The project that we are currently seeking funding for is building capacity within our team to expand our youth program into a 1st and 2nd-year cohort and to expand our food production, creating greater food access for neighbors.

GES continues to be disproportionately impacted by environmental racism, extraction, and displacement. We believe that our neighborhood’s youth are uniquely positioned to enact social change, especially when properly equipped. Engaging local youth in a program centered around food justice, cultural preservation, social change, and storytelling is not only a critical step in addressing the issues within GES but also a powerful way to nurture leadership, resilience, and community healing.

After completing our 1st-year youth cohort, it became clear that youth need AND desire a place to continue their growth, a place that uplifts, educates and inspires them outside of the traditional school model they’ve become accustomed to. They have expressed a desire to continue working alongside us beyond their 1st year while learning from/mentoring the 2nd cohort of youth that we bring into the farm.

Our Rootwork Youth Program holds a deeply intersectional curriculum for youth that challenges them to think critically about the interconnectedness of their food, health, cultural resilience and more. The youth gather each week on the farm with us for a day of learning and are actively involved with growing and harvesting healthy cultural foodways for their neighborhood and their families, as well as creating educational offerings. They will also be using storytelling to work towards their final collaborative project, which will be shared with the community.

We plan to expand our growing operations this year with additional planting beds and the establishment of a medicinal garden, developed in partnership with The Green House. Our 2-year youth cohort will help us with this expansion of our production model and will learn about high-yield farming in an urban setting. We will be teaching the youth how to cultivate cultural and Indigenous foodways that are adapted to the Colorado climate and often contain up to 3x the bioavailable nutrients of GMO crops. These are healing foods in danger of being lost, and it is important to us to preserve these teachings.

It is more important than ever to protect spaces for young people in GES. These neighborhoods have long histories of culture and community strength—but without monetary support for youth leadership, that future is at risk. When young people do not see opportunities to grow within their own neighborhoods, they will leave in search of other opportunities and places where they can grow. Over time, the population ages without new generations investing back into the neighborhoods that shaped them, leading to a loss of cultural memory, community stewardship, and vision for what these neighborhoods can become. We believe in a different future for GES where young people can gain knowledge and continue to build the future of GES, rooted in the traditions, stories, and values of the community they come from.