Brooklyn Grange

Collaboration is at the core of what we do. Founded in 2011 by Brooklyn Grange, City Growers has been utilizing the small business’ breathtaking soil-based green roof farms, the largest in the world, as learning laboratories. If you visit Brooklyn Grange on any given weekday, you’ll see farmers tilling, planting, weeding, harvesting, wheelbarrowing, building… among many other farm tasks. And nearby, you’ll see kids participating in a City Growers workshop, summer internship, or after school program. These kids always take a keen interest in the farmers, and inevitably the same question always bubbles up: “Are they getting paid right now?”

We are grateful to Brooklyn Grange for so many things, but the ability to answer “yes” to that question tops the list. Not because kids necessarily want to be urban farmers, but because that simple “yes” immediately expands perspectives about what is possible. The knowledge that someone can work outdoors in the sunshine, with plants and animals, in nature, without leaving the city, leaves a lasting impression. That “yes” punctuates the content of our programs by connecting it to reality. Our partnership with Brooklyn Grange is fundamental to the work that we do.