HEAL Food Alliance

School of Political Leadership

2019-2020 Cohort

Sheryll Durrant

Resident Garden Manager
Kelly Street Garden

Working with a community that is starved for resources has helped me see the importance of green space in the urban landscape. In our quest for modernization and progress, we have destroyed the natural environment. I have seen that when people come to our garden and put their hands in the soil, that a transformation takes place. You see it in their demeanor, in their mood and just this small act can have tremendous impact.
Sheryll on what SoPL means to her

About Sheryll

Sheryll Durrant is an urban farmer, educator and food justice advocate and a 2015 graduate of Farm School NYC. She is currently the Resident Garden Manager at Kelly Street Garden, and Food and Nutrition Coordinator for New Roots Community Farm managed by International Rescue Committee (IRC) – both in the Bronx. Prior to that, she served for 7 years as director of the urban farm and garden program for Sustainable Flatbush in Brooklyn. Her work has included developing community-based urban agricultural projects providing expertise and technical assistance for supportive housing garden programs.

She has given workshops and spoken on issues related to urban agriculture and food justice — for Northeast Sustainable Working Group (NESAWG), Just Food, American Community Gardening Association [ACGA], National Resource Defense Council (NRDC), Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA), National Public Radio (NPR) and was featured in the Sunday Routine section of the NY Times. As a former Design Trust fellow for the Farming Concrete project, she is now responsible for communications and outreach for this data collection platform that helps urban farmers and gardeners measure the impact of their work.

Kelly Street Garden under her management was recognized in 2017 by the United Nations “Feed Your City Initiative.”