Southside Community Land Trust

Southside Community Land Trust is grateful to our community for showing up in a major way during this year’s 401Gives campaign, helping us finish as the 13th top fundraiser among 644 participating nonprofit organizations statewide. Through the incredible generosity of 150 donors and a matching fund, we raised an impressive $56,000 to support our mission of fostering equitable access to land and markets, providing education, and creating opportunities for Rhode Islanders to grow food in environmentally sustainable ways while building food systems that offer culturally familiar, locally produced, affordable, and healthy food.

This remarkable achievement comes at a critical time for SCLT as we continue expanding our impact across Rhode Island’s food system. Your donations directly bolster vital connections between our youth programs and farmer support initiatives to build a stronger, more sustainable food system for all Rhode Islanders.

The success of our 401Gives campaign enables us to maintain our youth development pathway, offering meaningful opportunities at every stage. From young children exploring gardening through our summer learning program with Violet’s Village, to high school students gaining workforce experience, to young adult interns building specialized skills, and farm apprentices receiving intensive hands-on training through our paid full-time, part-time, and federally registered programs – your support makes these transformative opportunities possible.

Simultaneously, your generosity helps sustain our network of 28 small-scale farmers who grow culturally familiar, nutritious food for our communities. These farmers depend on SCLT to access land, training, and markets. With recent cuts to USDA funding, your support is crucial to maintain our crop purchasing program that sustains farmers’ livelihoods and provides fresh food to nutrition-insecure Rhode Islanders. The funds raised during 401Gives will help us maintain momentum despite the challenges posed by frozen or canceled federal contracts.

Rhode Island’s response to this year’s 401Gives campaign was truly historic, with more than 19,300 individual donors collectively raising $4.9 million for nonprofits throughout the state. We’re proud to be part of this extraordinary demonstration of Rhode Island’s commitment to supporting organizations that deliver vital services to our communities.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our 401Gives campaign!

In 2024, Southside Community Land Trust’s Produce Aggregation and VeggieRx programs demonstrated how local agriculture can effectively address food insecurity while supporting small-scale farmers. These initiatives connect local farmers with communities in need through a network of healthcare providers, educational institutions, and community organizations.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) program provided crucial support this year. This federal initiative, created during the pandemic, enables organizations like SCLT to pay farmers fair market rates for their produce while distributing it through emergency food systems. The program proved transformative, helping SCLT expand its network to 14 distribution sites across Rhode Island.

Partner organizations unanimously praised the programs’ implementation, with all reporting complete satisfaction with both produce quality and program communication. More significantly, 83.3% of partners reported that their access to local fresh produce “greatly increased” through participation.

Healthcare facilities like Integra and Clínica Esperanza, educational institutions including Brown Health University, and community centers such as the West End Community Center and Beautiful Beginnings served as vital distribution hubs. This diverse partnership network ensured fresh, locally grown produce reached thousands of Rhode Island residents experiencing food insecurity.

Program participants consistently highlighted the quality and accessibility of the produce. “I had lots of fresh produce that I could use!” shared one participant. “Usually I hesitate to buy fresh veggies because I don’t want them to go to waste if I’m not feeling well enough to prep and cook in the short time they are good.” Spanish-speaking participants particularly appreciated the program’s inclusivity, with one noting, “Todo en fresco y las elecciones son muy buenas” (Everything is fresh and the selections are very good).

However, the year also revealed significant challenges. Farmers reported struggling with limited water access and insufficient land availability, with some traveling to Massachusetts to secure additional growing space. “There is not enough water on the farm,” one farmer explained. “The plants start growing well but then they start dying or there’s inconsistency of growing the same thing at different times because I get different results.”

Several farmers also requested an earlier seasonal start date to better align with spring crops. As one farmer noted, “It would be better for my business to start selling at the end of May because I have lots of things like green onions, carrots, and salad greens that are all done by July (when aggregation starts).”

