This month, we invited Haley Nielson, Development Director at Farming Hope, an SDDT Healthy Communities grantee, to be a guest blogger and share how Farming Hope is changing lives and our food system by centering dignity through a holistic approach and radical collaboration.
By Haley Nielson, Development Director, Farming Hope
Farming Hope is changing lives and our food system. We center dignity through a holistic approach and radical collaboration.
Farming Hope’s mission is to empower folks facing major barriers to employment like former incarceration, homelessness, and often both, to grow and cook food to sustain themselves and their communities. Since Farming Hope started in 2016, we have worked alongside folks still unhoused, and those who had made it out. The common theme was that everyone who “got out” was given responsibility and ownership at the support organizations they worked with. We call this universal principle the “need to be needed” and it is central to our theory of change. Growing, cooking, and serving food is proof that you are needed, and once that lesson is learned, it cannot be taken away.
Every 12 weeks, we welcome a new cohort of trainees, or Apprentices, to our community food hub. Their training begins with orientation and basic kitchen etiquette, and then moves into a progressive curriculum that culminates in their own Apprentice-led multi-course dinner. They learn knife skills, menu development, and how to tell what’s in season during our weekly visits to our community garden. Throughout the program they participate in resume workshops, financial training, interview prep, and career workshops, all working towards the ultimate goal of finding full-time, life sustaining employment.
We don’t just train them in theoretical kitchen skills. Farming Hope’s program is different because our Apprentices are cooking for their community. By “feeding it forward”, we help our Apprentices to feel that they are needed by their neighbor. Apprentices learn by doing, and cook around 1200 meals per week for food insecure San Franciscans. All our menus are designed with feedback from the communities we serve to be nutritious, filling, culturally relevant, and absolutely delicious! Meals are free of charge and get sent to shelters, SROs, transitional housing sites, and other places that serve our housing insecure and vulnerable residents.
When Apprentice Brian was able to drop meals he prepared off to a partner site in the Mission District, he was inspired by what he saw. The way that community showed up for each other through food had, in his words, “restored his faith in humanity”. Brian had been out of work and living in his car with his partner when he found Farming Hope and was skeptical that he could succeed. He graduated in 2022 with a job at a local food manufacturer. A couple weeks into his employment, he shared that he and his partner had just picked up their keys to a new apartment!
Apprentices not only cook to-go meals for distribution out into the community, they also cook weekly three-course dinners for homeless families. Apprentices learn fine dining cooking and plating alongside our culinary team. And, just like a fine dining experience, families make a reservation through their case managers and are welcomed with white table cloths, flowers, and custom menus. Children have their own special area, complete with books, toys, and more. This is not only a space for meals, but also for community building, relaxation, and sharing. Parents swap parenting tips, children make friends, and our Apprentices, volunteers, and staff all mingle in a unique space that breaks down barriers and allows for genuine connection.
On Mondays and Friday afternoons, and after our in house dinners, our Apprentices set up a client-choice grocery market. Often free pantry programs are often characterized by long lines, scarcity, and a lack of choice. We change this paradigm by offering a welcoming space, abundant fresh, local, and culturally relevant produce, and a dignified shopping experience. We source from locally owned producers and regional produce. As part of our work to change the food system, we also recover produce that would otherwise go to waste. Americans waste up to 40% of our food supply, all while millions do not know where their next meal will come from. We’re reducing food waste by making sure that unused items get to people who need them most.
We also invite community members to cooking classes based on menus folks enjoyed most at our in house dinners. We try to make these as accessible as possible, using recognizable ingredients and emphasizing fresh vegetables as much as possible. Guest Angelina has said that our food programs “have been a tremendous success. I find the produce and vegetables quite fresh, with a different variety every week. Nutrition is very important in my family, and I feel honored that we can have a program to support our needs… Thank you for providing such a great service and very friendly people that run the program. Everybody’s doing a great job.”
We share this feedback with our Apprentices, who often beam with pride knowing that they are able to give back in this way. We think that it’s a big reason that we have such a high graduation rate, and why our Apprentices keep coming back for dinners and community long after they get jobs. In fact, we have an 80% graduation rate, and almost everyone that graduates obtains full-time life sustaining employment within just a few weeks. We’ve developed relationships with many local restaurants, grocers, and other food industry to ensure that our Apprentices have the best chance possible for healthy, sustainable economic empowerment. We also work with employers so that they understand what supports people from vulnerable backgrounds need. We worked with Good Good Culture Club to develop an externship and placed graduate Alvaro with the team. General Manager Aimee explains that “Alvaro has become an indispensable part of our team at Good Good Culture Club. He’s always willing to help with anything, learns quickly, and covers shifts whenever we need. We’re so happy to have him on our team.”
Everyone is hungry to give back and belong, and we do that through food! From our job referral partners, community meal partners, employment partners, to our volunteers, staff, and of course Apprentices, we strive to show everyone that they are needed to empower each other, create healthy communities, and transform our city’s food system, no matter what your background. At Farming Hope, food means more than just calories served. Food represents culture, food is an act of care and love, and food is medicine.
Farming Hope is proud to be a Soda Tax Healthy Communities Grant recipient. Funding from this grant makes our important work possible!