In 2010, South Central L.A. native Ron Finley was frustrated with his neighborhood’s status as a “food desert” and took matters into his own hands by growing organic vegetables on the city-owned parkway strip next to his home. He was cited and a warrant was issued for his arrest. He chose to fight city hall and got the laws changed. Later that year, he founded the Ron Finley Project, a nonprofit that teaches communities how to use unused spaces and turn them into fruitful community gardens.
