Allensworth Rising Again

Alison Hirsch, USC; Allensworth Progressive Association; Allensworth Community Services District; with students: Sarina Vega (MLA+U ’25) and Nina Weithorn (MLA+U ’24); students in Spring ’23 ARCH 566 seminar

Project Partners: Allensworth Progressive Association (APA); Allensworth Community Services District (ACSD)

Supported by USC School of Architecture’s Grant & Shaya Kirkpatrick Landscape Architecture + Urbanism Leadership Fund

2023

Allensworth Rising Again (2023)

View the Community Plan Report.

The lower Central Valley town of Allensworth was settled in 1908 to fulfill a vision for Black agrarian self-determination – the first of its kind in California. Colonel Allensworth and his partners founded the town to serve as a center for Black economic and agricultural innovation, and a place of refuge and prosperity for Black families to thrive. While the town experienced setbacks created by systemic racism, in 1974 California State Parks purchased 240 acres in Allensworth and operates it as Allensworth State Historic Park where it has restored and reconstructed primary buildings that made up the historic town – the library, schoolhouse, church, hotel, etc. Today, the living community of Allensworth adjacent to the State Park is comprised of about 600 people and is predominantly Latinx, including many farmworkers living with high levels of economic, health, immigration status vulnerabilities. Despite challenges, the Allensworth Progressive Association (APA) serves as a community development organization and has been pivotal in the securing of $40 million from the State ($28 million to park and $12 million to community) to ensure Allensworth “rises again.” Central to the vision for the future is a cooperative farm focused on the practice and education of regenerative farming. This project acts as a partnership with the Allensworth Progressive Association to envision and contribute to the realization of Allensworth’s aspired future. Through a Spring ‘23 seminar that crosses urban design, policy and planning, history and heritage conservation, agriculture and regenerative farming, environmental justice, climate and water policy, and community engagement, students will work with the APA, State Parks, local Native tribes and other individuals and agencies to contribute to the Community Plan that will secure its path toward a thriving future. The focus of this effort emerges from a foundation focused on Black and Indigenous land practices and communities modeled on care, mutual aid and cooperation.

SPONSORS

The Master’s Program in Landscape Architecture + Urbanism and the Landscape Justice Initiative would like to acknowledge the The Grant & Shaya Kirkpatrick Landscape Architecture + Urbanism Leadership Fund for sponsoring this important project.