The nonprofit Groundwork Center for Resilient Communities is all about bringing about lasting change, with roots in the health, environmental and economic aspects of a local food system. The Groundwork Food and Farming team creates markets for local farmers and helps bring locally grown food to students, families and food pantries across Michigan.

            A pilot program connecting resources to community needs, Building Resilient Communities is based on the principle that a targeted, small investment of $2,000 can have an outsized impact in strengthening aspects of our local food system and positively impact communities. Combined with project planning, consultation and other assistance from Groundwork staff, the funds allow Building Resilient Communities sites to build on the good work they already do, with new infrastructure, equipment upgrades, educational strategies and organizational policies. Building Resilient Communities aims to promote consumption of healthy, local foods, increase healthy food access, build agency of farm and food service workers and strengthen local economies.

      Emmet County resident John Bailey, who recently started a farm of his own, now hosts an innovative Groundwork program, Building Resilient Communities, that is giving his local food business a boost. Bailey became involved in the community as a teenager after becoming involved with the Petoskey–Harbor Springs Area Community Foundation Youth Advisory Committee, reviewing the foundation’s grant applications twice per year. The experience sparked his awareness of servant leadership that would return him to farming.

            His business, Hello Jane Farms, was established in 2019 after he realized a routine office career was not the most rewarding path. Bailey purchased land, plowed fields, built a barn and constructed a large greenhouse. By year’s end, he was working on a website and signing people up for 2020 community supported agriculture (CSA) shares.

            By 2021, Hello Jane Farms tripled production, so Bailey purchased a farm stand three miles away as he reinforced his relationships with schools, churches and nonprofit organizations, to fully further his mission of bringing good food to the community. He sold vegetables to Manna Food Project, donated 20 CSA shares to the Nehemiah Project shelter for the homeless, and volunteered in the local school districts and Nazarene church. This all led to discovering the Groundwork Food and Farming program initiative Building Resilient Communities.

            He also wants the farm stand to accept EBT payments from customers in the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

            In 2019, 16  percent of residents in Littlefield Township were at or below the poverty line, and 22 percent fell into the Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed category. Those households and hundreds more struggling with food insecurity countywide can find it difficult to find fresh produce when the closest store is miles away.

Donations are welcome. For more information, visit GroundworkCenter.org.