Giving Compass' Take:
- Iris M. Crawford reports on the funding gap due to federal budget cuts Farm School NYC, an urban agriculture education nonprofit, is currently facing.
- What would be lost if Farm School NYC closed, taking the resources it provides to its community with it? How can donors provide ongoing support to BIPOC-led nonprofits amidst funding shortfalls?
- Learn more about key issues in food and nutrition and how you can help.
- Search our Guide to Good for nonprofits focused on food justice in your area.
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On a humid Friday evening in early September, staff at Farm School New York City (FSNYC), an urban agriculture education nonprofit, called an emergency town hall to share a critical update. They were at risk of closing—as early as the end of the year— and were starting an emergency fundraiser with a $250,000 goal. FSNYC staff shared that federal funding cuts had further deepened their funding gap and put their work with various community partners in jeopardy.
FSNYC equips NYC-based residents with the tools, training, and support needed to practice sustainable agriculture and advance food sovereignty, food justice, and liberation. It is one of the few urban agriculture education spaces that has a sliding-scale tuition model, making it accessible to everyone. With proper funding, organizations like FSNYC equip learner farmers and land stewards with the knowledge to build sustainable businesses, forge food justice movements, and rebuild relationships with the land. If FSNYC is forced to further reduce capacity or permanently close, what historical, cultural, and institutional knowledge will New York City lose?
An Uncertain 2025
This year has been full of questions and meetings for the organization’s staff, board, and alumni network. “At the same time, we are trying to figure out what will happen with our jobs and our programs,” said Frances Pérez-Rodríguez, the program coordinator for FSNYC, in an interview with NPQ.
In 2024, FSNYC applied to several federal programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), including the USDA Urban Agriculture and Innovative Production Grant program, Farm Service Agency Grants and Cooperative Agreements, and the Thriving Communities Grantmaker Program, among other opportunities. Its largest federal grant is part of a 27-organization cooperative agreement.
“We had organizations giving microgrants out to farmers, uncertain if they would get that money back and when,” said Dyaami D’Orazio, FSNYC’s programs director, in an interview with NPQ.
Read the full article about Farm School NYC by Iris M. Crawford at Nonprofit Quarterly.