Holyoke, MA

A grass-roots organization that promotes economic, social, and community development through food and agriculture projects.

Nuestras Raíces is a grass-roots organization that began in 1992 to support community gardening efforts. Since then, Nuestras Raíces’ activities have expanded to include youth leadership training, environmental justice intiatives, and community organizing efforts.  Physically, Nuestras Raíces has establishment an agricultural center in Holyoke. Many of the participants and residents that Nuestras Raíces serves are Puerto Rican immigrants, who first arrived in the Northeast as migrant farmers. Nuestras Raíces’ programming allows these individuals to impart important agricultural skills to younger generations, promote healthy living and eating, and instill community pride.

Nuts and Bolts:

• Holyoke suffered from economic devastation when its paper mill industry collapsed. Much of the decline in industry had its largest effect on the immigrant population, particularly the Puerto Rican population, who comprise a third of Holyoke’s total population. In its poorest sections, Holyoke’s unemployment rate is over 31%, and Latino households in particular only earn 37% of the city’s median income.
• The program grew out of Nueva Esperanza's intern-led initative to clean up an abandoned lot and transform it into La Finquita community garden. By turning the lot into a garden, the community was able to engage the agricultural skills of the many Puerto Ricans who had grown up on farms in their native country.
• Noting the successes of the La Finquita garden, community gardeners developed Nuestras Raíces to build a greenhouse in downtown Holyoke. Today, Nuestras Raíces operates a youth leadership development program, organizes educational workshops and field trips, and sponsors a stand at the Holyoke farmers market, where produce grown at the community gardens can be sold.
• Nuestras Raíces established El Jardin bakery, which produces organic artisan bread for retail and wholesale purchase -- a project that both creates employment and educates about organic foods.
• Nuestras Raíces transformed an abandoned building and vacant lot in Holyoke into the Centro Agricola Community Agricultural Center, a resource center for the development of small businesses. The building was created through a community-based design process, which assessed how to utilize and design the space in the best interest of the community. This center includes a greenhouse, community kitchen, café, bilingual environmental and agricultural resource library, El Jardin bakery, meeting space, and plaza.
• The group has worked with University of Massachusetts extension services to develop techniques for growing herbs, vegetables, flowers, and fruits indigenous to Puerto Rico.
• The largest part of the group’s income and funding comes from private foundations, including the Ford Foundation and W. K. Kellogg Foundation. Nuestras Raíces also receives funding from various federal (USDA, EPA, CDBG) and state (Massachusetts Environmental Trust, Massachusetts Cultural Council) agencies. Earned income from the El Jardin Bakery and from space rental also comprises a substantial portion of the group's budget.

Successes:

• The program has created seven community gardens, as well as two youth gardens.
• The project has helped not only to improve the appearance of communities, but also to strengthen community pride and empowerment.
• The community gardens have helped increase property values in Holyoke, improve the safety of the community, and foster intergenerational relationships.
• In 2004, Nuestras Raíces was one of 12 communities nationwide chosen by the Ford Foundation to receive a $150,000 grant for its community transformation efforts. Nuestras Raíces is using these funds to support the development of Tierra de Oportunidades, an initiative in partnership with several other organizations to improve social, environmental, and economic issues in Holyoke.
• In partnership with the Trust for Public Land, Nuestras Raíces purchased four acres of land adjacent to the Connecticut River, an impressive acquisition that will further expand Nuestras Raíces' programming and outreach.

For more information on this program: Nuestras Raíces