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Building a Better Ypsilanti Through Local Food
Slideshow of Growing Hope in Ypsilanti
By Joel Skene, Ypsilanti
In July, Governor Jennifer Granholm signed a bipartisan bill into law allowing residents to make food at home and sell it, promoting local food entrepreneurship and urban farming. As for the signing ceremony’s location, Granholm chose Ypsilanti, a home to both local food entrepreneurs and urban farming. A city of around 20,000 residents, Ypsilanti is abundant in local food with over a dozen community gardens, two farmers markets, and a consumer owned and operated Food Cooperative. The benefits of local food extend far beyond the gardens into the economy, the health, and the culture of Ypsilanti.
The main hub in Ypsi for urban farming is Growing Hope. With it’s origins as a pairing of one garden and one elementary school, Growing Hope has now partnered with forty community gardens in Washtenaw county, opened a Farmers Market, given garden beds and training to eighty low or no income families, provides food to the community ten months out of the year, and continues to educate hundreds of youths on nutrition and gardening.
The focus at Growing Hope is as much on community as it is on gardening. There is a strong emphasis on self reliance, empowerment, and community involvement in their programs, which rely on over 400 volunteers annually. These programs include gardening resources like produce donations to churches and food banks, garden leadership training, providing plants and seeds, lending tools, and providing garden beds to low income families. There are also youth programs in both classroom and after school activities, youth employment and volunteer opportunities, as well as social entrepreneurship programs like the Farmers Market, selling seeds and produce at local stores, and selling raised beds for home gardens.
Urban farming in Ypsilanti goes beyond Growing Hope. There are several community gardens that have grown out of empty lots, at parks, schools and community living centers. There are community gardens in Midtown, West Middle School, Recreation Park and Frog Island where participants can rent a plot each season and plant rows for the hungry, as well as gardens for the residents at Habitat for Humanity, Chidester Place Apartments, and Avalon Housing.
Ypsilanti’s local food doesn’t stop at the end of garden. Over the past thirty five years, The Ypsilanti Food Coop has become a staple of the city. The small, consumer owned grocery store provides whole, organic, local, and ethically produced food and goods. In historic Depot Town, it’s incredibly common to see folks walking to and from the Ypsi Food Coop, which has grown and partnered with local vegetable and dairy farmers, offers bulk grains, spices, oils, free range eggs,home made pastas and breads from the River Street Bakery, which sits next door and bakes fresh sourdough in a wood burning oven.
The Ypsi Food Coop is also committed to creating a more sustainable community. It is owned and operated by the very people who shop there. The Coop is open to the public, but offers a discount to anyone who decides to become a member. The building itself is partially powered by a rooftop solar panel through the Solar Ypsi project. They also offer workshops on topics ranging from canning, to beekeeping, to making pumpkin pie.
While there has recently been much talk about sustainability and urban farming on a state and national scale, it’s encouraging to see a Michigan city to talk less and do more. The Food Coop, Farmers Markets, and Community Gardens give more than just food to Ypsilanti. They give skills, aid to the economy, pride, empowerment, and a sense of community that can only be created by something so universal as good food.
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