When Fatima Abdelrahman learned that the organization running New Roots Community Farm — a widely celebrated neighborhood garden in City Heights — didn’t have an active lease on the property, she was as much confused as distressed.
Then she got an eviction threat.
Founded in 2008 on city-owned land, the farm has provided a space for refugees from around the world to ground themselves and build community around diverse farming practices and crops. New Roots Community Farm is broadly recognized as part of a groundbreaking project — even attracting a visit in 2010 from then-first lady Michelle Obama — that has helped spawn several more similar farms throughout the U.S.
Abdelrahman has played the role of an ambassador to New Roots for nearly 15 years, from hosting a group of UC San Diego researchers to speaking at the Mingei International Museum. She shares her life’s story as a way to help others understand the importance of the farm.
But in recent months, the farm has been embroiled in a dispute that has fractured one of San Diego’s most diverse communities. Abdelrahman and other farmers, who pay fees to tend plots, say the City Heights Community Development Corp., or CHCDC, should do more to improve the infrastructure at the farm. They’ve also taken issue with the organization’s managing the land without a valid lease.
Now, farmers are attempting to form a nonprofit of their own and seek a lease with the city. But an attorney assisting Abdelrahman says they have been met with resistance.
“We found out that they don’t even have a lease with the city,” Abdelrahman said in Arabic, speaking to inewsource through a translator. “And they are trying to bring all this regulation.” The CHCDC recently instituted new rules that prohibit volunteers and guests from assisting farmers without 60 days notice and prior approval, Abdelrahman said.
Farmers say the lack of transparency regarding the lease with the city, as well as absence of pertinent information in languages they can understand, has engendered distrust toward management among members of the diverse population, many of whom depend on the farm to cope with traumas that led them to flee violence in their native countries.
Read CHCDC's response
The nonprofit’s attorney, Maresa Talbert, sent inewsource the following statement:
City Heights CDC is committed to maintaining an open and transparent relationship with our community. We are aware of recent concerns raised by a member of our New Roots Community Garden. For legal purposes, we cannot comment on the ongoing dispute; however, CHCDC strongly denies all allegations made against our organization.
CHCDC consistently demonstrates its dedication to ensuring the safety and well-being of our farmers, enhancing the quality of life for our community members, and fostering opportunities that contribute to inclusivity and equity among City Heights residents and the wider San Diego community. Our steadfast commitment to promoting equity and inclusivity remains unwavering, extending across both City Heights and the broader San Diego area.
We understand the vital role of community trust in our work. As such, we are actively engaging with all stakeholders to address this matter responsibly and empathetically. Our focus remains on creating and sustaining a safe space where all voices are heard and valued.
The City Heights nonprofit would not confirm whether its lease has expired. Instead, lawyer Maresa Talbert said in a statement that it “continues to operate in New Roots Garden with no violation and is in good standing with the city. Our organization hasn't received notification from the city otherwise.”
Talbert also said in an email that any future visits to the farm by inewsource reporters would be considered trespassing. Shortly after, a “no trespassing” sign was posted at the garden. Talbert subsequently stated that the media had been excluded from the farm because some farmers felt uncomfortable having journalists in the space.
Two weeks after inewsource first sent inquiries, city officials have not provided answers, saying on Wednesday they are “still looking into this.” But San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera, whose district includes the farm, declined to comment, citing the possibility of legal action.
Farmers say the dispute started after they asked the City Heights nonprofit if they could obtain permits to run a bazaar at the garden. They planned to sell produce and artisanal ware to the community. That’s when officials revealed there hasn’t been an active lease.
City of San Diego records that inewsource received show the CHCDC, which has run the farm since 2020, learned in October that the lease had expired.
The farm was started in 2008 by the International Rescue Committee, a group that helps refugees affected by humanitarian crises. It obtained a use and occupancy permit from the city to operate the land as garden plots. But the term of that permit — described by a city staffer in emails as “the lease” — was just three years.
Officials have not disclosed whether any subsequent agreements were obtained.
