Our Mission
” Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”
Our mission is to cultivate hope, teach afro indigenous ways of growing food, healing the earth and building communities that are healthy and well. Through accessible resources, educational programs, and communal support, Freedom Gardeners will transform underutilized urban land into vibrant, nourishing and healing gardens.
By fostering a love of nature and growing fresh, locally grown produce, Freedom Gardeners aim to reduce food insecurity, erase food apartheid, promote self-sufficiency, and cultivate a sense of community resilience. Together, we can sow the seeds of positive change, creating not just gardens, but opportunities for families to thrive, one harvest at a time.
Our Vision
“If you listen to the people and use your education, you can make change happen. You can be a community asset. ”
— Gail V. Wells
Empowering communities facing food apartheid, environmental racism and health disparities, Buffalo Freedom Gardens envisions East Side neighborhoods that are walkable, safe, green, healthy and economically viable.
Freedom Gardeners are committed to building a more equitable and just future where families have access to nutritious, affordable food, clean air and water. We believe that the socioeconomic and environmental factors that lead to chronic disease and unhealthy living can be erased if communities are given the tools and education to be healthy and well.
Our Values
Buffalo Freedom Garden Guiding Principles and Values
Buffalo Freedom Gardens was designed to establish communities that farm and grow for liberation and resilience.
“I am because we are.”
– Ubuntu
Values of Ubuntu
- Survival
- Spirit of Solidarity
- Compassion
- Respect
- Dignity
The Nguzo Saba (Swahili for Seven Principles) was developed by Maulana Katanga, a year before the establishment of Kwanzaa. The Nguzo Saba are concepts developed to assist in understanding and preserving traditional African worldviews and values.
- Umoja (Unity) : To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
- Kujichagulia (Self Determination) : To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
- Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) : To build and maintain our community together and make our community’s problems our problems and to solve them together.
- Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) : To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
- Nia (Purpose) : To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our own community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
- Kuumba (Creativity) : To always do as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
- Imani (Faith) : To believe with all our hearts in our people and the righteous and victory of our struggle.
Buffalo Freedom Gardens 
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