Tommy Garcia-Prats
Executive Director
Small Places
Tommy is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Small Places, a nonprofit that uses high impact urban farms in under-resourced neighborhoods to provide and foster the tools to cultivate health for every person regardless of circumstance. Located just east of Downtown, their first farm “Finca Tres Robles” (Spanish for 3 Oaks Farm) has worked to prioritize their immediate East End community striving to be a resource for more than just fresh produce by also hosting hands-on classes, field trips for all ages and community gatherings
Tommy draws on over a decade’s worth of hands-on experience in farming and farm management from his work on farms across the hemisphere. He is also an active member of the East End community serving on and leading area civic associations. In December of 2020, Tommy was honored as one of Houston’s “Unsung Heroes” for the farm’s response to the pandemic. A native Houstonian, he is motivated by sharing his knowledge and experience in agriculture with his fellow Houstonians and is always looking to expand his edges and those of his community through agriculture.
10:15 am - 11:30 am ET
Community of Practice Workshops I-VI: Small Group Breakouts @ 2nd Floor
Good Food, Good Jobs, Strong Neighborhoods: Peer-Led Approaches to Healthy Food Access & Prosperous Neighborhoods (Network Members Only)
Room: Grand 6
Learn from practitioners from within and beyond the Purpose Built network about community designed approaches to healthy food access—and the economic pathways they create. Presenters will offer brief overviews of their locally-built models: a food co-op in South Atlanta; a commercial kitchen incubation in Grand Rapids; and an urban farm developed in the heart of Houston that supplies affordable, fresh and culturally significant produce to a local neighborhood grocery store while also generating job opportunities and community centered gathering space for residents. After that, participants will move into small group conversations for honest, practical discussion about implementation, partnerships, and lessons learned.
You’ll learn from peers who are doing the work, explore what’s transferable to your context, and leave with concrete, right sized next steps. A simple reflection tool will help you anchor insights to your neighborhood’s realities and identify actions to take when you return home.
