Charles Greenlea’s roots run deep in Georgia’s red clay soils. A multigenerational resident of Atlanta and the descendant of a long line of growers, educators, entrepreneurs, and organizers, Charles is positioned to serve his community in a unique way. In 2019, he founded ECO-PARADIGM (EP), LLC in Metro Atlanta’s agricultural ecosystem in an effort to help bring balance between ecology and economics for communities of color.
Charles loves people and nature and sees the work he does as an opportunity to support others in sustaining themselves and their communities through land stewardship. He currently sits on the board of Black Sustainability, Inc., and is an appointed supervisor for the Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District. When he’s not busy serving his community, Charles enjoys working on his own family farm in Crawfordville, Ga, known as G4, alongside his wife, Raina, and their two daughters, Tsehai and Mizan.
ECO-PARADIGM is a social enterprise that supports healthy communities by providing regenerative and reparative agricultural services to aspiring and seasoned growers. Services include consultation, training and education, farm infrastructure, site management, and seasonal labor support. The enterprise’s consulting is centered around finding cost-effective and environmentally-friendly, system-oriented solutions for their clients. ECO-PARADIGM works in partnership with other social enterprises and non-profit organizations within the local landscape to facilitate agribusiness and workforce development training programs for adults and youth.
ECO-PARADIGM also installs infrastructure such as greenhouses, high tunnels, rainwater catchment systems, irrigation, fencing, trellises, and raised beds, and provides agroforestry management and site maintenance services. Providing skilled labor in the agricultural sector in ways that are both ethical and equitable is paramount to the enterprise’s operations. To date, ECO-PARADIGM has served over 40 farms throughout Georgia and Alabama and hopes to expand its regional impact in the years to come.
To learn more about ECO-PARADIGM, please visit www.ecoparadigm.net.
