2026 Food Justice Fund Grantees

Community gardening meets civic engagement in Nurturing Neighborhoods' programming.

This series of garden based events will connect community members with their elected officials at both social functions and structured neighborhood meetings. Community members will get to connect directly with their electeds and learn how to engage with them in a meaningful way.

This project invests in four community gardens in predominantly Black Syracuse neighborhoods that practice community-led decision-making. Across the 2026 growing season, volunteers will learn organic, carbon-sequestering techniques while improving garden infrastructure with accessibility and universal design in mind. The work supports Farmers of the Global Majority and passes locally rooted growing skills between generations through culturally appropriate food. (Joint Proposal: Kwagh-hir Community Garden, West Newell St Memorial Garden, Nourish Syracuse, and Dunbar Center Garden)

Assumption Food Pantry serves a population with limited access to reliable transportation. To ensure families can take back the food they need to their homes, this project funds the purchase of personal carts for pantry clients.

About 30 to 40 percent of pantry clients currently cannot carry home their full share of food, shorting their families on much-needed nutrition. With carts handed out as needed, people can safely and independently bring home more of what they are offered.

New Americans Blessing Box, Inc. serves immigrant and refugee families, operating a pantry that serves 70 to 100 immigrant and refugee families twice each month, plus 500 families at its October distribution .They honoring Asian American, Pacific Islander, African, and Muslim dietary practices.

This funding supports their food box giveaway, and keeps shelves stocked with fresh, shelf-stable, and culturally relevant foods so families can feed themselves with dignity. Families choose what they need from the shelves themselves, a practice that respects each household's culture and care.

Nearly 40 percent of U.S. food is wasted, even as one in seven Onondaga County neighbors faces food insecurity.

The Onondaga Food Rescue Network moves surplus food from local businesses and farms to people who need it. This funding will expand operations during the 2026 harvest season, deepening partnerships at the CNY Regional Market and farmers’ markets to steer fresh produce into community food programs.

A program of the Workforce Advancement Center, Roots to Rise is a hands-on, garden-based learning program serving underserved Syracuse youth.
Over six weeks at the Eastwood Community Garden, participants will plant, cultivate, and harvest fruits, vegetables, and herbs while learning about composting, native plants, and the importance of healthy eating. Each week, youth will take home a planted container so they can continue growing and preparing fresh food alongside their families.

Asha Laaya Farm will complete a greenhouse and install a new irrigation system to support accessible, culturally informed farming for Deaf New Americans.

The greenhouse will protect seedlings from harsh weather, and irrigation will help plants thrive through the spring. This project will grow more fresh vegetables for Deaf New American families and open more opportunities for farming, selling, and neighborly connection.