Following that discovery, farmers decided to take matters into their own hands and began circulating a petition to organize their own nonprofit and take up leadership of the farm, as well as a letter to officials that has garnered hundreds of signatures. They’re receiving help from the Tenant Councils of San Diego, a local group that advocates for working-class renters.
Read the letter
Farmers and their supporters signed a letter to San Diego city councilmembers this month detailing concerns about the garden’s management. Read the letter here
The City Heights nonprofit also has threatened to evict Abdelrahman, saying she must follow the garden’s code of conduct. The organization said it will only discuss garden matters with lease holders, barring her daughters — her trusted primary translators — from being present at discussions with management.
The CHCDC offered to provide a translator and solicited mediation services. The Abdelrahman family has since solicited the help of a human rights attorney.
‘They are not taking care, but they take the money’
Since its inception New Roots has been an emblem of multicultural community building. The farm has hosted refugees and immigrants from around the world, including Somalia, Sudan, Cambodia, Myanmar, Mexico and Central America, with over 20 countries represented. It is a key cultural asset that for many refugees has long underscored hopes for a better future.
Over the years refugees have been able to find grounding at the farm after surviving life-altering violent conflict. For many farmers, a meaningful portion of their diet comes from the food they grow, and some are able to sell their organic produce at local farmers markets.
“All we wanted to do at the farm is to basically embrace our culture, embrace our differences, and to be able to present that to the community,” Abdelrahman said.
Its mission has not gone unseen. Michelle Obama’s 2010 visit, which was part of a larger initiative for promoting programs for healthy communities, has since been followed by visits from numerous local politicians, from Elo-Rivera to former county supervisor Nathan Fletcher.
This year’s dispute with management has caused grief across the community, New Roots farmers told inewsource. Several farmers did not want to be named, raising concerns that any friction might prompt the city to take the land away.
Some farmers have begun to seek more concrete information about the garden’s funding and lease.
Farmers pay between $150 and nearly $1,000 annually, depending on how much land they cultivate. The farm is just under 2.3 acres divided into 89 plots, some of which are run by the same family.
Some farmers say the City Heights nonprofit should do more to maintain and improve the infrastructure at the farm: A portable toilet that is situated next to the plots requires more frequent attention, for example, and they’ve called for more cleanup projects. They also say the nonprofit should do more to enforce farm rules.
“They are not taking care, but they take the money,” said Yu Yu Khaing, a farmer from Myanmar.
CHCDC says it has continually partnered with farmers to make improvements at New Roots with respect to watering systems, security updates and other priorities.
The nonprofit continues to collect signatures for next year's subleases. Included is language that farmers consent to their image being used. The nonprofit has used the farm in its marketing and fundraising materials.
Talbert, the nonprofit’s lawyer, said officials have translated all communication and agreements in Arabic, English, Khmer, Spanish and Vietnamese. She also said the organization would translate the material into any other language requested by a farmer.
But Abdelrahman and her family said Wednesday they have yet to see any documents in Arabic. Her daughter Sahar said the nonprofit should also provide translations for languages represented in the robust multiethnic African community, which has continually been featured on the nonprofit’s website, without those farmers having to make a request.
“It’s disturbing, considering our history and where we all come from,” Abdelrahman’s daughter Sahar said, referring to her belief that CHCDC’s translation efforts are insufficient. “We feel like we are being discriminated against.”
A fractured community
Among those who have been organizing to form a farmers collective, Abdelrahman is the only one the nonprofit has threatened to evict. Executive Director Alexis Villanueva and Talbert, the group’s attorney, have sent emails to Abdelrahman reminding her of the farm’s rules and alleging she has violated her lease multiple times.
Talbert said she is subject to “immediate dismissal or non-renewal” when her sublease ends on Dec. 31.
Abdelrahman said she was surprised when management cited “garden behavior” as the reason for her being subject to eviction. The emails do not further specify how she violated the terms on the sublease.
She says she has watched the nonprofit fracture the community, and that many farmers are now afraid to speak out — so she has felt compelled to speak up.
“And now I have a behavior issue?” she said.
