Membership Director Taina Sanon spoke with Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine, a member organization of Nonprofit New York. We will continue to highlight the work of our members because we believe when your nonprofit is stronger, all of us are stronger.
Tell me about the organization and what you do.
Green Bronx Machine builds healthy, equitable, and resilient communities through inspired education, local food systems, and career exploration vital for 21st Century college and career opportunities. Dedicated to cultivating minds and harvesting hope, our school-based model uses urban agriculture aligned to key school performance indicators to grow healthy students and healthy schools. We are a whole school program that transforms communities that are fragmented and marginalized into neighborhoods that are inclusive and thriving.
How many are on your team?
3
Servicing how many of the nonprofit population?
50,000 daily
Where do you see your organization in the next five years or ten years?
Continuing to grow healthy students, healthy classrooms, and healthy communities all around the world! We look to continue to expand and develop robust programming in all 50 states. Our partnership with Stepping Stones - the first commercial greenhouse operated and farmed by former foster care youth - will evolve into a replicable model for gainful employment and housing, right in the heart of Appalachia.
We will continue to develop our nan-profit and for-profit partnerships.
How has partnering with Nonprofit New York helped you succeed?
Nonprofit New York has helped us so much - we’ve received top notch legal advice and help with our governance structure, and a great sense of community from the newsletters.
Nonprofit New York has provided outstanding networking and so much awesome information for free!
What are you currently working on that you want us to mention to our membership?
As the COVID-19 crisis began to unfold here in New York City, our immediate community in the South Bronx emerged as a major epicenter. We quickly retooled our daily programming to include Zoom cooking classes, grocery delivers to students, their families, and community members. We’ve continued to operate our Food For Others farm - located right here in the Bronx - with socially distant guidelines in place, delivering hundreds of pounds of fresh, hyper-local, seasonal vegetables to immuno-compromised recovering cancer patients at Memorial Sloan Kettering