Help us Grow a Paid Farm Apprenticeship Program for Underserved Youth

Posted on by The Farm Team

Dear Farm Friends,

It’s been a challenging year for all of us, but as we approach Thanksgiving, we realize there’s much to be grateful for, including the support you’ve provided from a distance since the spring. With your help, throughout the pandemic we’ve been able to continue growing healthy local produce at Alemany Farm and distributing it for free to folks in our community who need it. And we’re well-positioned and eager to invite volunteers back to join us in this work when it’s safe to do so.

We’re continuing to observe Friends of Alemany Farm’s 15th Anniversary at the Farm, and in the coming weeks and months we’ll be in touch to reflect on that milestone, and to update you on our various programs and ways to support our work.

Today, though, we write with a time-sensitive request: In the next 30 days, we hope to raise $5,000 to bolster our newly-created Urban Farming Apprenticeship program. If we meet this challenge, we can fund an additional part-time apprentice this spring. In accordance with our mission, we are excited to begin realizing a paid farm apprenticeship program that will benefit youth of color from underserved communities. We hope you’ll be inspired to support this work. Learn more and donate.

Thanks to SeedMoney and Orowheat for providing this fundraising opportunity, and for generously matching up to $600 and $1,000 respectively. But we are setting our sights on the larger goal of $5,000 in order to fully fund an additional apprentice who can benefit from training at the farm.

Amidst the national reckoning on racial injustice spurred by the murder of George Floyd in May, the Friends of Alemany Farm continue to make a concerted effort to understand, take responsibility for, and overcome white supremacy within ourselves and on the farm. Upon reflection, it became clear that our unpaid internship program posed a structural barrier to entry that prohibited many low income Black and Brown youth from participating. The Friends have established this paid apprenticeship program to begin to address this problem.

We welcomed our first two apprentices in October; help us grow our program and extend this opportunity to a third individual! We have only until December 15 to meet our fundraising goal. Find details and donate.

Many thanks for your consideration. We are very pleased to seek your support right now for a hopeful, future-focused project like this.

Wishing you a safe and peaceful Thanksgiving.