New Haven Farms Merging With Land Trust

Two of New Haven’s leading ​“green” nonprofits have signed a memorandum of understanding to merge.

Following is a press release they sent announcing the pending merger:

Representatives from New Haven Farms and The New Haven Land Trust announced this week that the two environmentally focused community development organizations are planning to merge on January 1, 2020 and will be launching an Executive Director search for the merged entity in early November in advance of the combination. New Haven Land Trust (NHLT) was founded in 1982, as Connecticut’s first urban land trust to preserve open land in New Haven and give city residents an opportunity to learn about the environment. The Land Trust operates 55 community gardens and six land preserves across the city of New Haven and runs The Schooner summer camp, bringing urban youth onto the Long Island Sound to explore the marine ecosystem and learn to sail.

New Haven Farms (NHF) was founded in 2012, growing out of Fair Haven Community Health Care’s Community-Based Diabetes Prevention Program. New Haven Farms promotes health and community development through urban agriculture, cultivating seven urban farms in New Haven to organically grow fruits and vegetables and provide health and wellness education through their farm-based wellness programming. 

Board Chairs Tyra Pendergrass (New Haven Land Trust) and James Farnam (New Haven Farms), express the excitement about moving forward together in a joint statement: 

“We are thrilled to see our two organizations formally merge as our educational, agricultural, health, and environmental work is very much aligned and complementary. In 2018, we moved into a shared office and over the years we have increased programmatic collaborations, particularly through the Incubator Garden Program in which 85 graduates of NHF’s Farm-Based Wellness program tend their own gardens in one of NHLT’s community gardens. Our shared vision and demonstrated work of cultivating community connections and supporting neighborhood vitality will undoubtedly deepen and expand as a merged entity.” 

Both organizations are in good financial and organizational standing. Each have received awards for their work and receive ongoing funding from local and state governments, private foundations, businesses, and individuals.

The organizations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding guiding the merger process and a formal approval of the merger by both organizations is anticipated to occur in mid-November. A search process for the merged organization’s Executive Director will be launched in early November. The shared offices for the merged entity will remain at 817 Grand Avenue in New Haven, CT.