Causes

Community & economic development Health & nutrition Youth development

Posted by

Cristina S.

Executive Director

Our mission

Green Village Initiative (GVI) is an urban agriculture organization in Bridgeport. Our mission is to grow food, knowledge, leadership and community through urban gardening and farming, to create a more just food system in Bridgeport. We recognize the importance of addressing the systemic inequities that cause poverty and hunger in our city and we are working towards a Bridgeport in which all people can access healthy, culturally relevant, locally grown foods at school, at work, and at home.

What we do

We support Bridgeport's school gardens, manage 12 community gardens and an urban farm and engage youth in leadership programming. Our programs engage thousands of community members in growing and consuming Bridgeport-grown food; all produce is grown without the use of harmful chemicals for the local community.

Our 4 programs are:
* Reservoir Community Farm. Our 1.7 acre urban farm is a demonstration farm for growers across the city, a welcoming gathering and learning space for the community, and home to our biweekly farm stand. Each year, we grow, sell and donate about 5,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce for the community. Over 400 hundred students, teachers, community gardeners and visitors participate in our community events, farming and food justice workshops, and educational field trips each year.
* Youth Leadership Program. We cultivate youth as agents of social change through urban agriculture. Youth are a growing force at Reservoir Community Farm during the summer and participate in regular workshops in food justice, leadership development, community building, and job skills. A Food Leader Advisory Group of enrolled youth and recent program graduates helps our team create the most valuable summer experience that we can for youth in Bridgeport.
* School Gardens. Hundreds of students garden at Bridgeport public schools. Garden champions at schools, usually teachers, engage students in seeding, maintaining, and harvesting their garden with GVI's support and resources. Our partnerships are moving us towards deep integration of school gardens into school culture and curriculum. A collaboration with Sacred Heart University has resulted in school garden lesson plans that tie directly into the Bridgeport curriculum; coupled with Professional Development opportunities for teachers, this increases teacher confidence and ability to use school gardens as an academic tool across the city.
* Community Gardens. A network of 12 neighborhood organic gardens provides opportunities for hundreds of families to grow food that may be unavailable in their neighborhoods. We deliver streamlined support and resources to gardeners in our network who grow thousands of pounds of food each year. We are partnering with UConn Extension to offer an intensive, year-long Urban Farmer training program for gardeners interested in growing for market. This will generate local economic activity while meeting demands for culturally appropriate produce at Bridgeport's farmers markets.

Grow With Us
We believe that when the community has the ability to grow, sell and purchase the food they choose to, this will catalyze economic development and lead to a robust, community-driven food system and local food economy in Bridgeport. Already, our urban farms and gardens are nurturing a grassroots movement of urban growers of all ages across the city.

We wouldn't have the impact that we do without the energy and commitment of our volunteers! Every year, hundreds of volunteers help us build new gardens, farm with our team, and clean up garden sites for spring and winter.

To sign up for volunteer opportunities, register for a garden plot, visit our farm stand and workshop schedule, or support our work please visit our website at www.gogvi.org.