A Utah gardening nonprofit helps homeless women put down roots, grow a better life

Shannon Russell harvested about 18 gallons of cherries this spring from the small garden plot she manages at a supportive housing complex in Salt Lake City.

She loves her part-time gig coaxing fresh food from the earth and sharing her bounty with others.

“Just to be out here, to be outside, to be able to feed somebody else, to take it home and feed your family,” Russell said. “And to watch it grow and produce the fruit is another just ‘whoa.’”

Russell fled a bad marriage in Las Vegas and landed at the YWCA Utah in February 2019. Things started looking up by April, when she was able to meet with staffers from Wasatch Community Gardens, a nonprofit that runs neighborhood plots across the Salt Lake Valley.

Soon, she earned a spot in their Green Team job-training program for homeless women. More than five years later, she farms fresh produce at Palmer Court, lives in an apartment, tools around town on her bike, and has friends from the program and bingo nights at A Bar Named Sue.

Wasatch Community Gardens began the Green Team in 2016 as a way to help women experiencing or facing homelessness get on their feet. The nonprofit supports two cohorts of about six women each every year, one in the spring and one in the fall. The program now is moving from the Green Phoenix Farm on 600 West, tucked between The Gateway and train tracks, to a new site in the heart of the west-side food desert on 1300 South in the Glendale neighborhood.

For 16 weeks, women in the program get paid to produce healthy fruits and veggies for themselves, future participants and low-income families across the valley. They also grow the seedlings for the organization’s annual spring plant sale.

In addition, program leaders host life and job workshops.

“We’re trying to reinforce and remember those good work habits, but we also have our soft skills … curriculum,” James Loomis, director of agricultural operations for the nonprofit, said. “Folks are working on breaking through barriers, also, clearing criminal records, getting things expunged, learning better fiscal health and how credit works. All those things that you would be surprised how maybe some folks are confused about — how you actually hook up utilities and put down a deposit — if you’ve never had a house or haven’t in a while.”

A case manager guides women through finding permanent jobs and housing during their time in the program, too.

Loomis said much of the recruiting happens via word of mouth through alumni like Russell. Case managers across the valley will recommend participants as well, and Wasatch Community Gardens does some of its own street outreach.

About 90 women have been a part of the Green Team since it sprouted, Loomis says, and 80% of those women have gained stable housing and reliable employment since graduating.

Alumni find employment across various fields, he added. Some use skills they learned at the farm — like a woman who cooks in the kitchen at Neighborhood House and another who works on a cannabis farm. Others have become certified nursing assistants or hold other health care jobs.

For Russell, another facet of the program’s success is the community it has nurtured amongst its alumni. Wasatch Community Gardens brings back past participants for quarterly family dinners, and encourages the women to network with and support one another. Russell said she’s still comfortable turning to Loomis and others for help when she needs it.

Soon enough, future cohorts will be learning and growing on the west side at the new farm site, which came under the management of Wasatch Community Gardens in June. Farm leaders hope the new location makes it easier for west-siders to interact with the organization’s programming more broadly and to pick fresh fruit from its trees.

As for Russell, she’s been looking for a new full-time job to go with her gardening at Palmer Court. Trouble is, she loves being outside so much, getting her hands dirty, that she’d rather garden all the time.

“I want to keep doing this,” Russell said. “I don’t want to do anything else.”

Source: sltrib.com