Full-time

Green Village Initiative is cultivating community wellbeing and self-sufficiency in Bridgeport. We operate Bridgeport’s only outdoor educational urban farm, manage 11 community gardens, implement urban farmer training programs, lead youth through leadership development, and support Bridgeport’s teachers in using school gardens as outdoor classrooms. Our programs engage thousands of community members in growing and consuming Bridgeport-grown food.

Our 4 core programs nurture a grassroots movement of urban growers of all ages:

• Reservoir Community Farm. Our 1.7 acre urban farm is a demonstration farm for growers across the city, a welcoming gathering and learning space for the community, and home to our weekly farmers market. Each year, we grow, sell and donate about 4,000 pounds of fresh, healthy produce for the community. Over 400 hundred students, teachers, community gardeners and visitors participate in our community events, farming and food justice workshops, and educational field trips each year. 
• Youth Leadership Program. We cultivate youth as agents of social change through urban agriculture. Youth are a growing force at Reservoir Community Farm during the summer and participate in regular workshops in food justice, leadership development, community building, and job skills. A Food Leader Advisory Group of enrolled youth and recent program graduates helps our team create the most valuable summer experience that we can for youth in Bridgeport.
• Community Gardens. A network of 12 neighborhood organic gardens provides opportunities for hundreds of families to grow food that may be unavailable in their neighborhoods. We boost Garden Captains’ leadership abilities and deliver streamlined support and resources to gardeners in our network who grow thousands of pounds of food each year. We are partnering with UConn Extension to offer an intensive, year-long Urban Farmer Training Program for gardeners interested in growing for market. This will generate local economic activity while meeting demands for culturally appropriate produce at Bridgeport’s farmers markets.
• School Garden Support and Resources. Hundreds of students use gardens at Bridgeport public schools. School Garden Champions, usually teachers, engage students in seeding, maintaining, and harvesting their garden. GVI offers support and resources to School Garden Champions in the form of skill building opportunities, experiential farm field trips, classroom tools and gardening supplies. Thanks to our partnership with Sacred Heart University, we now provide school garden lesson plans that link directly to Bridgeport’s curriculum standards; coupled with Professional Development opportunities for teachers, this increases teacher confidence and ability to use school gardens as an outdoor classroom. Our long-term strategy is to integrate School Gardens into school culture and curriculum.