2025 Midwinter News - Cultivating Community

Midwinter News

Federal Funding Cuts

We’re all absorbing a lot of news right now, and it’s not a time to add to the noise. We do, however, want to share how Cultivating Community’s work is impacted by the uncertainty and loss of federal funding and how we are approaching our work moving forward. We’re going to keep growing good food and building community.

State and Federal contracts were 44% of Cultivating Community’s 2025 budget. Most of those funds are still uncertain. Each of our programs and special projects are impacted, but the Community Farms (NASAP) are hit hardest. U.S. Department of Agriculture grants have made it possible to provide immigrant farmers with land access, shared infrastructure, training, and support to build their businesses and grow culturally familiar crops for the community. Last year alone, farmers sold more than $438,000 (125,000+ lbs!) of produce through Cultivating Community – providing fresh, local veggies at low or no cost, including $115,000 directly to food pantries through Mainers Feeding Mainers and SNAP and WIC match in partnership with Maine Federation of Farmers’ Markets.

Our mission is not changing. We are committed to continuing to build community through food and providing support for immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking farmers, limited-resource kids, and neighbors to grow and share fresh produce. Our work is food security in action. This season’s seeds were delivered and we’ll begin planting this week. Thanks to the donors who contributed this winter, these seeds will grow into this year’s ~40,000 African seedlings and thousands of pounds of fresh, local food.

Please donate if you are able. Share resources and information. Grow food with us. We are doing everything we can to keep our programs stable, keep our two community farms open, keep our neighbors supported, and keep our participants safe. Thank you for being with us now and in whatever the future holds.

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Peak-season amaranth greens from one of our community farms: joyful hope for the good food that will be grown this season!

Busted Trucks & Aging Engines

As any farmer knows, you can never catch up on equipment maintenance and repair. To help us get closer, we have two asks ahead of the growing season. Please donate or spread the word if you can!

Sadly, our little old Ford Ranger didn’t make it through the winter. With funds getting cut, we aren’t going to be able to buy a replacement like we had planned. If you have a reliable old truck and are looking to donate it to a good cause, we would love it and put it to good use. Ideally, we are looking for something reliable with 4WD and a hitch.

Handy with machines and have time to tinker? Our farm team needs help with seasonal maintenance and repairs on some of our small farm equipment at Hurricane Valley Farm.

Click below or send an email to info@cultivatingcommunity.org or call us at 207-761-4769 if you can donate time or a vehicle.

I Can Help With Farm Machines!

Community Garden Registration

Plots may still be covered in snow, but Community Garden registration begins this week! If you are a returning Portland Community Gardener, keep an eye on your inbox or for a text message from our Urban Ag team.

A big thank you to all of the prospective gardeners who reconfirmed their waitlist spots! If you are on our waitlist and there is a plot available for you this year, we will contact you in April and May. If you want to join the waitlist for a Portland Community Garden plot, you can sign up here.

Have questions? Check our FAQ page, and if your question is still not answered, feel free to reach out to us at garden@cultivatingcommunity.org. Thank you!

School Partnership Succeses
& How You Can Help It Continue

This year, with the support from the Sewall Foundation, we worked with the Portland Public Schools to create an Elementry School Garden Coordinator pilot program and advocated for Environmental Literacy teacher positions to be funded so that students didn’t lose their outdoor learning spaces. With this support, we have been able to reach ALL 3,000+ students with opportunities for hands-on learning!

It has been a huge success, and we are working to continue this model next year. With cuts to STEM, educators like the Environmental Literacy Teachers and the school garden coordinators are filling gaps and exploring STEM, Wabanaki Studies, and other essential grade-level curricula in thriving school gardens.

Want to support our students? We want to continue this partnership and as PPS begins its budget planning, they need to hear that school gardens and fun hands-on learning matter. Share your comments in support of School Gardens and Environmental Literacy at an upcoming budget meeting (We’ll be there!) or email the school board, schoolboard@portlandschools.org, and Superintendent Scallon at superintendent@portlandschools.org.

Looking for inspiration on what to write? Check out this Maine DOE article about the success of the program at Lyseth Elementary School!

“School gardens help students build relationships, and learn reciprocity, respect, and responsibility for our Earth and each other.

In this role, I have the pleasure of seeing struggling students take on leadership roles and experience success in activities and tasks that are completely new to them. The program fosters academic, social, and emotional growth and success in students while helping them build a positive, life-long relationship with the natural world.”

– PPS Environmental Literary Teacher

Youth Leadership Alumni
Cross-Country Skiing Fieldtrip

One of the goals of our Youth Leadership Internship program is to build a strong sense of community, belonging, and a network of support. This includes joyful outdoor experiences, new friends, and lasting connections, all of which have been proven to lead to positive educational and career outcomes. This is especially important for underserved communities, and kids who may not have had the same opportunities to participate in recreational activities.

In February, the Western Foothills Land Trust in Norway, ME was generous in inviting alumni from our high school youth programs to their Nordic Ski Center. Thanks to their commitment to equitable access to outdoor recreation, students got on skis for the first time and enjoyed a perfect snow day in Maine! There was skiing, snowshoeing, and a delicious lunch kindly provided by Alan Day Community Garden. Special thanks to Lee Dassler, Robert’s Farm, and the wonderful volunteers who guided our alumni through the trails. It was an experience we will never forget!

Our work is possible thanks to the support of our community. Please contribute if you are able. Volunteer time and in-kind donations are always welcome too. Thank you!

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Copyright © 2025

Our mailing address:
P.O. Box 3792, Portland ME 04104
(207) 761-GROW

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