Bonton Farms

Bonton Farms started as a community farm in a food dessert area in south Dallas, and now has grown into much more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCGxEomNUEg

It includes two farms, a café, market, coffee shop, wellness center, and affordable housing. The wellness center offers primary care, a dental clinic, fitness space, and financial counseling — all within walking distance for residents.

More than $20 million has been invested so far. The returns are direct: steady local employment across farms, food service, and health care; zero recidivism among program participants; food access restored; new revenue flowing locally; and crime now among the lowest in South Dallas.

The model is simple and practical. It emerged from what was missing, is guided by the people who live there, and evolves in response to their changing needs.

Other cities are seeing similar work. Growing Home in Chicago combines farming with job training and has a 70% placement rate. In Philadelphia, Urban Creators turned vacant lots into a youth-led farm and event space, helping cut local violent crime by 40%. In Jackson, Cooperation Jackson is building co-ops, farms, and housing on reclaimed land.

These efforts are mostly funded by philanthropy, with about 20% of Bonton Farms’ budget now generated through its own enterprises — farm sales, the café, the market, and other income. Public support remains limited. The main barriers are short-term grants and siloed funding. What’s needed is patient, flexible investment that trusts local leaders and stays long enough to let the work take root.

The transformation in Bonton is local — but if efforts like this are fully supported, clearly seen, and replicated in ways that reflect the unique needs of other communities, they could steadily shift the trajectory of neighborhoods across the country.