Meet Christa Barfield, an urban farmer and entrepreneur growing her legacy

She runs a popular community-supported agriculture program called Farmer Jawn, a home-grown tea shop and a nonprofit that offers agriculture classes.

Long story short, she has a lot of work on her plate.

“As Black women in America, if you want anything for yourself and for your family, you have to work thrice as hard to get it,” she said.

Barfield represents many trends of the moment. She’s a Black entrepreneur at a time when rates of business incorporation among Black women have spiked to historic highs. She focuses on organic food and urban agriculture at a time when those, too, are having a revival. Another reason Barfield’s story is of interest is that she is a Black professional thriving economically in Philadelphia, which has a mixed legacy of similar stories.

The number of Black Philadelphians working in management or related jobs has grown steadily (90,000 in 2021), and the share of those who earned at least $100,000 nearly tripled from 2010, according to a Technical.ly analysis of US Census Bureau figures. That growth outpaces many big cities in the country — but lags far behind the Black wealth center of Atlanta and fast-growing Austin. In response, Black Philadelphians are creating wealth in a wide range of ways.

For Barfield, that’s farming five acres at the Elkins Park Estate, a sprawling landscape with a Gilded Age mansion at its center.

“My story now gets to be a part of the story of this property. And we get to throw a little Blackness on it, a little Black excellence.”Christa Barfield Farmer Jawn

“My story now gets to be a part of the story of this property. And we get to throw a little Blackness on it, a little Black excellence. And I think that’s dope,” Barfield said.

And, of course, there’s the tea shop. Now Barfield wants to “redefine” the corner store.

“Farming needs to be convenient. And convenience stores are at the heart of why our people, especially, of all marginalized communities, are disparately unhealthy,” Barfield said.

She wants to open a new type of corner store — one with a nano-farm and market that has fresh produce, but still has familiar Philly staples. Think deep green kale and crisp radishes being sold alongside hoagies and cheesesteaks.

She wants to call it Corner Jawn.

Barfield said she went to five different corner stores in Germantown and identified barriers they have in offering fresh produce.

Last January, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture agreed to give Barfield a $50,000 grant for her new concept. She was able to hire a design team to sketch her vision of the store — and developers to build the space, which will include a plot to grow produce.

But Barfield won’t see any of the grant money until the project is completed.

“It’s a reimbursement grant, so you have to do some things first,” she said. “You have to raise the money to match the grant and show the work having been done, completed, for you to actually receive the funds.”

Lots of entrepreneurs expand their businesses with their own funds and connections but Barfield says Black professionals typically have less access to those resources. So even though the process is new for Barfield and her team, she’s happy to have the grant.

“We always try to find a way to do it grassroots only, like, taking a grassroots approach to everything that we set out to accomplish so that we can work our way out,” she said. “The reinvestment is always reinvesting and then upgrading, always reinvesting and expanding.”

These Thriving audio stories feature reporting by Nichole Currie and audio production by Rowhome Productions.