Dear Friends,
The growing season is well underway in Rhode Island and with it comes one of our favorite times of the year: farmers market season. At markets across the area, small-scale growers from SCLT’s network are bringing fresh, hyperlocal and seasonal produce directly to their neighbors week after week. This year, SCLT-network farmers and gardeners are selling at seven markets across Providence, Pawtucket, and Cranston, from the Hope Street Farmers Market, the largest in the state, to neighborhood spots like the Sankofa World Market, Broad Street, and the Central Falls Farmers Market. Stop by and meet the people who grew your food. Read more about the farmers selling at each of these seasonal markets here.
We’re also celebrating a recent legislative win that has been a long time coming: on June 19, Governor McKee signed the Small and Urban Farm Success Act into law. Modeled after the tax relief enjoyed by larger rural farms in the state for decades, this law extends property, income, and farm equipment exemptions to small and urban farms. For the farmers we work with, that means money that was going to taxes can now go back into the ground, into equipment, into seeds, into the work of growing more food for more people. SCLT played a central role in developing the bill’s language, and we are proud to have collaborated with powerhouse advocates to see it become law after years of persistence.
We are also more than halfway to our 2026 Annual Fund goal. As of this writing, supporters like you have raised $344,498 toward our $500,000 target. Those dollars fund the work we’re committed to: 19 youth staff hired this summer for paid workforce training, nearly 400 community gardeners tending plots across a network of 25 gardens and urban farms, 68 small-scale farmers supported at three peri-urban farm sites, and more than 26,000 nutrition-insecure Rhode Islanders reached with fresh food. We have a long second half ahead, and every gift moves us forward. You may contribute to these efforts with a gift to Southside. Please visit southsideclt.org/donate.
Thank you for reading, and for your continued support of this work.
With hope and gratitude,
Rochelle & Margaret
