A Fresh Look at Give One for Good Food 2023

Indigo Harvest at Black Butterfly Farm, Baltimore Farm Alliance

Cultivating a more equitable future through healthy food.

Did you know many of the non-profit organizations we support not only produce and distribute healthy food, they also provide agricultural training, paid internships, and other educational programming in the communities they serve? For many of our grantees, this is a natural extension of their food and farming work as they seek to support healthy outcomes and nurture vibrant communities.

Here is a look at a few of the empowering training and educational programs supported by our Give One for Good Food grants in 2023:

Evanston Grows

    Evanston Grows
    A new Give One grantee for 2023, Evanston Grows in Evanston, Illinois, provides
    workforce development opportunities through on-farm training and employment. The organization also offers a paid internship program, which taught 9 participants this year, ages 19-50, about the science and techniques of urban farming in their climate. Evanston Grows interns receive a certificate in Urban Agriculture and graduates have pursued a variety of opportunities aimed at improving our food system, including managing a local farm stand, starting a floral business, and pursuing higher education in agriculture at the University of Illinois.

        Farm Alliance of Baltimore

        Founded in 2011 as a membership organization for urban farms and local growers, the Farm Alliance of Baltimore provided more than 80 hours of 1:1 technical assistance to farm members this year. They also delivered over 500 hours of training to over 300 aspiring urban farmers through educational classes, workshops, and “field days” on their burgeoning Black Butterfly Teaching Farm. The teaching farm exists to equip people living in Baltimore's segregated communities to grow food to feed their own communities and future.

        Crossroads Community Food Network

            TPSS Community KitchenBased in Takoma-Langley Park, Maryland, the Crossroads Community Food Network teaches aspiring entrepreneurs how to launch food and beverage businesses. Participation in the Crossroads' Microenterprise Development Program is free and provides comprehensive food business support through free bilingual virtual workshops and one-on-one technical assistance. To support this work, they are expanding production capacity in their commercial kitchen, as well as opportunities for small food and beverage businesses to showcase and sell their products at their weekly farmers market, an annual community food event, and an online local food business directory featuring current and alumni food and beverage businesses based at the TPSS Community Kitchen.

              Common Good City Farm

                Not only is Common Good City Farm in Washington, DC, growing thousands of pounds of produce and selling it through a sliding scale CSA produce distribution program and an innovative “Pay-What-You-Can” farmers market, but they are also creating safe and productive spaces for Ledroit Park residents and at-risk youth to gather, learn and work. They offer four core education programs that address systemic inequities, including the Learning for the Environment, Agriculture, and Food (LEAF) after-school program for neighborhood youth ages 6-12, to foster a sense of belonging and community, and empower children to lead healthy lives as adults.

                  The team at Common Good City Farm sums up these initiatives well as they describe their overarching purpose as “to create a place where everyone has access to the resources and support, they need to thrive… [in order] to authentically make a difference and create a more just and equitable society”. To learn more about their work and our other 2023 grantees funded through your purchases of Michele’s Granola, please visit the Community page of our website here.

                  Michele
                  Founder and Owner of Michele's Granola


                  Banner image: Indigo Harvest at Black Butterfly Farm, courtesy Farm Alliance of Baltimore.
                  Back to blog

                  Leave a comment

                  Please note, comments need to be approved before they are published.