The Sankofa Community Orchard is a 5 acre food justice and climate resiliency space consisting of over 120 fruit trees on a vacant greenspace in the Southside of Richmond Virginia. Sankofa addresses critical community-expressed needs for fresh food access, mitigation of urban heat island effect, and opportunities to develop public horticultural workforce skills.

Historically, the larger portion of Richmond that is denoted as Southside exists as a result of its annexation from Chesterfield in the 1970’s; an effort to dilute African American political power. As a result of the annexation; there are fewer public greenspaces in Richmond’s Southside. In addition to the lack of public greenspace, Southside Richmond also has limited access to healthy food dependent upon where you live. The Sankofa Community Orchard addresses the need for public greenspace while simultaneously addressing the community need for food access through the installation of over 120 fruit trees and fruiting shrubs.