2025 Food Justice Fund Grantees

Alternative Project will be creating a digital learning hub to host over 2 dozen workshops, interviews, and educational content exploring Traditional Food Systems. The project will also include a podcast exploring local food economies and food sovereignty, and a rooftop garden demonstration site that will be used to create content teaching folks how to be more self-sufficient in small and innovative spaces.

The Environmental Action Lab, a group of educators and environmentalists, is transforming a vacant lot on the West Side of Syracuse into a sustainable urban farm. The project will feature a food forest, garden beds, composting stations, and chickens.

The farm aims to foster food sovereignty, build community connection, and teach environmental stewardship. They plan programs and educational resources for youth and adults to enable them to participate in the design and maintenance of the space.

Mesopotamia Market is leading the organization of a summer farmers market on the Northside, to connect local farmers and refugee entrepreneurs to folks in the community with limited access to culturally relevant food.

The Northside is home to a large population of immigrants and refugees, many of whom lack reliable transportation. By establishing an evening market in this area, residents would have access to fresh food and community. In addition to food vendors, the market boasts community resources and mentorship. It fosters cross-cultural understanding to nurture belonging and connection.

Afica Pure is developing a farmer-owned cooperative that would support both BIPOC growers in the region and residents of the North Side who might struggle to access full-scale grocery stores. They’re building connections with farmers, businesses throughout the city, and developing the brick-and-mortar location to prepare for a successful and sustainable launch. In the meantime, they’re hosting gardening classes to connect youth with where their food comes from and collecting community feedback to better meet the needs of their future clients.

Salt City Harvest Farm provides an opportunity for New Americans, mostly in the Northside of Syracuse, to grow and sell culturally appropriate food they don’t otherwise have access to. This funded project supports their mutual aid work: compensating farmers who grow food at the farm while donating the produce to food pantries across the city.

20 farmers will be directly supported through this project, and their plots nourished through the purchase and application of cured manure. The food pantries that receive produce from the farm will be better able to meet the needs of their immigrant and refugee patrons, since many fresh foods familiar to them are unavailable through food bank distributions.

Saints Peter and Paul Orthodox Church is expanding their capacity to provide food aid to the community on the West side of Syracuse. Through this funding, they will be able to provide more hot meals and fresh produce to patrons.

Participants in the program will receive nutritious ingredients and coaching to cook their own hot meals, as well as small appliances and equipment to make them. They will also have access to peer navigators to deepen connection and impact.

Thrive City Church, in the Valley Neighborhood of Syracuse, is launching a new initiative to address food insecurity through a holistic approach. They work with refugees, immigrants, and other members of the surrounding community to support them in accessing healthful food and other resources. The program includes direct food assistance and community food drives, but it also provides cooking classes, budgeting workshops, and transportation support.

As part of the program, multilingual navigators will work with individuals and families to promote self-sufficiency, cultural connection, and community resilience. Long-term, the program hopes to establish a community garden and a peer learning and support component.