The Urban Farming Institute Of Boston Inc

Community programs/npo partner outreach/ corporate connections: "live music: over 16 plus jazz, afro-latin jazz, bomba performances occurred at the ufi farm stand to attract the community and provide a safe place to shop, and participate in arts & crafts. "ufi completed building and installing additional 26 grow boxes in 2024. That means that people are growing healthy food in their backyards, front yards and porches. Guidance occurred for these at the seedling sale and in-person at fcef. Ufi created a 'grow series' to teach residents all the steps of growing food. Ufi hosted 10 saturday/sunday 'how to grow' classes. "over 6700 servings of food through our community meal bags. Funded by donors committed to fighting hunger and food insecurity the meals were prepared by bipoc chefs and consisted of fresh vegetables, starch, and a protein with enough food for a family of three. All meals were culturally relevant as well (callaloo, haitian stew, jerk chicken, yucca and more) "the 2024 thanksgiving / indigenous people's celebration food distribution of 475 turkeys (with the fixings) for families in need nominated by partner organizations, schools and neighbors. "the ufi food day and garlic fest was held in october of 2024. This is a free event for the entire family with demonstrations of culturally relevant food by diverse chefs an apple cider-press and activities for children, family health education discussions and workshops, and a free book give away. 100 plus attendees. Families learned all about garlic and how to plant garlic at the event. "779 volunteers continued to help ufi with farming and weeding. An average volunteer works for two hours (volunteers consisted of corporate volunteers, neighbors, students and youth). "collaborating community organizations are abcd bowdoin street health center, sportsmen's tennis club and enrichment center, dorchester food coop, bethel ame church, the food project, and mattapan food and fitness, victory programs, and oasis on ballou. "school programs continued at the joseph lee school, codman academy charter school, dearborn school, ellison parks school, and milton academy to name a few.

Farm operations ufi's farm operations (growing and distributing food and seedlings) from june to november encompasses: "growing food to distribute from all six farming locations 131 glenway street, astoria quarter acre farm, garrison trotter farm, and fcef farmland. Ufi also manages two growing sites with our partner victory program/revision house. The partnership comes with 2 additional greenhouses allowing ufi to boost its seedling production. "ufi grew and distributed over 15,794 pounds of food. Distribution of total of 40,000 pounds of food included 4,500 pounds of donated food and additional food brought in via our rural partners to bring in additional fruit and other items ufi does not traditionally grow in the city. "distribution of food through 60 community supported agriculture boxes (csa) with our collaborating community partner abcd. Produce provided from over 130 plus crop varieties. "running a weekly farmstand that served an amazing increase of community shoppers from 2500 customers in 2023 to shy of 3000 in 2024 (20% increase) many of whom were from low-income families that relied upon hip/snap, wic and city of boston farm market coupons. Ufi also continued its own ufi farm stand coupon to ease the cost of fresh produce per bag. "seedling growth and sales of seedling plants: ufi had over 250 customers for 2 seedling sales attended by 250 people. Not only did ufi provide seedlings for the community but also supplied seedlings for other urban farmers and nonprofits. "educating ufi customers and encouraging planting for health benefits of fresh crops such as turmeric and ginger (grown in our greenhouse).

Completing capital campaign to purchase fowler clark epstein farm after a successful two-and-a-half-year capital campaign ufi purchased the historic fowler clark epstein farm in mattapan in january of 2024. This means that the farmland, historic house and barn, are now owned by ufi. Zero mortgage was required to purchase the property based on the successful capital campaign. Ufi has become a critical steward of the historic landmark property. At a time when gentrification abounds in our community ufi will be able to operate as the hub of urban farming, farmer training, education, health & wellness, youth development, and community- building well into the future. The greenhouse was previously built and opened for operation in 2019 by ufi. The greenhouse is owned outright as well. The above decisions will allow for a sustainable future. Fcef will also continue to serve as ufi's community headquarters. Our doors are open to the community promoting health and wellness for all ages.