Description
MISSION & VISION
Keep Growing Detroit’s mission is to promote a food sovereign city where the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed by Detroiters are grown by residents within the city’s limits. Our strategic approach to achieving our mission facilitates beginner gardeners becoming engaged community leaders and food entrepreneurs, addressing the immediate needs of the community while promoting sustainable change in our food system. To these ends, KGD operates a number of nationally recognized programs including the Garden Resource Program (GRP), which supports a network of 1,600 urban gardens and farms in the city and Grown in Detroit (GID), which provides urban growers with low-barrier opportunities to sell the fruits and vegetables they grow at local market outlets. KGD also operates a 1.5-acre urban farm and teaching facility located in Detroit’s historic Eastern Market District.
KGD’s vision is that there are places to grow food in every neighborhood in Detroit and that these places are scaled so they can be integrated into the fabric of the surrounding area and help maximize community and economic development opportunities that benefit residents.
HISTORY
Keep Growing Detroit was founded in 2013 to serve gardeners and farmers in the cities of Detroit, Hamtramck, and Highland Park. Although we are a relatively new organization, our staff has been responsible for the design and implementation of our core programs, including the Garden Resource Program and Grown in Detroit since 2003 and 2006 respectively.
To remain accountable to the community we serve Keep Growing Detroit practices open book management. That means our entire staff and board are involved in all aspects of day-to-day operations and management, including budgeting and reviewing financial statements on a monthly basis.