Mission
The Lincoln Park Conservancy, Inc. is a 501c3, non-profit organization based in New Rochelle, NY. Our mission is to preserve, document, educate and promote the rich history of the Lincoln Corridor and its historical connection to the local and global community. Our mission also extends to equity in the distribution of resources for all, especially in the food insecurity space.
Lincoln School Decision
The Lincoln Avenue Corridor is remembered for the Lincoln School Desegregation Case of 1961 filed by the parents of eleven students. The case was the first desegregation case filed in a northern city to successfully apply the 1954 Supreme Court Decision in Brown v Board of Education. Though the parents and families won this historic case, the City Board of Education demolished Lincoln Elementary School rather than integrate it as the court had ruled. The site of the former school is now the location of grow! Lincoln Park Community Garden, a legacy garden that teaches sustainable living and the history of Lincoln School.
Overview
The Conservancy’s three programs are grow! Lincoln Park Community Garden, grow! Eat and The Lincoln Park Conservancy History & Culture Center.
grow! Lincoln Park Community Garden is a 10,000sf urban farm built on the campus of the former Lincoln Elementary School which was at the center of the first landmark desegregation case in 1961, filed and won in the North. The school was torn down and grow! Lincoln Park Community was created in 2011 as a lasting tribute to the children, parents and faculty members who were seeking an equal education for the children.
grow! Eat is an initiative started by The Lincoln Park Conservancy, Inc. in 2023 to expand the food system in New Rochelle and to provide fresh produce, locally-grown to the food insecure. grow! Eat consists of the 10,000sf community garden at Lincoln Park, the 4,000sf farm at Mascaro Bys & Girls Club and the 8,000sf rooftop farm atop the 11-story Renaissance Plaza affordable apartment complex. Produce from the grow! Eat Farms are supplemented by produce from partner farm, Our New Way Garden. Produce is distributed via the grow! Eat Mobile Vegetable Pop-up Truck that visits sites where seniors, families and adults who are food insecure live. The vegetables are offered free-of-charge.
The Lincoln Park Conservancy History & Culture Center is located at 389 Huguenot Street in an 1,100sf street-level space in the Arts Zone in Downtown New Rochelle. The Center includes: a Teaching Kitchen, Media Center, Digital Archives and a Gallery. Programming includes, exhibits, film screenings, history presentations, healthy living workshops and cooking demos, and podcasts.