The most pressing challenge ahead lies in funding sustainability. The LFPA program, which has been instrumental in the programs’ success, concludes early in the 2025 growing season. However, new opportunities for support may emerge through Senator Reed’s Expanding Access To (EAT) Local Foods Act, which would provide dedicated funding for purchasing food from small and local farmers. Additionally, Rhode Island’s Department of Health is seeking to include healthy food prescriptions under Medicaid coverage, which could further support programs like VeggieRx.

Despite these challenges, the programs’ impact remains clear. “This has been my best year of farming ever because of the support from SCLT and connections we’ve been making,” shared one farmer. Another participant noted, “The quality was always great. The recipes have taught me how to use the veggies.”

Looking ahead to 2025, SCLT continues working to secure sustainable funding while addressing farmers’ infrastructure needs. The organization’s success in 2024 demonstrates the vital role these programs play in creating a more equitable and sustainable local food system for Rhode Island.

Left to right, Executive Director Margaret DeVos, Senator Jack Reed, City Farm Steward Rich Pederson, Board President Rochelle Lee, and Administrative Manager Tammy Kim at City Farm’s EAT event, June 2024

Introduced in the 2024 legislative session by Senator Jack Reed, the EAT (Expanding Access To) Local Foods Act builds on a successful model that benefits RI food producers and consumers alike. At a June visit to SCLT’s City Farm, the Senator addressed a coalition of local food systems stakeholders. “The EAT Local Foods Act would strengthen our regional food system and help local farmers and fishers put delicious and healthy food on more tables while growing their markets. It’s a win-win,” said Reed. The bill would create a perennial grant program for state and tribal governments to procure local foods for distribution to nearby hunger relief programs, leveraging government purchasing power to support local economic development, build resilient local food systems, and combat food insecurity.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the USDA created the Local Food Purchase Cooperative Agreement (LFPA) grant program and provided $900 million for food purchasing efforts, helping to strengthen local and regional food systems across the country. RI has seen over $740,000 in LFPA funds invested into the local food economy, with 58% going directly to historically underserved producers. This includes $190,000 paid to farmers in the SCLT network in 2023 alone, fueling our Produce Aggregation and Veggie Rx programs which regularly delivered free produce to 9,750 food insecure households last year.

Farmer Sienna Viette of Open Farms Retreat said LFPA “has not only provided access to fresh, locally-grown produce for [our] community, but also increased our resiliency as a small farm by providing a stable source of income throughout the growing season.” Indeed, the EAT Local Foods Act aims to codify LFPA’s positives, as Viette notes. “The EAT Local Foods Act would permanently provide funding to ensure small farms such as ours will continue delivering fresh foods to community members who have the least access to them.”

Nine farmers and gardeners in SCLT’s network recently completed a six-week Technology Basics course, gaining practical skills to help navigate daily digital life. This training series was made possible through a partnership with the Providence Public Library (PPL), which supplied a laptop for each participant and instructors who could give focused support to learners.

SCLT hosted the sessions in the community training space at our 404 Broad Street Healthy Food Hub in Providence. From late January to early March 2024, learners gathered once per week for two to three hours. Sessions covered online essentials like security practices and scam recognition, website navigation, account setup, and email basics. Designed for our growers, participants also learned about reliable places to shop for farm and garden supplies online and what the typical ordering process entails.

SCLT staff were led by Administrative Manager Tammy Kim and Urban Edge Farm Manager Ben Torpey. The opportunity was widely promoted to our network of over 40 farmers and nearly 400 community gardeners. In the neighborhoods where SCLT works, 50% of residents speak a language other than English at home. And 34 different languages are spoken on our properties. Meanwhile, most resources to build digital skills are available exclusively in English. Tammy and Ben arranged for interpreters so the program could help non-English speakers overcome two barriers – tech literacy and English literacy.

Because of the success of our pilot partnership, SCLT hopes to again work with PPL to bring this equitable and accessible programming to more of our neighbors.

Beginning farmers using farm tools to improve the quality of soil and the produce they grow.

The nearly 400 growers in SCLT’s community gardens network will get a boost this spring, thanks to a farm tool grant from the Southern New England Farmers of Color Collaborative (SNEFCC). The organization brings together stakeholders who want to increase the success of beginning farmers of color across the region’s six states. For the last three years, SNEFCC has made grants that aim to support these farmers in developing the skills, resources, and capabilities needed to build and sustain successful farm enterprises.

