A letter from the new Executive Director:
(traducción en espańol)
(traducción en espańol)
Mission
The Growing Project promotes an environmentally and socially just local food system through direct agricultural experiences, education, economic opportunities, and advocacy.
The Growing Project promotes an environmentally and socially just local food system through direct agricultural experiences, education, economic opportunities, and advocacy.
Values
Food justice
Encompassing term that seeks to advance equity and intersectionality (environmental, racial, economic,
gender and social) in relationship to food for all
Regenerative systems
Empowering communities to restore and reproduce thriving economic and ecological relations
Recommoning
Redistribution and reclaiming collective access to resources for community nourishment
Community empowerment
Organizing and fostering inclusive and leaderful communities
Restorative relationships
Accountability, transparency, and commitment to communal repairing and eliminating harm through a
communitarian process.
Food justice
Encompassing term that seeks to advance equity and intersectionality (environmental, racial, economic,
gender and social) in relationship to food for all
Regenerative systems
Empowering communities to restore and reproduce thriving economic and ecological relations
Recommoning
Redistribution and reclaiming collective access to resources for community nourishment
Community empowerment
Organizing and fostering inclusive and leaderful communities
Restorative relationships
Accountability, transparency, and commitment to communal repairing and eliminating harm through a
communitarian process.
Dear Friends and Family of The Growing Project,
Last week I wrote a press release introducing myself as the new Executive Director of The Growing Project, effective March 2020. Thrilled and filled with gratitude, it was my intention to send it to our partners, sponsors, and Larimer County news sources as soon as possible. However, today I am grateful for the never-as-fast-as-you-planned nature of nonprofit organizing. As each day our lives shift with such velocity and unpredictability, I am grateful for waiting, for listening.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more clear than ever that we need socially just and regenerative systems to support our communities. We acknowledge that what all residents in the United States are now facing, many residents have lived with every day: insecurity. Fewer public goods, fewer safeguards, less insurance, more uncertainty. Now there is even less access to markets, food supplies are compromised, jobs are disappearing, healthcare is limited, and certain groups will be disproportionately affected. Pandemics decode inequalities. This crisis reveals that our economic and political systems are unfit to protect the people.
But in this time of fear I have also seen how people are capable of beautiful acts of camaraderie and generosity.
The past teaches us that pandemics change history. While The Growing Project has been evolving for over a decade, let us again take this opportunity to broaden our perspective and practice of food justice. We entered 2020 with a plan to restructure our organization to build a new model of food justice that empowers, educates, and nourishes our community, while also adapting quickly and radically. In response to increasing physical isolation, we are redefining community with new social interactions that foster the longevity of our ecosystems and peoplesystems.
We regret that we must cancel our annual Seed Swap, an event that brings together hundreds of folks around growing a community food system. That said, we are excited to launch a Virtual Seed Swap: an online seed matching forum and mobile seed library. Seize the moment to converse and lend a figurative hand to fellow growers! Hold on to a sense of place (and out in the garden is a great place to be right now). In continuation with this virtual theme, we call upon you to volunteer your time and creativity to help us come up with online education, discussions, and campaigns. This is a call to arms with more communications to come!
In the meantime, let us focus on what we can do for ourselves and others to prevent spread—for our hourly workers, for our families, for our vulnerable and high-risk neighbors. Let us feed not only our tangible needs, but the spiritual. Cherish one another. Worship the outdoors. Grow food. Make art. And let us help you to do so--The Growing Project wants to know how we can re-common resources and organize together. As we design new tools to advance food justice, we need your help—be it a donation, a skill, a friendly note.
I feel privileged to join The Growing Project community. Thank you always for your voices and commitment to resilience.
Yours,
Megan Gross
Executive Director of The Growing Project
Last week I wrote a press release introducing myself as the new Executive Director of The Growing Project, effective March 2020. Thrilled and filled with gratitude, it was my intention to send it to our partners, sponsors, and Larimer County news sources as soon as possible. However, today I am grateful for the never-as-fast-as-you-planned nature of nonprofit organizing. As each day our lives shift with such velocity and unpredictability, I am grateful for waiting, for listening.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is more clear than ever that we need socially just and regenerative systems to support our communities. We acknowledge that what all residents in the United States are now facing, many residents have lived with every day: insecurity. Fewer public goods, fewer safeguards, less insurance, more uncertainty. Now there is even less access to markets, food supplies are compromised, jobs are disappearing, healthcare is limited, and certain groups will be disproportionately affected. Pandemics decode inequalities. This crisis reveals that our economic and political systems are unfit to protect the people.
But in this time of fear I have also seen how people are capable of beautiful acts of camaraderie and generosity.
The past teaches us that pandemics change history. While The Growing Project has been evolving for over a decade, let us again take this opportunity to broaden our perspective and practice of food justice. We entered 2020 with a plan to restructure our organization to build a new model of food justice that empowers, educates, and nourishes our community, while also adapting quickly and radically. In response to increasing physical isolation, we are redefining community with new social interactions that foster the longevity of our ecosystems and peoplesystems.
We regret that we must cancel our annual Seed Swap, an event that brings together hundreds of folks around growing a community food system. That said, we are excited to launch a Virtual Seed Swap: an online seed matching forum and mobile seed library. Seize the moment to converse and lend a figurative hand to fellow growers! Hold on to a sense of place (and out in the garden is a great place to be right now). In continuation with this virtual theme, we call upon you to volunteer your time and creativity to help us come up with online education, discussions, and campaigns. This is a call to arms with more communications to come!
In the meantime, let us focus on what we can do for ourselves and others to prevent spread—for our hourly workers, for our families, for our vulnerable and high-risk neighbors. Let us feed not only our tangible needs, but the spiritual. Cherish one another. Worship the outdoors. Grow food. Make art. And let us help you to do so--The Growing Project wants to know how we can re-common resources and organize together. As we design new tools to advance food justice, we need your help—be it a donation, a skill, a friendly note.
I feel privileged to join The Growing Project community. Thank you always for your voices and commitment to resilience.
Yours,
Megan Gross
Executive Director of The Growing Project
Get Involved!
Want to get involved in Community Gardening, Food Justice and Urban Agriculture? Volunteering is easy - contact volunteer@thegrowingproject.org! Sign up for our regular newsletter to hear about events and volunteer opportunities or donate a little seed money with your PayPal account.
Want to get involved in Community Gardening, Food Justice and Urban Agriculture? Volunteering is easy - contact volunteer@thegrowingproject.org! Sign up for our regular newsletter to hear about events and volunteer opportunities or donate a little seed money with your PayPal account.
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Check out Growing Project events on our community calendar HERE!
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