Related Guides
Local Organizations
- Fenway Victory Gardens The Fenway Victory Gardens are the only remaining continuously-operating World War II Victory Gardens in the United States. Founded in 1942 during the Roosevelt Administration, they were one of more than 20 million Victory Gardens in the U.S. Victory Gardens were encouraged under the Roosevelt Administration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- Eastie Farm What began as an overgrown, abandoned lot is now a thriving urban oasis, a place where people can come relax, enjoy nature, and help out. Volunteers learn about rainwater conservation, waste management, and other eco-friendly urban farming methods, all while getting to know their neighbors and having fun! We now own two sites, operate five others, do experience-based environmental learning programs with multiple schools, and bring local fresh food to neighbors of all economic levels.
- BMC Rooftop Farm Three stories above BMC's power plant thrives a 2,658 square foot farm with more than 25 crops. The farm not only provides fresh, local produce to our hospitalized patients, cafeterias, Demonstration Kitchen, and Preventive Food Pantry, but is also part of BMC's commitment to going green. The farm reduces the hospital's carbon footprint, increases green space, and reduces energy use, including the energy required to transport food.
- Urban Farming in the City, City of Boston Urban farming gives residents better access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food. It also cuts down on transportation costs and carbon emissions. The City passed Article 89 in 2013 to support commercial urban farming in the City. Our goal is to bring communities and small businesses together through farming and to give residents easy access to fresh food.
- Urban Farming Institute of Boston "The Urban Farming Institute of Boston (UFIB) is a social innovation organization founded in 2012 to support the development of urban farming (the growing of agricultural products for income) in Boston and in other urban areas of Massachusetts. Building a healthier, more locally based food system is at the heart of UFI’s mission."
- The Food Project Our mission is to create a thoughtful and productive community of youth and adults from diverse backgrounds who work together to build a sustainable food system. Our community produces healthy food for residents of the city and suburbs, provides youth leadership opportunities, and inspires and supports others to create change in their own communities.
- City Sprouts The CitySprouts mission is to develop, implement and maintain beautiful, resource-rich school gardens in collaboration with public school communities. Integrated into the curriculum, CitySprouts gardens inspire teachers, students, and families with a deep, hands-on connection to the food cycle, sustainable agriculture, and the natural environment.
- Boston Area Gleaners Our Mission: Boston Area Gleaners, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to rescuing surplus farm crops for people in need. Our Actions: We distribute high quality produce to food pantries and meal programs by working closely with local farmers, providing volunteer labor to harvest what would otherwise be plowed under. Our goal: Create a reliable supply chain of surplus produce from local farms to people in need.
- Mill City Grows Mill City Grows fosters food justice by improving physical health, economic independence, and environmental sustainability in Lowell through increased access to land, locally-grown food, and education.
- Haley House Urban Agriculture Programs Through urban farming at Haley House, we strive for creative, practical and life-giving practices which allows us to grow accessible, affordable, colorful, nutrient-dense, flavorful, beautiful food. Not only do these practices not rely on exploitation, but they also create positive, healing, empowering and rich relationships. We currently steward two plots of land: the McKinley School Garden, and the Thornton Street Farm.
- Food for Free Food For Free rescues fresh food—food that might otherwise go to waste—and distributes it within the local emergency food system where it can reach those in need.
- Fair Foods For the past 22 years, Fair Foods has provided healthy produce to low income families in the Boston area. Our unique Two Dollars-a-bag program goes beyond emergency hunger relief, strengthening your dollar to make a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables affordable.
- New Entry Sustainable Farming Project New Entry, an initiative of Tufts University’s Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy and additional partners, works locally, regionally, and across the country to strengthen local food systems by supporting new farmers. We serve and collaborate with the people, communities, and organizations in Massachusetts, the Northeast, and beyond!
- Daily Table Founded by Doug Rauch, former president of Trader Joe’s, Daily Table opened its first grocery store in Dorchester. It offers fresh produce and grocery items as well as ready-to-cook and grab-n-go prepared meals at truly affordable prices. We do all of this by recovering food from supermarkets, growers and food distributors that would otherwise have been wasted.
- Fresh Truck A repurposed school bus, Fresh Truck is a mobile food market on a mission to support food access and community health in Boston.
- Food Not Bombs (Boston Chapter) Food Not Bombs is a world-wide movement made up of over 1,000 independent chapters that provide free food to their local communities. The main ideology of Food Not Bombs is that food is a right, not a privilege. Food Not Bombs provides free vegan meals to the public, regardless of whether one is hungry or food secure. We recognize that there is so much food wasted in this country, and yet people are still starving. We see this as violence.
- Gaining Ground Gaining Ground, a non-profit organic farm in Concord, Massachusetts, grows vegetables and fruit with the help of hundreds of community volunteers and donates all of this fresh food to area meal programs and food pantries.
- The Greater Boston Food Bank The Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB) is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England and among the largest food banks in the country. Last year, we distributed more than 54 million pounds of food, enough to provide healthy meals to over 500,000 people. We are committed to increasing our food distribution to provide at least ONE MEAL A DAY to every person in need in eastern Massachusetts.
- Lovin' Spoonfuls We pick up wholesome, fresh food that would otherwise be thrown away from grocery stores, produce wholesalers, farms and farmers markets, and distribute it to community non-profits that feed Greater Boston’s hungry.
- Project Bread Project Bread brings a fresh approach to ending hunger. These are our goals: to promote sustainable and reliable access to healthy food for all, to invest in the strength and resiliency of local communities, and to collaborate with others in building a robust regional food system.
- The Open Door Food Pantry The mission of The Open Door is to alleviate the impact of hunger in our community. We use practical strategies to connect people to good food, to advocate on behalf of those in need, and to engage others in the work of building food security.
