Staff Stories: Carolyn Gehrke My first day working as Growing Hope’s Finance Manager was the first day that staff moved into the house at 922 W Michigan Ave as offices. At that time, before Growing Hope acquired the downtown property, we were pretty packed in, with...

When folks ask me how long I’ve been with Growing Hope, I have a hard time coming up with an answer. Almost seven years, if you count the last time I was hired, but my relationship with Growing Hope stretches back much farther. I was a teenager working at the Ypsi...

As this funky Michigan warm weather draws nearer, I am finding myself spending more and more time outdoors preparing for the approaching growing season. Switching gears from desktops full of spreadsheets, old notes from the previous years, and bed maps for planting to...

Hi, my name is Juniper, and I’m Growing Hope’s Teen and Schools Manager! I’m still in my first year here at Growing Hope, though I have years of experience working with teens to promote youth-driven spaces.  At my core, I’m an artist, and I’ve used that background to...

Food is a basic human right. The impact of covid and the subsequent inflation has continued to highlight the systemic barriers to accessing food. Increasingly, individuals and families are forced to make difficult financial decisions and weigh how they will meet their...

Staff Stories: Cristi Rodriguez-Alfaro, Garden Manager Heya, my name is Cristi Rodriguez-Alfaro and I am the Garden Manager at Growing Hope. I started working with Growing Hope in April of this year, and have been eager to experience and shape my work in each changing...

Staff Stories: Bee Mayhew, Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen Manager Hi! I'm Bee, Growing Hope's Incubator Kitchen Manager. Fall is my favorite season for many reasons, but mostly because of the bounty of food we have available this time of year. Bumper summer crops and...

For our monthly blog posts, we have invited our staff to share stories about their work in their own voices. This month, we begin with Esha, our Youth Programs Manager, and the youth programming she has been running with Ypsilanti's local youth. Hello! I’m Esha...