Grantees

Fresh Food Connect's mission is to grow a more local and resilient food system by connecting gardeners with their communities. Fresh Food Connect applies technology to create the capacity to connect gardeners with their communities, and strengthen local food systems.

For 20 years, Zenger Farm has been teaching people where healthy food comes from, how it grows, and the importance of eating it every day. Zenger Farm utilizes a 24 acre combined organic farm and wetland to provide unique, hands-on learning opportunities for youth and adults. We are a working urban farm that models, promotes and educates about sustainable food systems, environmental stewardship, community development and access to good food for all. We seek to train a diverse and inclusive, next generation of farmers. As per the USDA 2017 Census, 96% of Oregon’s principal farmers (decision makers) are white. Racism, colonialism, capitalism and other systems of oppression are deeply tied to the history of agriculture in Oregon and the United States. At Zenger Farm, we believe that this trauma and history must be acknowledged, and the resilience of these communities celebrated and honored, if we are to fully empower our Farm Apprentices in future careers managing the land and its natural resources. Programs which do not directly address this history may fail to create a good learning environment for people who are affected by it, particularly Black and Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), and notably Latinx people, especially those who have migrated here themselves, or descended from migrant laborers.

Frisco Fastpacs provides weekly food packs to at-risk school-aged children in Frisco ISD schools. For the 2021-2022 school year, Frisco Fastpacs plans to serve 1,100 children across all Frisco ISD schools and provide at least 45,000 weekend meal packs. Each pack provides enough non-perishable, easily prepared food to cover the seven meals from when the children are released from school on Friday afternoon through their return on Monday morning.

Gaining Ground's mission is to provide free, sustainably grown, fresh organic produce to people experiencing food insecurity. We do this with the helping hands of a diverse community of volunteers who work and learn with us on our farm.

Gardeneers cultivates customized school garden programs to ensure each space, and the students and communities who care for them, connect with healthy food and grow to their full potential. Gardeneers was founded in 2014 to provide more equitable access to healthy food and food education for Chicago youth living in food desert communities. We currently serve a network of 20 partner schools in low income, high crime rate communities of Chicago that are also food insecure, where residents do not have convenient or affordable access to fresh healthy foods.

Gardeneers provides direct service weekly garden education programs for students K-12th grade. The pillars of our experiential, STEM based programs are Supporting Student Nutrition, Connecting with Community, and Experiencing Nature. In 2019 Gardeneers served over 2,000 students per week in our hands on garden education programs.

GROW North Texas is a non-profit that works to connect North Texans to food, farms, and community in order to create a sustainable, secure regional food system that enriches the land, encourages economic opportunity through food and agriculture, and provides equitable access to healthy, nutritious food for all residents.

Good Neighbors Inc. is on a mission to help the people of East Providence and neighboring communities bridge the gap between their needs and means by providing access to healthy foods.

Greater Vancouver Food Bank's mission is to provide healthy food to those in need.

 Launched in 2018, our Climate Victory Gardens (CVGs) campaign is improving access to healthy food by recruiting new and seasoned gardeners across the country to use regenerative gardening practices. Modelled after the successful Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII, our CVG campaign is recruiting individuals and communities to turn their backyards, nearby vacant lots, parkways, or open fields into spaces that produce healthy, organic food.

At Grow Dat, our mission is to nurture a diverse group of young leaders through the meaningful work of growing food. One youth leader’s experience at our farm can benefit our communities for a lifetime.