GROW Windham was founded in 2011 as a collaboration between the Willimantic Food Coop and the Town of Windham to support the development of school and community vegetable gardens in the Windham region. From three pilot sites in its first year, the program has expanded to support a range of initiatives, including GROW Windham’s own year-round high school program, the Windham Youth CORE, in which members develop leadership, career and advocacy skills through youth-led community enterprises that promote access to healthy food in the community; the Windham Youth Network, a youth-led movement and one of GROW Windham’s newest initiatives, dedicated to youth organizing and activism; the Lauter Park Community Gardens, where youth and community members grow food for the community and host workshops, workdays, and community events; and facilitating community partnerships, such as the Windham Youth Advocacy Collective and the Windham Community Food Network.
At GROW Windham, we believe in solid foundations:
🌶 We build soil in our gardens, that grows healthy food that nourishes our neighbors;
🌶 We build trust in our cooperative, that makes strong relationships and solidarity in our community;
🌶 We build skills and consciousness in ourselves, to build powerful youth who invest in themselves and their community, and advocate for justice now and in the future.
Our vision at GW is a community where power and resources - particularly food system resources - are sustainably produced and equitably distributed, and people work together for collective health and well-being.
