May 2025: Member Spotlight - Charles Greenlea
- Jordan Roberts
- May 5
- 3 min read
Updated: May 28
Charles Greenlea, III is the Founder and Director of Greenspace Management at Eco-PARADIGM. Eco-PARADIGM, LLC is a social enterprise that specializes in helping people, farmers and communities grow by providing a variety of agricultural services.
As a multigenerational resident of Atlanta, GA and the descendant of a long line of growers, educators, entrepreneurs, and organizers, Charles was cultivated to serve his community in a unique way. Since he began nurturing his interests in agriculture and food systems in 2012, Mr. Greenlea has piloted a mobile farmers’ market, managed multiple community gardens, urban farms, and campus gardens at Spelman College in Atlanta and Tougaloo College in Mississippi. He has also taught agriculture and environmental science in public and private schools in Jackson, MS and Atlanta. While in MS, Charles worked closely with Co-op New West Jackson, a resident led and owned community development cooperative. As the former Program Director for HABESHA, Inc., he facilitated and managed the operations of multiple agricultural and green workforce development programs that served youth, adults, and senior citizens.
In 2017, Charles completed a training in tropical agriculture development from Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO) in Ft. Meyers, FL, as well as a bamboo cultivation and construction training from the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2018, Charles graduated from the Small Farmers Agricultural Leadership Institute at Southern University and the Atlanta Watershed Learning Network. He currently serves as a supervisor for the Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District, board member for Black Sustainability, Inc., Agroforestry Manager for the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance, and founder of ECO-PARADIGM, LLC, a social enterprise that’s provides agricultural labor and infrastructure support and land management services to historically disadvantaged famers and communities.
"I got into agriculture over a decade ago because I wanted to have access to healthy food for myself and my family. I fell in love with the work and how it can positively impact people and communities. Through my experiences, I learned that skilled labor was a consistent issue. Agriculture feeds the body and the soul. and needs a dignified and ethical labor sector like any other industry. We collaborate with other organizations in our local landscape to help address this need and provide training, consultation, farm infrastructure, seasonal support and maintenance to landholders in the state. Some of our projects include high tunnels, rain catchment systems, irrigation, fencing, raised beds, and cold storage. The goal is to help farmers improve their operations, increase their capacity and returns, and minimize negative impacts on the environment, while providing livable wages to workers to create equitable and just local food and commodity systems. We obviously can’t do this alone, but we feel like we’ve proven a model that we hope to see scaled and replicated in other communities." Charles Greenlea, III
Charles loves people and nature and sees the work he does as an opportunity help others sustain themselves and their communities through environmental stewardship.
"We work directly with clients to achieve their goals in ways that are economically viable and ecologically sound. We believe healthy communities are those that honor natural processes and conserve and protect natural resources."
Eco-PARADIGM's services include: consultation, training and education, garden installations, technical support and farm infrastructure, seasonal labor support, and greenspace management and maintenance.
If you are a landowner, farmer, or interested in agribusiness, reach out! They currently provide agribusiness training in partnership with local organizations like HABESHA, Inc. and Gangstas to Growers. They also have provided farm labor assistance in partnership with Food Well Alliance to farms in Fulton, Cobb, Clayton, Dekalb and Gwinnett at no-cost to growers.
Eco-PARADIGM is an approved contractor for the USDA’s National Resource Conservation Service.
For more information
Email: charles@ecoparadigm.net
Website: www.ecoparadigm.net
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