Supporting neighborhood leaders and organizations to grow food, strengthen communities, and foster stewardship of the natural commons
Fruitful Commons is a 501c3 nonprofit created to support neighborhood leaders and communities in growing food, strengthening communities, and fostering stewardship of the natural commons. Our work is centered in underserved communities in Austin due to food scarcity, social injustices, and climate emergencies that disproportionately impact these populations. In 2014, several Fruitful Commons founders were integral to the creation of the Festival Beach Food Forest (FBFF). This unique forest garden thrives today on public parkland, located in downtown Austin, and was the first food forest on public land in all of Texas! Visitors can enjoy fresh food, share the harvest, and reconnect with nature. FBFF is unlike a community garden—instead of fences, here the abundance is accessible to all. FBFF transformed an underutilized bermuda-grass field on public parkland into a thriving oasis that produces fruits, nuts, vegetables, and medicinal herbs, while also educating people about natural systems, regenerating the soil, sequestering water, and building tree canopy.
HOW WE WORK
Fruitful Commons provides aspiring community-led agriculture leaders the critical support and resources needed to bring their projects from idea to reality in their neighborhoods. Successfully starting a food forest or community garden and sustaining it over time requires expertise and knowledge. Fruitful Commons provides its expertise—a proven roadmap—to any individual or community group interested in launching their own food forest or community garden. Our leadership team brings critical resources—like fiscal sponsorship and back-end business support—so that hard-working community leaders can feel confident and supported in their project, while keeping their focus on growing food, saving seeds, and building community.
When a group of community members come together to create a garden, food forest, or other urban agriculture initiative that will benefit the larger community, we are there to support them and advocate for them.
-We are a hub for community leaders and organizations who are working together to advance urban agriculture sustainability, initiatives, and policy.
-We connect community leaders to experts, resources, and each other through our Gathering of Growers events and educational workshops.
-We provide backbone services for these projects, such as fiscal sponsorship and back-end business support.
-We promote and advocate for these efforts, raise the visibility of community-led urban agriculture, and support community leaders through land agreements and other challenging initiatives.
-We are nurturing an equitable green workforce centered around community resilience and food sovereignty alongside a coalition of partners.
-We are designing and building a low-cost prototype outdoor educational “harvest hub” and community kitchen that can be replicated throughout our marginalized communities.
-We are developing a data collection infrastructure to enable our projects to evidence their impact, which strengthens their funding proposals and helps them improve their systems.