Mission:
‍In the soil of our urban farm and garden, people find the tools they
need to build a home in the world.
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‍Our Vision:
‍We envision a thriving and inclusive community, workforce, and
local food system.
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‍We value:
• The capacity of every individual for growth and renewal.
• The joy that comes from growing and sharing healthy food.
• The well-being created by vibrant social and natural ecosystems. 

Santa Cruz County continues to have one of the largest homeless populations by county in the United States. At the Homeless Garden Project, we seek to serve this population by providing empowering and supportive programs that help individuals experiencing homelessness overcome barriers to employment and regain necessary skills to reach economic self-sufficiency.

As a community-based organization, our mission and program model integrates our organic farm to produce nutritious food while tending to the land and using agro-ecological principles. We provide a job training and transitional employment program, now in its 32nd year, modeled on a theory of change that paid short-term employment, coupled with educational and support services, provides a direct route to stable housing and employment. Research from the National Transitional Jobs Network, as well as our greater than 90% success rate of employment and housing achieved by recent graduates, strongly support this theory. We have spent the last 32 years growing and innovating for better and more sustainable services.  Job training and personal development has been at the core of our work from our beginning and has been honed to effectively and efficiently incorporate proven practices, such as social work support services over an intensive 12-month duration. Our award-winning program enjoys widespread positive recognition in the community.


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