Working nationally with youth activists and locally fighting food insecurity The Growing Peace Project
Peace, Justice, Youth Activism and Food Security
Site: thegrowingpeaceproject.org
Donations, Volunteer: https://thegrowingpeaceproject.org/join
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Em: [email protected]
The Growing Peace Project (TGPP, a program of Milestone Adventures, Inc.) is a 501c3 nonprofit peacemaking and student activist initiative among diverse youth across the U.S. We work nationally with youth activists, and locally fighting food insecurity. Our goal is to empower youth to become “bridge builders,” bringing together a mix of interests to build community and to grow peace. TGPP sponsors and facilitates a year-long collaboration between students from diverse communities all over the United States. During the year the students learn about each others’ cultures, tackle social justice issues and engage in service learning. This collaboration includes a summer leadership retreat where selected students create action plans for their respective communities, based on social justice issues that they have identified as prevalent and important to them. Common issues have included bullying, the environment, hunger, conflict, or homelessness. Students also address the following four strengths:
1. Developing leadership and peacemaking skills
2. Becoming “citizens of conscience"
4. Cultivating personal empowerment. Although students identify and tackle their own respective community issues, one theme that we routinely address together is food insecurity. In this way, TGPP is both national and local in scope: we find our national focus of working with schools across the US by empowering young activists, while our local focus is through activism in the fight against food insecurity. We run Vermont-based programs that directly serve our neighbors in need, such as a half-acre free food teaching garden, gleaning and plant-a-row pickups, food cultivation workshops, and a family cooking series revolving around garden harvests and healthy affordable meals.We grow free food, feed our neighbors, hold food workshops and consider the question, “Can there be peace in the world if people are hungry?” Summer retreat students participate by maintaining and harvesting the garden, delivering produce, and/or preparing meals for the needy. The Growing Peace Project programming is ALWAYS free for schools to participate. Much of this would not be possible without generous contributions of time, in-kind donations and financial support from peacemakers, grantors and businesses all over the U.S. The Growing Peace Project would like to extend a huge "Thank You!" to everyone involved, including the following donors and forums:
Agnes M. Lindsay Trust, Amazon Smile, Ben and Jerry's, Byrne Foundation, Community Bank, Coop Food Stores, Corinth Coffeehouse, Dextra Baldwin McGonagle Foundation, East Corinth Womens’ Fellowship, Farmway, Giving Tuesday, Green Mountain Coffee, Hannafords Supermarkets, Harris and Frances Block Foundation, Hunger Mountain Co-Op, Hypertherm HOPE, Grassroots Fund, Norwich Lions Club, Private Donors, Upper Valley Coop, Seed Money, Sisters of Mercy, United Way, Vermont Community Foundation, Vermont Gives, WalMart, Wells River Savings Bank, Whole Kids Gardening
Site: thegrowingpeaceproject.org
Donations/Volunteer: https://thegrowingpeaceproject.org/join
FB, IG, YT: Tw/X:
Em: [email protected]
In peace...
The Growing Peace Project
