At Growing Places (GP), our mission is to inspire and connect the North Central MA community to create equitable access to healthy food and environmental sustainability through education, collaboration and advocacy. Working with individuals, families, non-profit organizations, farmers, businesses, schools and public agencies, we promote healthy people and healthy communities by: - Providing resources for people to garden in community settings - Teaching and advocating sustainable growing, preparation and consumption of food - Gathering data, stories and practices to build knowledge of the cultural diversity in our community - Creating opportunities and engaging a diverse group of stakeholders to support our work, including as program participants, volunteers, leaders, partners, donors, and investors - Facilitating direct-to-consumer sales of affordable and healthy food, and encouraging the use and availability of federal nutrition programs - Teaching and promoting environmentally healthy and sustainable living practices - Assuming leadership in the promotion of regional food access strategies - Designing and implementing strategies and systems to secure and sustain the financial and human resources to serve our mission