New Haven, Connecticut was home to two organizations that promote health and community development through urban agriculture projects. New Haven Land Trust owned and managed six nature preserves and over fifty community gardens, providing educational programs to youth through an agricultural job skills program, a summer camp, and partnerships with local schools. New Haven Farms partnered with local healthcare providers to promote wellness practices with their farms and programs and developed vacant lots into urban gardens. The nonprofits started collaborating in 2015 with a joint community “Incubator Garden” and subsequently commenced integrating their programs, offices and resource sharing. In mid-2018, they began exploring a formal merger which would provide succession planning, increased impact and future growth, specialization capacity for staff, increased financial sustainability potential, along with mobilizing and organizing the food system in New Haven, with the ability to advance advocacy around food justice. The SeaChange-Lodestar Fund for Nonprofit Collaboration provided a grant to help support the cost of a consultant to facilitate the merger of the organizations into Gather New Haven.
Grant Information
Grant Amount: $9,100
Year Granted: 2019
Grantee: Gather New Haven
Location: CT - Connecticut
Grantee Website: Gather New Haven