In 2011, Brad Paul, owner of Central City and Ardmore Toyota dealerships, partnered with The Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation (TEC-CDC), to build a community pocket park in the west Philadelphia neighborhood of Walnut Hill. TEC-CDC has been beautifying this once vacant parcel of land, located at 46th and Market St., by turning it into a production farm and community garden, acce
ssible to the residents of Walnut Hill. While the farm and community garden were under way, Brad Paul stepped in wanting to help complete this project by building a pocket park and ultimately dedicating this park to his father, Max Paul. The Pauls have a long history of commitment and service to west Philadelphia. Max Paul opened Central City Toyota in 1969. Since then, Max has been a generous and active supporter of community-based initiatives in the area. This park is meant to capture the importance of creating safe, beautiful and dynamic spaces for community residents to enjoy. TEC-CDC supports community-based economic development through the creation of a farm-to-fork food system in west Philadelphia. In 2012, TEC-CDC opened the Dorrance H. Hamilton Center for Culinary Enterprises (CCE), which incubates local food businesses and entrepreneurs. TEC-CDC’s production farm provides fresh, local produce to entrepreneurs utilizing the CCE. On the back end, TEC-CDC purchases these value-added products for sale through their weekly farm stand and the West Philly Foods Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. The West Philly Foods CSA currently has 110 members and provides a portion of these weekly shares at a subsidized rate to residents living in Walnut Hill. This unique program provides residents with fresh produce from May through October each year. In 2013, West Philly Foods expects to distribute over 20,000 pounds of local produce into our communities. By cycling fresh produce and locally made products through this system, TEC-CDC keeps food dollars in our community and supports local businesses, from farmers to food entrepreneurs.
