Growing Hope Center

After a year of dreaming and planning, Growing Hope is putting down roots with a purchase agreement for our permanent home, the Growing Hope Center! Imagine

• high-intensity urban food production year round
• healthy cooking classes using Center-grown food
• school field trips to pick fruit
• donation garden for people in need
• a “green” space, inside and out
• revitalization in downtown Ypsilanti

...and much more! 922 West Michigan Ave, just a few blocks west of Downtown Ypsilanti, Michigan, will become our permanent home! This 1.4 acre urban lot includes a 1931 faux-tudor house, garage, and lots and lots of green space! We envision demonstration and training gardens and greenhouses, our offices in a renovated model green building (the existing house), a home for our tool lending library, a colorful community gathering space, an education center (in a later phase) and opportunities for healthy learning and inspiration and hope. Can you envision it, too?

See a slideshow overview of the Growing Hope Center! You can also download the slides from that slideshow in "handout" format-- 6 slides per page.

If you'd like to look at or share a one-page overview of Growing Hope and the Growing Hope Center, you can download it here. Interested in a few more pics? We've got some here. Like that pretty site plan illustration? It's thanks to Rebekah Vanwieren, a 2nd year Masters of Landscape Architecture student at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources & Environment. After participating in conceptual site designs with her studio, Rebekah joined our volunteer site planning team. The third year MLA students just completed their ideas for streetscape design. You can see a slideshow of them here!

Our site planning team is made up of incredible professionals who have been contributing significant time and expertise over the last year. Nicole Chardoul, of Resource Recycling Systems Incorporated, serves as the volunteer project manager, and engineer. Brian Pille and Bob Doyle have been our volunteer landscape architects. Architect Bob Edmonds has developed plans for renovation of the house, and is designing the future education center. Others, including engineer and landscape architecture student Angie Campbell, traffic engineer Chris Wall from Midwestern Consulting, Rebekah Vanwieren, Recycle Ann Arbor's Jason Bing, U-M's Center for Sustainable System's Geoff Lewis, have participated in our team at different times. THANKS to all of our great volunteers, our site plan is about to be submitted to the City of Ypsilanti!

How can YOU help? Can you imagine the possibilities of the Growing Hope Center? Right now we need you to get involved. Securing $50,000 before our December 7th closing will allow us to spend 2008 launching a capital campaign to raise the full amount for acquisition--$850,000—over the next five years. A matching grant of $15,000 has been recently placed on the table! Now, it’s your turn. Please make your contribution to strong communities now by clicking on the donate now link above, or contacting us at 734-786-8401. Contributions can also be mailed to Growing Hope PO Box 980129, Ypsilanti, MI 48198. If you would like to designate your gift towards the Growing Hope Center, please note that on your check or in the notes section of the online giving form.

We look forward to your dreaming and planning and fundraising, and eventually growing with us at the Growing Hope Center! Please, get in touch about it!