Growing Hope

Mission: To foster an equitable and sustainable local food system where all people are empowered to grow, sell, buy, prepare, and eat nourishing food.

In 2003, Growing Hope became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on school garden development throughout Ypsilanti. Since then, we have expanded to strengthen and support the local food system throughout the community. In 2006, we started the downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market and began managing the Depot Town Farmers Market in 2013. In 2008, we established the Growing Hope Center and Urban Farm where people of all ages learn to grow their own food. The Ypsilanti Farmers Marketplace and Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen were completed in 2018 to better support local farmers and food entrepreneurs. In 2020, we adapted to community needs as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic by opening the Ypsi Area Online Market, a year-round online farmers market.

Growing Hope works to improve the local food system through youth and adult gardening and nutrition education programming, a demonstration urban farm, farmers markets, incubator kitchen rental, and distribution of fresh produce and gardening resources. Growing Hope maintains partnerships with numerous community agencies and nonprofits in Washtenaw County. These partnerships allow us to deepen our impact and gain greater efficiency and effectiveness in our programming.

Our programs run out of our two locations, the Growing Hope Urban Farm and the Ypsilanti Farmers Marketplace.

• The Growing Hope Urban Farm – Our urban farm is a community-based garden education site in Ypsilanti. We offer educational programs for gardeners of all levels, volunteers, and youth of all ages. Our produce is grown to sell at our farmers markets and donate to our program participants, our community produce cart, and local food pantries.
• The Ypsilanti Farmers Marketplace – Our Ypsilanti Farmers MarketPlace is a hub for local food activity. The Marketplace hosts the Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen, the Downtown Ypsilanti Farmers Market, and is a distribution center for the Ypsi Area Online Market.