Funded Partner Spotlight: 15th Street Farm
In 2010, a group of volunteers headed by Bill Bilodeau and Emmanuel Roux transformed several lots on 15th Street into an urban farm and therapeutic vegetable garden to serve local residents struggling with drug and alcohol addiction. In 2016, the group recentered its mission and incorporated as the nonprofit now known as 15th Street Farm to facilitate learning and community-building around healthy food from soil to fork.
In 2024, the group received a $110,000 grant from the Foundation and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital to host cooking and wellness workshops, install residential gardens, and train people to become urban farmers in South St. Pete.
“One of the major challenges for urban agriculture is the disconnect between consumers and farmers,” Roux said. “Food magically appears in a supermarket and magically disappears when you swallow it.”
Part of 15th Street Farm’s work is to peel back that mystery by creating opportunities for local residents to get their hands dirty in the garden, building connections between people and nature and inspiring healthier, more nutritionally dense eating.
In partnership with the University of South Florida, the group has created gardens at schools throughout the community where students can help grow vegetables and learn more about how food makes its way from farms to their tables at home.
“It is through the children that you influence the parents,” Roux added. “Children are naturally curious. Gardening can become play. There’s creativity involved.”
Long-term, Roux’s goal is to help establish a Tampa Bay food system that generates, through local farming, 2% of local food expenditures. The impact on local health and economic resilience, he says, could be tremendous. To get there will involve transforming currently unused space into urban farms and community gardens and training (and hiring) a new generation of local farmers interested in and capable of tending such farms and gardens.
“For every dollar we spend on food, 78 cents leaves the community,” Roux said. “With local urban farms, 95 cents of every dollar can stay in the community.”
In 2025, 15th Street Farm received a capacity-building grant from the Foundation and Orlando Health Bayfront Hospital that they’ve used to install a volunteer-management system and provide professional development opportunities for their lead farmer.
The group offers community volunteer days on Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Community members of all ages and abilities are welcome.