Second Chances Farm Secures $1.5M Investment, Eyes Growth
July 20, 2020
Caleb Brown checks on some of the plantings at Second Chances Farm in Wilmington. The company is receiving increasing investment and attention. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
WILMINGTON – For Second Chances Farm (SCF), what began as a dream just a few years ago has quickly turned into a growing spotlight, increasing financial strength and the hope of one day replicating its burgeoning successes elsewhere.
The company, founded and led by the well-known fundraiser and marketer Ajit George, seeks to solve several different societal issues at once, including recidivism, climate change, unemployment, and food insecurity. It does so through vertical farming, or the indoor, hydroponic growing of plants, and exclusively hiring those leaving prison.
After opening in late 2019, the state’s first vertical farm began tending more than 60,000 plantings in February. To date, it has hired two dozen former inmates, which gained the attention of the Trump administration.
Founder Ajit George wants to address many societal issues through Second Chances Farm. | DBT PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Earlier this year, it was featured in a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report on Opportunity Zones, a redevelopment program that focuses on underserved communities through tax-deferred investments. Located in the Riverside community in Wilmington’s northeast, SCF is located in an Opportunity Zone, which has helped it attract investors.
On July 20, two appointed members of the Trump administration attended a showcase for the company that highlighted its journey and growth. More than a dozen of the employees – who include Blacks and whites, men and women, Delaware natives and transplants, high school dropouts and a Harvard University grad – shared their personal stories for Scott Turner, executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, and Pastor John “Tony” Lowden, executive director of the Federal Interagency Council on Crime Prevention and Improving Reentry.
“Being here is not a second chance, it saved my life. It’s a last chance,” said Kalief Ringgold, who served years in prison after falling into Wilmington’s drug dealing and thanked SCF with helping him to turn his life around.
“We have a remarkable group of saints who used to be sinners,” George added, noting that five employees have begun a yearlong, entrepreneurs–in-residence program.