I live in rural Mississippi where the failing educational institutions and the poor health statistics paint a bleak future for the majority of our young people. Interesting enough the state has an abundance of resources to address both issues. Mississippi has abundant resources in both fertile land with long growing seasons and the arts; music, dance, literature, etc. This proposal seeks to pull them both together to create a new learning center with an arts and agriculture based curriculum. I come from a long line of agriculturalists and artists. My mother was born and raised in rural Mississippi and my father born and raised in Harlem, NY allowed me to access the best of both worlds. I grew up learning how to plant, tend, and harvest food and also listening to Coltrane, Dizzy, Miles, and Monk. It is my plan to open a school in my hometown of Utica, MS to provide a well-balanced educational foundation with the built-in economic engine of organic agriculture production.