Sprout City Farms collaborates with communities to pursue food justice by cultivating innovative, restorative, and educational farms.
Our key programming includes: Healthy Food Access, Farmer Training & Community Education, and Youth Education. Each year we engage an average of 6,000 people, including feeding over around 2,500 of our community members.
Healthy Food Access: Since 2020, over 50% of our harvest has gone to families experiencing food insecurity in the communities near our farms through the following programs:
- No-Cost Community Supported Agriculture (CSA): Food insecure families receive weekly shares of fresh produce and the choice of two-add on items such as fruit, eggs, bread or grains – for 18 weeks from June to October at no-cost. In 2024, the program fed 360 people all season long.
- Donations: At least 10% of our harvest is donated to local food pantries including the onsite DGS pantry that serves 200 families a week and the DGS Cafeteria which reaches 580 students a year. We estimate reaching hundreds more families through other pantry partners but don’t have accurate data.
- Wholesale Partnerships: We supply Boulder County Farmers Market (BCFM) with their Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) CSA program (5670 lbs since 2022) and St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) with vegetables from JSG for their farm-to-cafeteria.
- Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB): Statewide program allows SNAP participants to use their benefits to get half-cost CSA shares and half price produce at our farm stands and Farmers Market. In 2024, JSG had a booth at the Longmont Farmers Market for the first time and 13% of sales were SNAP customers and 25% of CSA members(approximately 250 people).
- Donation-based farm stands: Customers pay what they can and/or pay with DUFB.
Farmer Training & Community Education: This programming centers around cultivating the next generation of farmers, building wealth and practical skills in our farm communities that strengthen neighborhood resiliency. SCF offers paid internships and apprenticeships that provide job training, mentorship, and a curriculum for beginning farmers. Since 2011, we have trained over 150 farmers as full-season interns/apprentices and an additional 25 high school students have participated in our summer youth internship program, working for 8 weeks of the scholastic summer break. We also host workshops and volunteer days at the farms that educate community members on topics related to growing and preparing food for improved health, nutrition, and self-sufficiency.
Our Youth Education programs are focused on developing skills and values regarding food, health, and environmental stewardship through hands-on learning about growing and eating farm-fresh produce. At Denver Green School (DGS) our farm-to-classroom curriculum was developed in collaboration with DGS teachers beginning in 2014 and revamped in 2021 with funding from the USDA. Each year DGS’s diverse group of 580+ students learns about nature and the food system in addition to spending at least 2-3 days on the farm helping with hands-on planting and harvesting activities. For grades 9-12, our Youth Food Leadership and Advocacy Program (YFLAP) is a high school elective course teaches about nutrition and food systems, trains them as leaders for a healthy local food system, and engages them in implementing self-directed school-based initiatives to improve their world. Our youth internship program was particularly designed to create an opportunity for students who expressed interest in more food system/farm experience after their YFLAP semester ended!
Key impacts include:
- Organically grew and distributed over 190,000 pounds of fresh, nutrient-rich vegetables since 2011 (25,000 pounds in 2024 with two farms).
- Trained over 150 next generation farmers through intern/apprentice program (including 25 youth interns) since 2011.
- Reach an average of 6,000+ local residents a year through program services and community engagement efforts.
- Distribute 55% or more of the total harvest (since 2021) to food access programs including No-Cost Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) shares, Food Pantry Donations, Farm-to-Cafeteria, Boulder County Farmers Market’s (BCFM) Women, Infants, & Children (WIC) CSA program, Double Up Food Bucks (DUFB), Donation-based Farm Stands.
- Donate 10% of total harvest to local hunger relief organizations/food pantries (19% donated in 2024).
- Engaged over 4500 volunteers since 2011.
- Fed over 22,000 people through direct programming and thousands more through partner food pantries (2350 fed through direct programming in 2024).
- Almost all No-Cost CSA members consistently report having easier access to healthy food this year as a result of participating in our program.
- Prioritizing no-cost CSA shares for families experiencing the most need resulted in significant increase in the number of BIPOC participants (46% in 2022, 76% in 2023, 86% in 2024) and immigrant/refugee/asylee households (25% in 2022, 41% in 2023, 55% in 2024).