In 2021, Heather Leach was instructing two different programs inside two different prisons in South Eastern Pennsylvania. The first was a culinary program inside the juvenile wing at SCI Chester, one of PA's 23 state-run prisons. The second was a landscaping work-force program at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center (PICC), where a small team of inmates helped her tend to the little-known orchard located behind the city's largest prison. Michael Carter, then Executive Chef at Down North Pizza, joined her as a volunteer.
In 2022 the pair met Ron Fuller, the program manager at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center (PJJSC). Together, the three envisioned a third program, one that blended agriculture and cooking; this is what became a Dream Preferred. When PJJSC was built in 2012, the facility included a 6,500 square foot internal courtyard named "The Healing Garden". For 10 years, the Healing Garden was little more than fresh air, grass, and concrete benches. Seeing the potential of the space, trusting the youth residents and staff to co-design and steward its transformation, work began.
Designing the site was only part of the endeavor. Designing the programs was another monumental and iterative undertaking. Heather co-facillitated the culinary program with Chef Mike, you can read more about their approach here. Her co-facillitator for the horticulture program was Yulia Smagorinsky, you can read more about their approach here.
Site & Program Design
Building Relationships w/ People & Place
Establishing Roots
Program Implementation & Reflection
Who We Are and What We Do
Who We Are and What We Do
The people that make this all work.
Michael Carter (he/him)
Chef Mike uses food as liberation. Cooking and sharing meals helped him survive twelve and a half years of incarceration. Since coming home, his culinary skills have helped him maintain stability, make connections, and build a fulfilled life full of possibility. A Dream Preferred is his way to give back and help youth in the same situations he was once in.
Jayden Schultz (she/her)
Jayden is a student of geography and urban planning; exploring how we connect our lives, stories and places to one another. She is an eldest sister and daughter, who grew up with a single-mother and incarcerated father. Her work with A Dream Preferred is helping her understand how we take care of one another, steward the spaces we inhabit, and advocate for ourselves with accountability and love.
Yulia Smagorinsky (they/them)
Yulia was the original co-facillitator of the Horticulture class alongside Heather. They have extensive experience as a permaculture designer, community farmer, and facilitator of the Work That Reconnects. Yulia has been instrumental to the creation and maintenance of the Healing Garden’s physical space as well as the educational programming that brings it to life. Nowadays, Yulia serves as more of an off-site advisor, meeting with Jayden and Mike once a week to plan for and reflect upon how we can connect the practical work of tending land with the deeper work of learning how to care for ourselves, one another, and the places we share.
Heather Leach (she/her)
Heather has spent her life learning how plants nourish our bodies and spirits. Trained as an ethno-botanist, she became a food and agriculture educator, developing learning gardens and kitchen spaces in correctional facilities throughout the Philadelphia area.
Ronald Fuller
Ron is a long-standing and universally-loved staff member at PJJSC. Sharing Mike and Heather's vision for the garden and programming, Ron advocated for this work to be allowed inside the facility. His enthusiasm, dedication, and stewardship continues to be immensely foundational to our success and impact.