Southside Community Land Trust

12/23/2024

From all of us at , we wish you a joyous winter season and a bright beginning to the new year!

To give our staff rest and time with loved ones, our offices will be closed from December 24 through January 2. We look forward to connecting with you in 2025.

Happy holidays! With love from our staff Margaret, Rich, Blong, Andrew, Chandelle, Amelia, Ellen, Isabelle, Raffini, Kakeena, Marcel, Dave, Dan, Ben, Matt, Kelly, Tammy, and Sam; and our Board of Directors Rochelle, Andraly, Edith, Mike, Anini, Luis, Candace, and George

12/18/2024

🌱 Now seeking: seed donations! As we say goodbye to the 2024 growing season and look ahead to next year, your donation of seeds will help SCLT farmers and gardeners feed people in communities across Rhode Island in 2025.

We'll gratefully accept most fruit, veggie, and herb seeds, but check out our list to see the favorites that our farmers and gardeners are looking for. Don't have seeds to donate but want to support this effort? Consider making a donation to SCLT and your tax-deductible gift will be matched, dollar for dollar, through the end of the year! Give here: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate

✨ Special thanks to our longtime friends Johnny's Selected Seeds and True Leaf Market for their donations of high-quality and hard-to-find seeds. They'll be distributed for free to our network of 40 small scale farmers and 350+ community gardeners and their families.

12/17/2024

23 community gardens where 350+ gardeners feed 1,600+ family members. 50 youth and emerging adults employed and educated in RI’s food system. 28 small farms operated by 40 farmers, 90% of whom are immigrants and refugees. 10,500+ food insecure neighbors received 44,000+ pounds of free produce.

Numbers tell the story, but people make the impact. Your gift to SCLT creates food security for thousands of Rhode Islanders - and right now, it’ll be matched dollar for dollar! Give here: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate. Thank you!

12/15/2024

Food is like air: we all need it to live. But for 38% of Rhode Islanders in 2024, access to enough food isn’t guaranteed. That’s why SCLT’s network of urban community gardens and periurban farms, our Youth Program, and our Produce Aggregation and VeggieRx initiatives are so vital. Together, these programs respond to community-identified needs, creating equity in food access and economic opportunity for historically underserved people.

Support this work today and your tax-deductible gift will be DOUBLED through our year-end match challenge! Help us feed our neighbors with a donation here: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate, or consider sending a gift card to help reduce operating costs. Thank you!

12/11/2024

👩‍⚕️ When doctors write vegetable prescriptions for food-insecure Rhode Islanders, SCLT delivers! Through partnerships with Brown University Health and Care New England Health System, our VeggieRx program brings fresh produce to patients who need it most - at no cost to them!

Read more about the program's impact in this article from The Providence Eye: https://pvdeye.org/pvds-urban-farmers-are-feeding-the-city/. Then consider making a donation in support of Southside Community Land Trust’s critical work: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate.

💸 Did you know? Now through January 15, you can DOUBLE your impact on health equity through food access. Your tax-deductible gift to SCLT will be matched, dollar for dollar. Thank you for your support!

One in three Rhode Islanders now experiences food insecurity, according to the RI Community Food Bank's Status Update released in late 2023.

12/07/2024

Every year, we take a minute to celebrate all the work that has been done in the season. Our staff, farmers, community gardeners, partners, friends, and family came together tonight to honor all that we’ve achieved over the last year. We’re grateful for the community that surrounds us.

Special thanks to Bottles Fine Wine, Providence RI and Moniker Brewery for keeping the party going!

12/05/2024

Get to know us a little better 👨🏾‍🌾 Check out some of the incredible things Southside Community Land Trust has been up to over the last four decades, from our home base in South Providence and all across Rhode Island!

Thanks for shining a spotlight on this important and ongoing work, The Providence Journal



Special thanks to our new friend Jim Hummel for his dedication to telling the SCLT story!

12/03/2024

✌️ Double your impact with a gift in support of SCLT's mission this Giving2sday! Donate at https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate and your gift will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $150,000.

In the face of growing food insecurity where 38% of all Rhode Islanders don't have access to enough food, SCLT made major waves in 2024:
- 40 small-scale farm operations infused local farmers markets, restaurants, and institutions with in-demand produce
- 50 youth and emerging adults were employed and educated in the food system
- 1,600+ gardeners and their families grew food across our network of 23 community gardens
- 44,000+ pounds of produce was distributed for free to 10,500+ food-insecure neighbors through our 16 food access partnerships

Together, we can work toward equitable access to land and markets, provide education, and foster opportunities to grow food in environmentally sustainable ways. Thank you for your support!

12/02/2024

🎁 Your gift to SCLT goes 2X as far this Giving2sday! Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, your donation to Southside Community Land Trust will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $150,000!

Make your donation work twice as hard and help fuel SCLT's mission to support Rhode Islanders in having ownership and power over food systems that offer culturally familiar, locally produced, affordable, and healthy food for all! Donate here: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate

Thank you for your continued support of this critical work!

11/30/2024

Need a workout between holiday meals? Volunteer at our next garden work day!

Join us Saturday, December 7th from 10am to 1pm at Galego Community Farm as we build new walkways and prep the garden for winter. Drop in anytime - even 30 minutes helps! We'll have hot drinks and snacks to keep you warm ☕

What to bring:
🥾 Layered clothing you don't mind getting dirty
🫗 Water bottle
⚡️ Your energy! (tools & gloves provided)

📍 80 Crook Manor Drive, Pawtucket (Behind Building 80-90)
🚗 Visitor parking available on both sides

Quick heads up: the site has some steep areas. Volunteers will be required to sign a waiver.

