We're at 4DWN, the nonprofit skating foundation and community hub founded by pro skaters Mike Crum and Rob Cahill in 2015. In that decade, the park's scope and goals have expanded dramatically, from a calm hangout spot for area kids to a way for young people to get involved not just in sports but in art. And, yes, food.
In 4DWN's back lot, concrete ramps are poured right up the sides of converted shipping containers. Inside those containers is a hydroponic garden, managed by a partnership between nonprofit and for-profit entities: the skate park and Highland Park restaurant Dive Coastal Cuisine.
Dive sponsored a cold food storage unit for 4DWN's Food Rescue program, used to reclaim items that would be discarded by grocery stores. According to Cahill, "literally tons of food a week" are donated from groceries to be distributed across South Dallas via this hub. Dive owner Franchesca Nor, meanwhile, uses the hydroponic farm setup to grow greens sold for profit at her restaurant, where they're called DiveDWN Greens. She also writes recipe cards to go out in 4DWN's donated food boxes and plans to have culinary summer camps for kids. If Highland Park kids join the camp, their tuition fees will subsidize entry for South Dallas classmates.
"I'm basically the educator," Nor says at the start of a tour. "We donate plants and education." She points to a patio that looks, with its canopy of reclaimed wood, like a beach bar. "This will be a dinner party section. Being a restaurateur and an event person, I thought, 'Let's not make it a couple containers. Let's give it a presence.' They get to use it too, so it's a win-win."
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