Land Trust, NH Farms, CitySeed Become Roomies

“Nonprofits don’t often work well together,” Justin Elicker said at the grand opening of a new working space Tuesday night to be shared by the New Haven Land Trust and New Haven Farms.

Well, at 817 Grand Ave. they now do.

The Land Trust, which Elicker runs, and New Haven Farms have moved into a space connected to the farmers market group CitySeed. Tuesday the executive directors of the three organizations joined board members, employees, high school students and community members at an informal celebration of the new shared space. 

The three nonprofits realized their missions overlap, so sharing an office opens opportunities, said Russell Moore, the executive director of New Haven Farms. Moore’s organization operates several urban farms and runs a 16-week nutritional education and gardening program for low-income New Haveners with nutrition-related diseases like diabetes. Moore’s organization partners with the New Haven Land Trust to run a garden incubator program that helps graduates of the Farm-Based Wellness program.

“We have so many ideas for how to eliminate food insecurity in New Haven. This space helps us do that much better,” Elicker said.

CitySeed, which has been at the site for several years, welcomed its new neighbors. CitySeed manages several farmers markets and runs culinary programs, including a Sanctuary Kitchen that helps refugees in New Haven celebrate their cultures and make healthful food, and has an industrial kitchen in its office. This kitchen is one of the main points of connection among the organizations, according to Executive Director Amelia Reese Masterson. In CitySeed’s kitchen, high school students in the Land Trust’s Growing Entrepreneurs program make pesto, sauces and other food products from food they grow in the Land Trust gardens.

All three organizations share a common goal, according to Reese Masterson: to grow an equitable and sustainable food system in New Haven. Elicker said the organizations will, through weekly meetings, develop more programs and partnerships than was possible before.

“All of us embrace that vision. Working together will bring that much closer to reality,” Moore said.

Kenny Delgado, a junior at Metropolitan Business Academy and a member of New Haven Land Trust’s Growing Entrepreneurs program, said the office has a great atmosphere. Delgado said he enjoys the commitment displayed by the workers at the organizations, who he said avoid taking themselves too seriously. 

Rasha Abuhatab, another Growing Entrepreneur and junior at MBA, said the new office affords opportunities that weren’t available when she started there through the Youth-At-Work program over the summer. Thanks to CitySeed, the Growing Entrepreneurs can attend more community programs, access more resources, and have a space to make the sauces they sell to local businesses.

Elicker addressed the assembled workers, board members and guests, calling the cooperation among these organizations a model for a city with many nonprofits but not enough collaboration.

“It’s symbolic of what a lot of other groups in the city should be doing,” Elicker said.