Harrisburg board backs moving forward on William Penn greenhouse garden; staff to draft agreement

At the Harrisburg City School District meeting on March 25, 2025, the board and receiver gave unanimous informal support to pursue a proposal from The Bridge and Ngozi Inc. to use the greenhouse and fenced space at the William Penn campus for the 2025 growing season, and asked staff to work with the solicitor to draft a memorandum of understanding for committee review in April.

The proposal, presented by Rafika Muhammad, executive director of Ngozi Inc., and Gary Gilliam of the Bridge/Foundation, would rely on community volunteers and outside fundraising. Gary Gilliam summarized the plan: “we wanna utilize the greenhouse area there and create a food garden, a healing garden,” and said his group would provide materials and some funding. Rafika Muhammad described long experience running urban agriculture programs and said the project…