Heartland Communities

Heartland Communities We are a worker owned cooperative foundation committed to restorative culture, economy, and environment in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Brief History~
A small, all volunteer grassroots nonprofit, organized in 1998, Heartland Communities, Inc. was originally created to demonstrate sustainable living through projects in permaculture and organic growing, cooperative enterprise, alternative energy, intentional living, and youth development. After several years of working toward these goals, the tragic events of September 11, 2001 chan

ged the cultural, political and financial landscape. The members believed that our local community was not ready to embrace these ideas and the organization was shelved and lay fallow for five years. Community members called for the resurrection of the organization in 2006, perceiving that the mainstream society had “caught up” to understanding these ideas; even the City government had created an energy and environmental services department to “go green” and the timing was right to renew our efforts to become active voices for sustainability. We were involved in projects to advocate for cooperative housing as a viable model for low-income homeownership and succeeded in changing the conversation state-wide, when state housing development department offered training in cooperative housing and related topics and housing development officials from Fort Wayne attended. In 2007 the organization discovered another grassroots effort working on the issue of water quality and the poor health of the three rivers whose confluence flows through downtown Fort Wayne at the headwaters of the Maumee River, which then flows to Lake Erie. We took the development of Save Maumee Grassroots Organization as a project, acting as fiscal sponsor for nonprofit activities including grants and donations, and participated in capacity building over six years, through training and certification of the founder and director in watershed management, the establishment of a Board of Trustees, by-laws, incorporation, and IRS1023 application for nonprofit status in December 2013' which was successfully granted in 2014. Our current project, Plowshares, was convened by The Workers' Project, Inc., a worker education and organizing nonprofit associated with the Northeast Indiana Central Labor Council (as the Food and Jobs Initiative), in collaboration with Associated Churches, Inc. and the Urban League, Fort Wayne Chapter, and other community stakeholders. The initiative is being lead by Jain Young, administrator of Heartland Communities, Inc., and who serves as Project Organizer and Technical Writer. Plowshares is a community economic development project to organize farmers and farm workers and develop a local food aggregation distribution system for local consumption, while creating jobs and job training for new food workers. Another project the Stewards of Heartland are preparing to launch is a Time Bank system for sharing talents and abilities. It can be seen as a favor-share club where members trade time. It works like a bank, only the currency is time and talent. For example, if I can fix bikes and I need a haircut, I don't need to find a stylist who needs her bike fixed. I can put in an hour for anybody in the system, and any stylist in the system can cut my hair. Stay tuned to our page for information and updates on these and other projects.

The big Rose Avenue Farm Tour and Food Tasting event is tomorrow! Tuesday, July 28 at 4:00 pm. 501 Rose Avenue, New Have...
07/27/2026

The big Rose Avenue Farm Tour and Food Tasting event is tomorrow! Tuesday, July 28 at 4:00 pm. 501 Rose Avenue, New Haven. Don't turn down West Street like your GPS will suggest!

The Rose Avenue Education Farm will be having its annual farm tour. This will be on Tuesday July 28th at 4:00 p.m.. The tour will showcase the current farmers and the history of the farm. Bonus, we will be sampling cultural Delicacies prepared by the farmers and their families with vegetables straight from the field. Please come and join us. No Reservations are necessary. The farm is on Rose Avenue in New Haven just west of Landon Road. The address is 501 Rose Avenue *but do not take the turn off onto West Street Google will send you there*.

This week HEAL Market will have all this and more on Monday at Johnnie Mae Farm and Thursday at Parkview Greenhouse. 4-6...
07/27/2026

This week HEAL Market will have all this and more on Monday at Johnnie Mae Farm and Thursday at Parkview Greenhouse. 4-6pm

🥦 HEAL Farm Market: Week 3 Produce Preview! Stop by for fresh, locally grown produce and maximize your food budget today!

📍 Where: Johnnie Mae Farm (2518 Winter St, Fort Wayne)
⏰ When: Mondays, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM
🛍️ Bring your reusable bags
💲We accept Cash, Credit/Debit, Veggie Rx, WIC, and Senior Vouchers—plus, we match WIC/Senior benefits, and DOUBLE your SNAP up to $20 per day!

