being stuck at home email not like even having not being able to care options are limited. And so it seems like a whole bunch of different challenges.

34:19 20/20 and you know what it was. When is 2021 now 20/20 was a super rough year, but actually, you know, the transition of this presidency was in saying that the black lives matter movement has brought like all this racial Equity to the Forefront of everybody's talking about it. We've climate change staring Us in the face who knows the effects on our farm and working moms a side. It's been it's really been a challenge this year. But I feel like you know having this moment in the pandemic to pause and think about our work and understand what matters I think it's a little by the fact that we are family friendly and that we know, you know, there are other things in life besides work. But it also I think has really focused on our mission and

35:08 You know made us realize just how important it really is.

35:21 I in a 150 years from now and people talk about 20 22 be like a little time capsule of that were in the beginning of 21 and I think that a lot of us businesses at 2020 Davis opportunity for you know, all of the challenges likes to look at things differently. You know, remember I retired like what's you know have a new perspective on you know, what life is and I'm you know, I think that's with the order and it was sitting reading and you know and interest us.

35:59 We've been able to pause look at everything that we're doing appreciate how impactful our work was calibrating Andrea just towards the needs and then look forward and be able to be more intentional and more helpful and more near just do more of the good things that we're doing because we've had this respite of some sort, you know for my for my normally scheduled programming right now. It's really boiled everything down to the essentials food is essential essential.

36:45 I think it's been amazing working with you Jasmine. I loved having you to grow the organization alongside me and I think that our styles are complementary and we always laugh and have a great time to matter what we're doing are you know, what even if it's like fixing the boiler in the basement or something like that likes to act like I'm looking forward to and the advocacy department and see where we're headed next.

37:25 Me too. Thank you for taking the time and change it for me then.

37:34 I know we don't really make a point of it that off and it's nice.