Rooted manages 70 community gardens serving over 2,000 households. We grow approximately 60,000 pounds of produce annually at our three farm sites. Rooted provides garden-based education to over 7,000 students every year. In 2024, we hosted over 20 community events, serving approximately 4,000 people. We collaborate with local growers, schools, organizations, and businesses. Our programming promotes skill building and career development for youth and helps them learn to address racial food disparities, understand food policies and processes, and promote healthy food access in their community.
About Rooted
Growing Community. Together.
Rooted in Food, Land and Learning
Our mission is to connect the community through food access, land access, and urban agriculture education.
Rooted resulted from the January 2020 merger of two vibrant Madison nonprofit organizations with aligned missions: Center for Resilient Cities (founded in 1996) and Community GroundWorks (founded in 2001).
Since 2020, Rooted has been operating as a cohesive, wide-reaching community-centered urban agriculture hub. Rooted partners with 12 Madison Schools to provide hands-on agriculture education to youth, distributes thousands of pounds of food to local neighbor centers and food pantries, supports community gardens and collaborative farm gardens throughout Dane County, and hosts in-person and virtual community events free of charge throughout the Madison area. Rooted accomplishes this broad set of operations with 14 full-time, 4 part time, and 8 seasonal employees, supported by over 1,000 active volunteers and 10 youth staff.
Rooted Serves
Our organization serves Madison’s northside and south side communities through Troy Farm and Badger Rock programming respectively. These neighborhoods are located in some of the most diverse and under-resourced neighborhoods in Madison and are in areas identified as Healthy Food Access Improvement Areas by the City of Madison. Rooted’s education programs serve people of all ages, from babies through elders, throughout Madison and the surrounding area. The Community Gardens Network supports gardens throughout Madison and Dane County. The Wisconsin School Garden Network supports youth gardens throughout the state of Wisconsin.
Rooted operates:
- Troy Farm on Madison’s northside, an organic production farm.
- Three youth-focused educational farms including Madison School Farm, Troy Kids’ Garden, and Badger Rock Urban Farm.
- Gardening and culinary education programs with 12 MMSD schools, 6 community centers, and justice-involved youth at Grow Academy.
- A year-round youth employment program.
- Badger Rock Neighborhood Center on Madison’s south side.
- The Community Gardens Network of Dane County, which includes over 70 community gardens, on land we manage or lease.
Rooted’s Impact
Rooted holds community events at our neighborhood sites. Our programs and events reach a wide audience across Madison and Dane County, and we hold community meals, markets, workshops, and seasonal events throughout the year to bring people together and cultivate community connection.
Rooted expands land access, especially for HMoob and other BIPOC growers. We support access to the land at Troy Farm and community gardens throughout Dane County, as well as focusing resources such as agricultural expertise on people traditionally excluded from accessing them.
Rooted provides our communities with fresh, locally grown produce. For over 20 years, through CSA membership, direct sales, low- to no-cost distribution to community centers, and donation to food pantries, Rooted’s farms have grown food that supports healthy food access in Madison’s northside, southside, and east side neighborhoods.
Rooted offers urban agriculture education to students of all ages. Our educational programs draw upon the expertise of community members, and Rooted is one of the few non-profits in Madison partnering with MMSD and other educators to provide hands-on urban agriculture education for all kids, regardless of economic status.
Programs at A Glance
Community Gardens Network – Rooted supports 70 small-plot community gardens and three large-plot collaborative farms across Dane County, covering 79 acres and serving around 2,000 families.
Gardener-in-Residence Program – Rooted Gardeners-in-Residence provide school garden programming, including teaching garden-based lessons, providing garden maintenance, and leading cooking and afterschool clubs, at 12 MMSD schools.
Grow Academy – a Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DJC) residential program alternative to incarceration for justice-involved youth. Students learn the basics of gardening and farming with an emphasis on the benefits of self-sufficiency, personal health, and community well-being.
Rooted in Culture Gardening and Culinary Arts Program – We lead gardening and cooking classes for students at Badger Rock Middle School, Madison School Farm, Troy Kids’ Garden, Northside community centers, and Southside Elementary School.
Wisconsin School Garden Network – Rooted produces a monthly Farm to School newsletter with 5,200 subscribers, maintains a statewide Wisconsin school garden map with over 850 documented gardens, and offers Teaching in Nature’s Classroom, a free, online garden-based education course taken by over 2,000 people across the United States.
Purpose Grown Project – Rooted dedicates a portion of our urban farm space at Troy to growing produce to be given at low- to no-cost to northside neighborhood centers.
Rooted in Urban Agriculture Youth Employment – This program employs ten youth annually, helping them develop job and life skills, as well as the agency to grow their own food, address racial food disparities, understand food policies and processes, and increase healthy food access in their communities.
Troy Farm Collaborative – We host six emerging partner growers on the land at Troy and provide them with growing space, equipment, and support.
Troy Farm Community Supported Agriculture Program – Troy Farm offers fresh, organic, locally-grown produce to paying members of the CSA program throughout the growing season. We partner with FairShare CSA to offer discounted memberships.
Workshop Series – Rooted produces weekly virtual and in-person workshops covering seasonal cooking and gardening topics, with special workshop series celebrating cultural heritage months led by members of those communities.
Youth Education Field Trips – Madison School Farm and Troy Kids’ Garden host field trips and experiential learning opportunities throughout the growing season to students grades 4K-12.
Community Focused
Rooted is successful in this work because we collaborate with community leaders, elders, youth and other community-focused organizations. Rooted builds trusted relationships to create resilient neighborhoods and healthy food systems. We start by listening to and elevating diverse perspectives in farming, cooking and community building. We not only teach youth participants, but learn from them and encourage every program participant to bring their unique background and perspectives into the discussion. At Rooted, every neighbor, learner, volunteer and participant has a voice to collectively contribute to a local food ecosystem that includes everyone.