Growing sustainable communities since 2001
Our Mission
Cultivating Community grows sustainable communities by expanding access to healthy, local food; empowering children, youth, and adults to play diverse roles in restoring the local food systems; and modeling, teaching, and advocating for ecological food production.
We Value Justice.
We believe current systems that operate in our community benefit dominant groups and oppress others. We strive to work with, within, and against these systems to create a world where we are all strengthened by our community. We believe it is important to continually examine personal and professional power and privilege. We bring this awareness into our work and our decision-making. We encourage others to join us.
We Value Community.
We believe our community is stronger when all voices are represented. We strive to create space, listen to, and advocate for the many diverse perspectives in our community. Our goal is to cultivate participatory, community-based solutions that are both immediately impactful and are part of lasting systems of change. We work to make our programs accessible and we welcome all people.
We Value Equity.
We believe our community is stronger and healthier when everyone has the resources they need to reach their full potential. These resources look different for different people. We strive to leverage our own organizational power and resources to meet those varied needs. We work to undo systems that marginalize, oppress, and exploit people, creatures, and the natural world.
We Value Digging In.
We believe there are challenges in our community that are also reflected in ourselves. We believe that creative solutions are possible. We strive to dig in, both metaphorically and literally, to get our hands dirty, as we build a better future together. We recognize that community growth requires self-awareness, difficult conversations, and love of self and others; we welcome and value these opportunities.
History
2001
Cultivating Community was founded by Craig Lapine to increase access to local foods and hands-on learning in public schools and community spaces. We have been a dedicated partner at Portland Public Schools since.
2002
We launched a food justice-based youth program, now known as our Youth Leadership Intensive Program. Today, we provide paid internships for 50 youth annually in the Cumberland County area, prioritizing teens with limited resources who don’t speak English as a first language.
2004
Cultivating Community built the Boyd St. Urban Farm in the East Bayside neighborhood, which has become the heart of many of our programs and includes a vibrant community garden, an urban orchard with over 30 varieties of fruit, and a shared open-harvest garden that anyone can harvest from.
2009
We adopted the New American Sustainable Agriculture Program (NASAP) from Coastal Enterprises, Inc. Participants from immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking backgrounds accessed land, skills, and resources to farm in Maine, while growing culturally familiar crops.
2010
We launched a network of multilingual farm stands that are accessible to all regardless of income, which highlight hard-to-find crops that are sought after by Maine’s immigrant, refugee, and asylum-seeking communities.
2011
Cultivating Community facilitated universal acceptance of SNAP/EBT/WIC benefits through a token system at Portland’s farmers’ market, increasing the accessibility of locally grown produce.
2013
We began our partnership with the City of Portland to expand access to agriculture in urban spaces. Since, we’ve expanded growing spaces in the City’s garden program, nearly doubling the number of plots by 2017. Now, nearly 500 families grow together on public land.
2015
We collaborated with St. Mary’s Nutrition Center to launch the Good Food Bus, a mobile food market selling fresh fruits and vegetables directly to individuals’ homes across three counties in Maine.
2018
Cultivating Community partnered with Falmouth Land Trust to restore Hurricane Valley Farm and support local food production. This 62-acre farm provides land access and increases food security for 50 New American families.
2020
In partnership with other local nonprofit organizations, we delivered fresh, culturally familiar produce to Portland neighborhoods in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
2021
Cultivating Community joined Good Shepherd Food Bank’s Mainers Feeding Mainers network to expand access to culturally familiar foods in pantries in Cumberland and Androscoggin counties.
2023
After a few years of interim leadership, Cultivating Community hired Executive Director Silvan Shawe to lead the next chapter.
Header and background photo by Greta Rybus