In June 2023, Diana Martinez, Project Manager at Cultivating Justice launched a crowdfunding campaign, EggUcation Series: Cultivating BIPOC Farmers, to help 15 BIPOC, women, and low-income people become Connecticut farmers.
Cultivating Justice and several partners crafted a curriculum to train new farmers, covering different types of agriculture work, composting, farm registration, and more. The crowdfunding campaign was launched to cover program administration and course expenses.
The campaign raised $6,400 from 85 patrons. By reaching their crowdfunding goal, the project unlocked a 1:1.5 matching grant from the Sustainable CT Community Match Fund, for a total of $15,400 to make the project a reality.
"This is particularly important to my community because in Connecticut, 98% of all farmers are white," said Diana. "This means that the people who are most directly involved in growing and processing our food do not represent me or the majority of people in my community. This program is how we both illuminate why this disparity exists, how it is perpetuated systematically, and how we can begin to shift that dynamic. We are creating pathways to farming for folks who are currently not represented nor supported in the field."
We spoke in-depth with Diana to learn more about her passion for climate justice.
Read more at https://buff.ly/48ZVnwE.
#ClimateJustice #UrbanFarming #SocialJustice #Crowdfunding