Our August Seedlings recipient is Youth Farm. Round up your purchases all month long to support their work.

Since 1995, Youth Farm has created an environment where youth can flourish physically, socially, and emotionally while maturing into young adults. Each year, they work with over 1,500 youth from North Minneapolis and the Frogtown and West Side neighborhoods of St. Paul. Youth ages 9-13 participate in farm and food classes, community events, and leadership development while young people ages 14-24 engage in part-time employment programs, taking on the leadership of programming for younger youth while building community organizing and career skills. At Youth Farm, they utilize food as a catalyst for social change, community engagement, and leadership development - food is a tool to change the world. Youth Farm’s mission is simple: they farm to grow. They farm to grow food, community, and, most importantly, young leaders. Through all of their programming, Youth Farm aims to reach the following goals: 1) Develop and nurture healthy relationships; 2) Create neighborhood connectedness and opportunities for contribution; 3) Contribute to the positive identity of children and youth; 4) Promote healthy bodies and minds; and 5) Build young leaders.

The missions of Youth Farm and Eastside Food Co-op broadly overlap, each focusing heavily on healthy food, community, and education. The work at Youth Farm also relates directly to the food access and agriculture focuses of the Seedlings program. Each year, they grow thousands of pounds of fresh produce that is distributed to families throughout North Minneapolis and St. Paul through community and school meals, cooking classes, and direct distribution to Youth Farm families. This year, as they work to safely grow food, community, and leaders amid COVID-19, they are also standing in solidarity with our community against white supremacy and systemic racism. As they continue to respond to changing needs, Youth Farm also continued to work with small groups of teens and young adults to maintain urban garden spaces and equip them with the skills they need to not only successfully grow their own produce, but also to live and thrive wherever their education or career takes them. While working to grow from a distance, they have also been able to distribute over 10,000 plants from our greenhouse, which have been planted in our gardens and the gardens of partners and families.