GROWING HOPE INC
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Mission Statement
Founded in 2003, Growing Hope fosters an equitable and sustainable local food system where all people are empowered to grow, share, sell, buy, prepare, and eat nourishing food. Through workshops, training, events, and tours, we educate people who have a range of gardening experience and skills to learn how to feed themselves in the food desert that is Ypsilanti, Michigan. Our programs are transformative, inclusive, and created to be delivered through a racial equity lens. We encourage all participants to make eating and purchasing decisions that meet their wellness goals. We prioritize serving populations with the most barriers to accessing fresh and affordable food. Our programs areas are farm & gardens, home gardens where we build garden beds and provide compost, seedlings, and knowledge to participants free of charge, a paid teen leadership program for high schoolers, an after-school club program for middle school, field trips and in-class learning for elementary; we run the Ypsi and Depot Town Farmers market that includes the online market that provides local farmers and cottage food startups a place to sell their homegrown food, as well as, giving SNAP receivers an extra $20 for free to spend on fresh local grown food, we grow food to give to the community on our 1.4-acre farm in the heart of Ypsi via our farm stand that sits out front our Urban Garden which also encompasses U-Pick beds that are always available for anyone to grab and go, an incubator kitchen where food start-ups have the opportunity to learn food entrepreneurship while also providing a workspace to start their own business without all the significant overhead involved with opening a brick and mortar storefront, and so much more. Growing Hope is a hopeful community of givers committed to creating an honest, constructive, and compassionate culture in all our interactions with our community. But above all, we envision a community where all people- particularly those with barriers due to race, class, culture, language, ability, and mobility have access to nourishing local food that is culturally appropriate and affordable.
About This Cause
Using a strengths-based approach, we work to build people’s capacity to use community and school gardens as vehicles for positive social, economic, environmental, and neighborhood change. We advocate for healthy food, manage an urban farmers’ market, and train youth and adults to make positive investments in their future. Growing Hope provides training, resources, and advocacy to build strong and vital communities. Our Vision: Ypsilanti is a community where all people–particularly those with barriers due to race, class, culture, language, ability, and mobility–have access to nourishing local food that is culturally appropriate and affordable, can grow and prepare their own harvests, and may earn a living as a food grower, producer, or entrepreneur.