Growing Hope Awards Inaugural Sprout Grants to Empower Community Gardens in Ypsilanti

August 23, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Ayanfe Jamison
Garden Manager
[email protected]
734-786-8401

Growing Hope Awards Inaugural Sprout Grants to Empower Community Gardens in Ypsilanti

Ypsilanti, MI, August 22, 2024–Growing Hope is proud to announce the recipients of its inaugural Sprout Grants, which aim to foster community self-reliance, self-determination, and food sovereignty through the support of local community gardens. These grants represent a crucial step toward building a resilient and sustainable food system in Ypsilanti by empowering residents to take control of their own food sources and strengthen their neighborhoods.

The 2024 Sprout Grant recipients include:

Frog Island Community Garden: Installing a path to assist with ADA accessibility.
Parkridge Community Garden: Purchasing a tiller to allow them to do their best work in the spaces they steward as they grow food for the community.
M.E.S.S. House Community Garden: This funding will support the garden’s purchase of tools, construction of raised beds, and installation of fruit trees as it works to build a community farm.
Chidester Place Community Garden: Will build fencing to keep out deer and other wildlife.
Alley Garden: Repurposing recycling bins into raised garden beds along a path throughout Ypsi.
Cross Street Village Gardeners: Starting a small herbal garden with a fence and tools.
Normal Park Community Garden: Clean the grass and weeds out of the paths and put gravel or a thick bed of wood chips in the paths to keep the grass and weeds from the paths.

These community gardens have been selected for their commitment to nurturing local food production, enhancing access to fresh produce, and creating spaces where residents can connect, learn, and grow together. Each garden will receive financial support and resources tailored to its unique needs, allowing it to expand its impact and continue its vital work in fostering food security and community resilience.

“We are thrilled to support these gardens, each of which plays a critical role in advancing food sovereignty and empowering our community to become more self-reliant,” said Julius Buzzard, Executive Director. “These grants are not just about growing food; they’re about growing community, empowering individuals to shape their own food systems, and ensuring that everyone in Ypsilanti has the opportunity to thrive.”

The Sprout Grants are part of Growing Hope’s broader mission to promote community-driven solutions to food insecurity and support initiatives encouraging healthy, sustainable, and just food systems. By investing in these community gardens, Growing Hope is helping to build a future where every Ypsilanti resident has access to fresh, nutritious food and the knowledge to grow it themselves.

PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST

Growing Hope is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization focused on strengthening and supporting the local food system throughout the community and beyond. We own and operate a demonstration urban farm, fund, and staff the Ypsilanti Farmers Markets, and facilitate home and community gardening programming, preparing fresh, affordable local produce and food entrepreneurship for youth and adults.

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Sweet Greetings Community, As we enter into Black History Month, I invite you to lean in as we reflect on the stories of makers—artists, bakers, herbalists, and creators—we honor the ingenuity that blooms from soil and spirit alike. Sean, Bupé, Nashia, and Eric are carrying forward a legacy of resilience and resistance through their craft. They remind us that making is more than production; it is storytelling, ancestral memory, and an act of defiance in a world that seeks to homogenize and commodify. Investing in our local food system means investing in the people who shape it. From the farmers who steward the land to the artisans who transform raw ingredients into nourishment, we are weaving a web of interdependence that can withstand the storms of uncertainty. At this moment, when federal funding hangs in precarious balance, and communities are left to navigate the shifting tides of policy and politics, we must deepen our commitments to one another on our journey to realize self-determination. We see the cracks in the system, and we also see the light that pours through. The growing movement for reparations and land return is gaining momentum. Across the country, Black food businesses and land stewards are reclaiming space and sovereignty—from cooperatively owned grocery stores to community-run urban farms. Here in Washtenaw County, Black entrepreneurs are creating thriving food businesses despite systemic barriers. The Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen provides a space where small businesses (many of whom are Black-owned) can thrive and where each owner can freely pursue their entrepreneurial dreams. Meanwhile, the Reparations Council is laying the groundwork for justice, ensuring Black food businesses and land stewards have the resources to thrive. We work diligently to meet our community's growing need for this support. These are not isolated efforts; they are part of a collective reckoning, a return-to-right relationship with land, food, and people. I invite you to lean in, whether it is through listening, learning, advocating, donating, or any other means. Because it is about food. It is about land. It is about representation, justice, and sovereignty. It is about us—standing in the fullness of our power and ensuring that everyone has the right to grow, create, and be nourished. In solidarity and abundance, Julius Buzzard P.S. Sign up today to join the conversation with each of these makers.

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