Growing Hope is a local non-profit that makes its main priority improving its community’s lifestyle through gardening and healthy food access.
“It’s about working with people, finding out what their interests are and helping them achieve their goals, Arika Lycan, Growing Hope member, said. “It gives people a sense of empowerment and strength. We’re really connected to the community.”
Through an array of classes and hands on experience in the garden, Growing Hope is transforming Ypsilanti into an environmentally-friendly place.
Growing Hope is taking a cue from Mother Nature herself and working to make Michigan green. If they’re not out growing gardens, they’re bringing the garden to you. This non-profit installs vegetable garden beds in low- and no-income households.
According to Danielle Gartner, the garden and youth program manager at Growing Hope, “We install the plant beds in their yard and do some education on how to grow and cook the food.”
The goal is “to give people the knowledge and the skills to go out and run the gardens themselves,” Lycan said.
Growing Hope is adamant about guiding the community in their own gardening endeavors, and with programs like Garden Leadership Training and the Seed Starting Squad, the concept of planting will no longer be foreign.
“We’re here to give people the skills and support they need to thrive,” Lycan said. “Seeing the results is really satisfying.”
Growing Hope offers adult education classes that can sculpt the locals into nutrition experts. This winter, Growing Hope offered the class “Nutrition on a Budget” which delineated healthy cooking. Patrons left with a new recipe and a full belly.
An upcoming class called “Intro to Market Gardening” will delve into the business aspect of growing food and can teach you how to make gardening profitable. This class will be held at 6:30 p.m. Jan. 26 at the Ypsilanti Senior and Recreation Center.
“We’ve really tried to develop classes that would be beneficial to the community,” Lycan said. “We want to teach people how to grow things at home and sell them to the public, how to garden, how to pick what you plant and more about canning and preserving.”
Aside from educating Ypsi, we can see the contribution Growing Hope makes to our town every Tuesday from May to October at the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers’ Market. Ferris Street is lined with a diverse range of homegrown produce like green beans, tomatoes, sweet corn, cantaloupe and watermelon plus treats like honey, jams and sweet rolls.
Lycan says the farmers’ market is great because “people who might not want to grow their own food can still access healthy options.”
This not only puts healthy food on our tables but also keeps our friendly farmers viable.
Growing Hope also provides an opportunity for Ypsilanti youth to get involved with after-school and summer programs. Growing Hope is the creator of numerous youth gardens and programs like Seed 2 Plate and West Willow Garden Summer Camp. The best way to get an education is to have fun while you’re doing it.
“I really enjoy working with the youth program,” Danielle Gartner, program manager for Growing Hope, said. “We teach cooking, nutrition and gardening at the Ypsilanti Middle School. It’s fun to see young folks learning how to plant a meal and trying new foods.”
If you want to get involved, Growing Hope is always accepting new volunteers.
“We couldn’t exist without the help of volunteers,” Gartner said. “It’s a crucial part of our success. We have amazing volunteers who dedicate their time and resources to us.”
There’s a plethora of opportunities to volunteer for. If you like working with people, you can work at the Farmers’ Market or help set up at the monthly potluck, where gardeners gather to gossip about planting over good food.
The Growing Hope Center is undergoing renovation, offering a new space for community cooking classes, field trips and of course, food production. If you want to get down and dirty, you can become a member of the Growing Hope Center renovation team and help beautify the new space. Photographers and videographers are needed to capture memories as well as instructors for gardening classes.
Growing Hope is empowering the community to take charge of their food production, offering resources that fill not only our stomachs but our heads too. If you become a member of this group, you will gain access to a network of supportive gardeners who are prepared to plant the seeds of a brighter future in Ypsi. It’s certainly worth it to be able to borrow tools from their “lending library” and swap secrets with the best planters around.
