Mission Statement
Cultivate Charlottesville engages youth and community in building equitable, sustainable food systems through garden-based experiential learning, growing and sharing healthy food, amplifying community leaders, and advocating for food justice.About Cultivate Charlottesville
Cultivate Charlottesville works directly with community members to make a positive impact in our local food system. Our model takes a holistic and multigenerational approach to addressing food insecurity.
Our core programs include City Schoolyard Garden (CSG), Food Justice Network (FJN) and Urban Agriculture Collective (UAC). City Schoolyard Garden provides nutrition education and experiential learning opportunities for youth as well as builds skills through 6 schoolyard garden sites, seasonal Harvest of the Month snack distributions, and paid summer internship for high-school students. Food Justice Network increases collaboration and advocates for policy changes for access to healthy foods and growing spaces by convening neighbor nonprofits and stakeholder groups. Urban Agriculture Collective addresses community food insecurity at 3 growing spaces which leads to our community market days where more than 7,000 lbs of vegetables to are made available to public and subsidized housing neighbors throughout the season at no cost.