You could call Kwodwo Ababio a lot of things: friendly, a great cook, active in the local food movement, passionate about the future of Linden.  Just don’t call him a community activist.  “I’m not a community activist, I’m just active in my community,” Ababio stressed during a meeting at New Harvest Café.  “I’m an artist, and the community is my canvas.”
    Ababio owns and runs the New Harvest Café and Community Arts Center in the inner city Columbus neighborhood of Linden.  He is the cook for the café he owns, a job that pays the bills but that he feels is tying him down.  “Someone should hire me so that I can get out of the kitchen,” he said.  He pointed out that he could do a better job of meeting with people, making connections, and advocating for local foods if he wasn’t tied to cooking.

    Ababio’s interest in local food is inextricably linked with his interest in the future and welfare of the Linden neighborhood.  None of the stores in the area carry fresh produce, with the exception of IGA.  Everything else is processed and packaged, which means that the Linden community doesn’t really have the opportunity to eat healthy, especially given the fact that processed food is generally less expensive.  At New Harvest, Ababio is able to offer a well-balanced, healthy meal with produce from the café’s garden at a reasonable price.  However, New Harvest is just one place, and greater efforts are necessary to reach the rest of the community.  One option discussed at the meeting was creating mobile food carts that could be staffed with local youth.  This could serve multiple purposes: getting fresh, local food to the people of Linden, providing jobs for high school kids, and teaching both workers and customers about nutrition and food preparation.  For now, though, the food carts are only an idea, but given Ababio’s energy and commitment, that could change tomorrow.

    One of Ababio’s greatest sources of irritation is the lack of funding coming to the area.  He sees lots of government stimulus money, including funds intended for green initiatives and inner city issues, floating around, but none seems to be coming to Linden.  To address the issue of inner city youths’ risk of entering or re-entering the penal system, for example, funds were allocated to anger management classes.  Ababio prefers such funds take on the quality of community issues that create the anger.  
       He has firsthand experience with the troubled youth in the area.  Many of the teens who help out at New Harvest do so to complete community service hours.  Raymond Jones came to him needing to fulfill 60 hours of community service, and now he’s an ORIP intern and continues to work there because he loves what he’s doing.  Partly because of Kwodwo’s active mentoring, Jones is following Kwodwo’s example and becoming active in his Linden community.  According to Ababio, giving the kids work that makes them feel productive and good about themselves is the key to keeping them away from crime.  He also pointed to family involvement as a big factor.

       Ryan “Kwesi” Holmes, Ababio’s other ORIP intern, began coming to New Harvest for weekly poetry, then started volunteering once a week in the garden, and finally became an intern.  He said that the presence of agriculture in Linden is important in part because most stores carry “tobacco, alcohol, and chips,” not healthy food.  However, gardens like the one at New Harvest are significant for other reasons.  Holmes noted that it was a good thing for people to just see things growing in the city.  “[It] brings a sense of our connection to the earth,” Holmes said.
    Ultimately, Ababio’s involvement in the promotion of local foods will always be attached to his goal of bettering inner city neighborhoods, especially Linden.  This connection makes quite a lot of sense when you consider that these areas are most likely to be food deserts devoid of fresh, healthy options.  The spread of local food in an area like Linden could mean better health for its residents, the creation of business and employment opportunities for its young entrepreneurs, and a better understanding of agriculture for its youth.