Approaching his first anniversary as SCLT’s Community Gardens Network Associate, Blong Yang authored the successful proposal for the tool stipend.  The award will enable Blong and Community Gardens Network Director Andrew Cook to purchase close to $5,000 in tools like rakes, shovels, loppers, digging forks, and rototillers. These have been identified as the top needs on an ever-evolving wishlist of resources requested by gardeners whose produce feeds their families and their communities.

In 2023, food grown by SCLT farmers and gardeners ended up on the plates of over 23,250 people, at least 97% of whom live in low-income communities where fresh, healthy, and delicious food is hard to find and harder to afford. An average of 32% of residents in the communities we serve live in low-access census tracts, meaning they live more than a mile from a source of fresh food. Outside our garden walls, the fresh foods commonly available are not culturally familiar to the people living in these communities, where 32% of residents were born outside of the US. The small and urban growers in our network and across the state are vital to meeting the needs of our food-insecure neighbors.

This year’s SNEFCC Tool Stipend grant was particularly competitive, and SCLT is grateful to have been a recipient. SNEFCC makes these stipends available as part of a grant awarded by the USDA’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). SCLT is a past and current recipient of BFRDP grants. We’ve used the funds, among other purposes, to fuel our Farm Apprentice program. Apprentices are beginning farmers who are matched with an experienced farmer – often someone they already know – and are compensated for participating in an immersive and unique career readiness curriculum that includes linguistically appropriate agricultural business management training. In 2024, with our BFRDP funding and with support from the SNEFCC stipend, we’ll continue to support seven Apprentices who participated in the program last year, all of whom identify as people of color.

Gratefully, this stipend alleviates some of the tool needs for the hundreds of people working the land in SCLT’s 22 gardens across Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls. However, the need for shareable, reliable, well-maintained tools remains an ongoing issue for our network of growers. Check out our Resource Wishlist and consider making a donation of your new or gently used tools to support the work of our growers.

Properties & Equipment Coordinator Dan Roberts (left) and Community Garden Network Associate Blong Yang survey a successful bed rebuild while Food System Intern Frank Jolifier prepares the next.

Backed by our Burnett Community Garden and neighbored by residences and an elementary school, Greenwich Garden this winter received its first major facelift since SCLT established the green space in 2011. Led by Andrew Cook, Community Garden Network Director, and Blong Yang, Garden Network Associate, the project brought together SCLT staff, Greenwich gardeners, and volunteers from partner organizations who got their hands dirty to help make important improvements to the busy garden.

Twenty gardeners cultivate 38 plots at Greenwich Garden. A majority of them live within walking distance, by design. Greenwich’s gardeners are mainly individuals and families, with a few who sell their produce at local markets. In the garden, you’ll hear Swahili, Kirundi, and French spoken. The Garden Network team worked with Marie Uwera to develop the project. Uwera has served as Garden Leader since its 2011. With a network of 22 community gardens in the Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls area, the team maintains an active priority list of projects and is kept busy addressing them throughout the year.

Some garden bed walls had been replaced here and there through the years, but after more than a decade of piecemeal patches, the garden’s years were showing. The goals in the remodel were many. Eliminating redundant pathways between plots increases plantable space. It also means fewer bed edges to maintain, meaning the project is less expense in the long run. Before the revamp, walking paths disrupted the distance between beds and barrier fences; now, gardeners can plant climbing plants and use the fences to trellis their growth. The project is climate smart, too, with the design shown to provide better temperature modulation and improved water retention.

Lending a hand to Andrew and Blong, several other SCLT staff picked up shovels and pitched in. We owe special thanks to volunteers from UNFI, who weren’t afraid to dive into the project, helping with everything from hauling lumber to weed whacking. Youth Staff from SCLT’s Pawtucket Youth Program spent a shift clearing the site and readying it for the coming growing season.

Interested in a plot? Read more about our Community Gardens program.