FREEDOM GARDENERS “grow” to support themselves, control their destinies, and provide for their families while building a loving, healing community that is thriving, healthy and well.

Empower communities of color facing food insecurity, environmental racism and health disparities through educational programs on growing food , healing the earth and building community health.

Buffalo Freedom Gardens was established in 2020 with a tiny seed planted in a memorial garden dedicated to World War 1 hero Jesse Clipper. This tiny seed assisted with response to COVID-19 and the pandemic. After seeing the positive response to our work, we pivoted from flowers to food.In the summer of 2020, 50 households in Buffalo were empowered to start backyard or front-yard, raised-bed or container gardens at their own homes, free of cost. This initiative aimed to support residents in growing their own food for liberation and resilience.

We were now addressing the food sovereignty and apartheid issues in communities of color. We began looking at the inequalities in our current food system and developed a plan.

Using the teaching of self determination through the research on Harriet Tubman’s knowledge of plants, Fannie Lou Hamer’s freedom farms and George Washington Carver’s agricultural legacy. We determined that spreading the knowledge of resilience, health and wellness through responsive community development and engagement was the plan to follow.

The success of Freedom Gardens continued into 2021, as an additional 34 beds were built with the help of community members who were eager to cultivate their own home gardens. The momentum didn’t stop there – in 2022, we were thrilled to provide another 50 garden beds to communities of color. Now we have in total provided 150 households with raised-bed or container gardens.

Freedom Gardeners work all over the city of Buffalo. We look to turn underutilized urban land into vibrant, nourishing and healing gardens. 

Your front or back yard can be a garden location for a Freedom Gardener.

The vacant lot on your neighborhood block can be a Freedom Gardener site.

That park that you feel should have a garden in it , well that can be another Freedom Gardener work area.

We want to sow seeds of positivity in neighborhoods. We are not looking to create gardens but create opportunities for families and communities to thrive together. 

We are creating food security for those in need.

We are creating a community of gardeners and farmers to connect.

We are connecting people from all backgrounds who love to eat, cook and grow their own food.

Finally we are creating an environment to grow and bloom into new energy.