Growing Gardens

Mission

Growing Gardens uses the experience of growing food in schools, backyards, and correctional facilities to cultivate healthy and equitable communities. 

Bottom Line for Portland

For over 25 years, Growing Gardens has worked towards our mission to utilize the powerful human experience of gardening to increase community access, improve diets and health outcomes, and inspire future food leaders in Oregon. Our vision is for every Oregonian to have equal access to healthy food and a sincere desire to better understand, participate in, and actively improve our local food system. We accomplish this through three hands-on gardening programs:

Home Gardens - Providing bilingual resources and guided support for individuals & families as they grow their own gardens at home. 

Youth Grow - Building and maintaining school gardens that inspire youth to make healthy choices and deepen their understanding of the natural environment.

And Lettuce Grow - Working directly with incarcerated individuals in prisons to cultivate new skills and build a healthier community on the inside.

Our work is both wide and deep in pursuit of a healthy and more equitable food system. Your donations make it happen! With your support, we're excited to show you what 2024 will bring. 

Quote

“Growing Gardens planted not just things that grow in gardens but the seeds of inquiry for my students
this year. When we are outside for any reason, they now see things they never knew existed: birds, pollinators, insects and seedlings. They want to learn more and more about each of these. It’s like a light switch was flipped on!”

- 2nd grade teacher at Glenfair

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Hunger is an Equity Issue
 

Food insecurity affects us all, but it disproportionately impacts some communities more than others.

Studies have shown that households of color, recent immigrants, and families with children are at greater risk of experiencing food insecurity and hunger. Growing Gardens is committed to empowering and uplifting these communities through hands-on garden-based education initiatives. To ensure this goal, we root all of our programs and partnerships in the pursuit of anti-racism, which for us includes continuously identifying ways to hold ourselves and our partners accountable to principles of anti-oppression. 

In addition to writing anti-racist guidelines into our grant proposals and community partnership agreements, we hold recurring Racial Equity meetings where we discuss and track initiatives to further weave anti-racism into all aspects of our organization. For example, every member of the staff and board is required to attend a multi-day training on unlearning racism with the People’s Institute. We are grateful for the resources we have had to not only help us deepen our understanding of oppressive systems but also to learn all the ways we can continue to grow as individuals and as a team.

Incentives

Each time you donate to Growing Gardens via Give!Guide or subscribe to our News Beet Newsletter before 12 pm on December 31st, 2023, you will be entered to win a loaded Gift Basket from Devil's Food Catering including farmstead cheeses and artisan cured meats with all the fixin’s, seasonal crudités with dynamic dunk sauces, rustic breads and crackers, a dozen sea salt-chocolate chip cookies, and a bottle of true Champagne! As if that weren't amazing enough, we'll also throw in a $25 gift certificate to Heyday Doughnuts along with merch, coffee beans, and a $50 gift card to Portland Cà Phê. 

PLUS

THE FIRST 50 UNDER 35 to donate $35 receive a super cool gardening hip pack from Cotopaxi stuffed with seeds and fun surprises! 

Partner(s)

Devil’s Food Catering has been delighting Portland-area party-goers since 2003. Over the last two decades, we have built a reputation for delicious hand – crafted foods, a sophisticated bar program, gracious service, experienced event planning, and timeless style — while also demonstrating a strong commitment to civic engagement, environmental stewardship, and social equity.

HeyDay Doughnuts is an Asian-inspired and woman-owned doughnut shop bridging culture + community 1 doughnut at a time!

Portland Cà Phê Roasters was founded the summer of 2020 as a way to bring Vietnamese-grown coffee beans into a market that lacks representation from Southeast Asia. A team of two, they specialize in coffee beans that are grown in the Central Highlands of Vietnam and roasted in Portland, Oregon. 

Cotopaxi builds gear that fuels both outdoor experiences and global change. Their Gear for Good® promise is to make durable outdoor gear as ethically and sustainably as possible and to use a portion of their proceeds to empower communities in Latin America through health care, education, and livelihood-enhancing experiences.