Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** groundwork rhode islandis a…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** groundwork rhode islandis a community-based organization that helps make RI's urban communities healthier, more resilient, and more equitable by improving the physical environment and creating economic opportunities for local residents through job training, employment, and social venture programs. Our community food projectwill help strengthen RI's local food system by employing underserved youth from providence, pawtucket, and central falls through our green team youth program as primary agents of change and ambassadors to the wider community around urban gardening, reducing food waste, and composting. Our project will also createstable sources of nutrient-rich compost for urban growers through infrastructure investment.youth will be employed to learn about the local food system, participate in and lead stewardship activities that increase the efficient neighborhood- or garden-based production of healthy soil, increase the amount of food produced by school and community gardensin the summer and fall, and increase the amount of this food that is distributed to neighborhood residents. Community residentswill receiveor purchase local, fresh produce, low- and moderate-income urban gardenerswill gain access to nutrient-rich compost for growing, residents and community groupswill participate in community composting for the first time, and the broader community will see an overall increase in food waste diverted from RI's only active landfill that is slated to fill and close within the next 10-15 years.one of the primary goals of our project is to expand our subscription-based harvest cycle composting programto serve more community members, particularly those who cannot afford to pay for the service out of pocket. In addition, we will use this project to better coordinate with partners that are already growing food in a variety of ways and have expressed a desire for better compost for their gardeners to improve yields and create a closed loop system where composting is available for local residents as well as gardeners.