DM us to RSVP or with questions!

11/26/2024

🦃 Thanks to a donation from Rob Levine, today we distributed 25 holiday meals, including turkey and all the fixings, to farmers, community gardeners, and Youth Staff in the Southside Community Land Trust network!

Rob is pictured with Marcel De Los Santos, SCLT's Development Director, who picked up the meals and helped distribute them to grateful recipients in our community.

Happy holidays!

11/25/2024

Please consider supporting SCLT this holiday season with a gift card donation!

SCLT is seeking donations of gift cards that help fuel our vibrant programs. From Farmer Training and Youth to our VeggieRx produce prescription programs, SCLT is working to create equity and opportunity for farmers and food insecure neighbors across Rhode Island. Your contribution helps sustain:

🥕 40 dedicated farmers
🥕 380 community gardeners and their 1,500+ family members
🥕 50 Youth Staff and Food System Interns
🥕 10,000+ individuals receiving fresh produce through our Aggregation programs

Ways to donate:
✔️ Send e-gift cards to [email protected]
✔️ Mail gift cards to 404 Broad Street, Providence RI 02909
✔️ Venmo:
✔️ PayPal: [email protected]
✔️ Donate directly: https://bit.ly/SCLTDonate

We welcome gift cards from hardware stores, grocery stores, and suppliers. Here are some examples, but local retailers are always preferred!

Thank you for cultivating a stronger, healthier community with us!

11/19/2024

Southside Community Land Trust's Executive Director Margaret DeVos was honored to be part of a visit to the Barrington Farm School on November 15. Hosted by our friends at the Rhode Island Food Policy Council, the visit brought together legislators and advocates in RI's food system to discuss our collective priorities for the 2025 legislative session.

In 2025, RIFPC and its members will advocate on behalf of legislation that seeks "to bolster state resources for local composting efforts, revise the tax credits for urban and small farmers, provide free lunch and breakfast for all school students, better support the purchasing of local food, and implement a tax credit for food donations."

Read the full article from EcoRI News below, then stay tuned: we'll be counting on you for support to help move the dial on these critical issues!

The event showed lawmakers what urban farms like the Barrington Farm School can do for Rhode Island.

11/16/2024

Did you catch our Fall 2024 newsletter? In this issue:

🤝🏾 Southside Community Land Trust's Youth Program deepens roots with partners
🥕 Our Produce Aggregation & VeggieRx programs reach new heights
👩🏾‍🌾 U.S. Department of Agriculture acknowledges a history of discrimination

Click here to read these stories and more: https://bit.ly/SCLTFall24

📬 Want to be the first to get the latest SCLT news? Join our mailing list! https://bit.ly/GetSCLTNews

11/13/2024

👩🏾‍🌾 🧑🏿‍🌾 November is and we're celebrating Southside Community Land Trust's Certified Farm Apprentice Program. As Apprentices, prospective farmers learn from experienced ones - often members of their own family - and are bolstered by our Farmer Training & Support team to develop farming and marketing skills. The program is managed by SCLT's Education Programs Manager Chandelle Wilson, an herbalist, farmer, and master gardener who works with Apprentices to create sustainable and sustaining careers in agriculture.

Over the last decade, SCLT's Apprentice Program has:
🍂 Certified 41 Farm Apprentices, 60% of whom continued careers in agriculture
🍂 Helped launch 8 new local farm businesses
🍂 Meaningfully influenced the growth of our Produce Aggregation and VeggieRx programs which connect thousands of low-income, food-insecure Rhode Islanders to free, fresh foods every year

This federally registered program isn't just training farmers – it's strengthening family farms, creating pathways to economic opportunity for farmers of color, and building an equitable, sustainable food system in Rhode Island, one apprentice at a time.

11/12/2024

🦪 The Rhody Feeding Rhody Alliance is closing in on its second year in action! Meet with founding Alliance partners - Southside Community Land Trust, Commercial Fisheries Center of Rhode Island, Farm Fresh Rhode Island, Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management plus other Alliance members on Monday, November 18 at 12pm to talk about what went well this season for our growers and fishers, get exciting updates about what’s happening in local and federal food policy, and help shape what comes next for Rhody Feeding Rhody. Get to know the Alliance and find out how you can become part of the movement of more than 150 members statewide!

🥬 All Rhode Island farmers, fishers, food producers, food buyers, legislators, concerned citizens, and those supporting our food insecure neighbors are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Register for this virtual meeting today: https://bit.ly/RFRA2024

Rhode Island Food Policy Council

11/08/2024

One week until our Food Justice Workshop at SCLT's Healthy Food Hub and there are only a few tickets remaining! Learn more and grab your free spot before it's too late: https://bit.ly/SCLTFoodJustice

This workshop is hosted by Tarshire Battle, Founder and Executive Director of Roots 2 Empower, a Rhode Island-based nonprofit that uses direct service, education, public policy, and community engagement to confront social injustice and advance equity in southern New England. Tasha is a published author, herbalist, Master Gardener, artist, community organizer, farmer, entrepreneur, mother, and grandmother, and holds dual masters degrees in Public Administration from Northeastern University and in Mental Health Counseling from Boston University.

11/01/2024

November is National Career Development Month! Throughout the year, SCLT's Youth Program supports nearly 50 youth and emerging adults in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls to explore career paths in agriculture, environmental conservation and stewardship, policy and advocacy, and community organizing. Youth Staff enjoy an active schedule that includes field trips across the state and a roster of guest speakers. From time management to financial literacy, we empower young people to develop the critical skills they'll need to succeed as food system leaders of the future.