HEAL Farm Markets are operated by Plowshares Cooperative Food Hub with support from the Northeast Indiana Local Food Network, funded in partnership with St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and Parkview Health.

Local Food Week is coming! We are in the news bringing attention to the importance of knowing your farmer, creating lo...
07/22/2026

Local Food Week is coming! We are in the news bringing attention to the importance of knowing your farmer, creating local food economy and local food security.

During Local Food Week, you’ll have more than 100 different chances to connect with local farmers, restaurants and markets throughout northeast Indiana’s eleven counties.

The Rose Avenue Education Farm will be having its annual farm tour. This will be on Tuesday July 28th at 4:00 p.m.. The ...
07/16/2026

The Rose Avenue Education Farm will be having its annual farm tour. This will be on Tuesday July 28th at 4:00 p.m.. The tour will showcase the current farmers and the history of the farm. Bonus, we will be sampling cultural Delicacies prepared by the farmers and their families with vegetables straight from the field. Please come and join us. No Reservations are necessary. The farm is on Rose Avenue in New Haven just west of Landon Road. The address is 501 Rose Avenue *but do not take the turn off onto West Street Google will send you there*.

07/13/2026

Today is the first HEAL Market it's at Johnny Mae Farms 2518 Winter Street it started 15 minutes ago and goes till 6:00 yummy produce. We take Snap, for every dollar you spend up to $20 you get $20 more vegetables when you use Snap. We also accept cash, debit and credit cards, and WIC

Thanks to Kara Hackett for giving voice to our concerns about the p***c investment at Electric Works. Kara originally pu...
05/24/2026

Thanks to Kara Hackett for giving voice to our concerns about the p***c investment at Electric Works. Kara originally published an article in The Local Newsletter and then in this Editor's Pick article in The Journal Gazette.

Electric Works was promised to be so much more, and safeguards were put in place to ensure that. Why isn’t anyone following through?

PROJECT COMPLETEWith mixed sentiments Heartland Communities and Plowshares Cooperative Food Hub are announcing the perm...
04/07/2026

PROJECT COMPLETE
With mixed sentiments Heartland Communities and Plowshares Cooperative Food Hub are announcing the permanent closure of Plowshares at the Market in Electric Works/ Union Street Market.

The funding we have waited for from the USDA was not awarded to any organizations in Indiana, and so the market project cannot reopen.

We have no regrets, although we are sad that we cannot continue to serve local farms and food entrepreneurs in that location, and also sad that the neighbors, nearby workers, and visitors will not continue to have access to high quality local foods through Plowshares.

At the same time, we are super proud that the project reached every one of our objectives, and was a well-operated business that had an amazing 46% gross profit margin, even though the volume of sales was not enough to support continued operations. Well done and many thanks to our dedicated staff and food producers who participated! We are happy that in 30 months Plowshares put many tens of thousands of dollars into the hands of local farmers at that location.

Other projects continue to serve local farms and customers. In 2026 Plowshares Cooperative will again operate the Burmese Specialty Market, where we have put well over $500,000 in the hands of farmers since 2022, and the HEAL Markets where in 2025 we wrote checks to farmers for over $70,000.

Thanks to St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and McMillan Family Foundation, which funded the set-up of Plowshare at the Market in 2023.

Join this research study to learn more about how your household manages food, potentially improving your food conservati...
08/12/2025

Join this research study to learn more about how your household manages food, potentially improving your food conservation skills and saving you money. Plus, your contribution will help inform future initiatives aimed at improving household food conservation and reducing waste. Learn more about this study at https://tinyurl.com/HHFoodMgmt.

07/23/2025

We have been working with many organizations to bring Double Up Food Bucks program to all of the markets we serve to increase the amount of fresh local produce to SNAP cardholders. Please go to this link and sign the letter encouraging the government to strengthen the funding through Gus Schumacher Nutrition Incentive Program:

Address

1703 Howell Street
Fort Wayne, IN
46808

Telephone

+14252137516

Website

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