City Sprouts is a program designed to invest in and empower youth in metropolitan areas, helping them become earth stewards and future advocates for sustainability.

At a glance, City Sprouts teaches kids how to farm.

“But at its core, the program combines urban agriculture with zero waste principles to create a platform for discussions on climate and environmental justice. This approach ensures that the importance of growing food as a life skill is woven into current conversations about climate change and its impacts”.

A standout feature of the program is its commitment to having all food grown by the “sprouts” go home with them and their families for free. This practice directly addresses the nutrition deficit and food apartheid gaps in real-time.

Ayanna-Grace is currently rolling out a pilot version of City Sprouts for the 2025 growing season. The three primary goals of the program are:

1. Use urban agriculture to introduce environmental and climate justice issues to children.
2. Build skills and confidence in growing their own produce.
3. Provide free, fresh, organic food to local residents.

Ayanna-Grace’s most significant achievement in her first six months is the exciting announcement: The Urban Lorax is launching a pilot version of City Sprouts: A Youth-Run Urban Farm at The Joy Project for the upcoming 2025 growing season!

In selecting a space for collaboration, Ayanna-Grace sought a location that aligned with the core values of The Urban Lorax (TUL): free food and a commitment to enhancing city ecosystems for all inhabitants. The Joy Project (TJP), located in Detroit’s North End, perfectly embodies these principles, making it the ideal partner for this initiative.

The Joy Project, now spanning seven city lots, is more than just a farm—it is a “living archive of African Atlantic agriculture and foodways.” Led by partners Josmine Evans and Gabrielle “Gabby” Knox—both in life, love, and land stewardship—the project curates shared experiences of joy, inspired by agriculture, travel, and cultural research. The Joy Project offers the North End community public space, a seed archive of transatlantic plants, and culturally relevant programming for neighbors and families.

City Sprouts will be launching a new pilot program this summer at The Joy Project, specifically for youth connected to or in close proximity to TJP. It will take root in the “remembrance” section of the land, where food is grown in reflection of Black people’s relationship with food over the past 400+ years. Through hands-on learning and storytelling, youth will cultivate crops such as cotton, callaloo, collard greens, and habanero peppers across nine raised beds. This partnership between The Urban Lorax and The Joy Project ensures City Sprouts centers around North End children, their culture, and healthy food while investing in their future.

In the first six months, Ayanna-Grace focused on preparation and building support for herself and her program. She established the necessary technical infrastructure such as securing a domain name, set up an online workspace. On the technical side, she secured her domain, set up a Google Workspace account, and began developing her website, which she plans to launch by the end of the first quarter.

From November to January, Ayanna-Grace leveraged her background in digital and grassroots organizing to create a six-month online campaign to promote City Sprouts. This campaign has three main objectives:

1. Build an interactive online community across relevant social media platforms and her website. Ayanna-Grace has spent the past three years documenting her journey in urban farming through social media and plans to apply the same approach to document her progress toward launching City Sprouts.
2. Attract potential funders, sponsors, and investors to support the program.
3. Generate buzz for City Sprouts that will inspire other urban farms and green spaces in Detroit to get involved, expanding the program in 2026 and beyond.

Ayanna-Grace’s impact is still in the early stages, as the project is season-specific and has yet to fully unfold. However, many foundational steps are being taken that will contribute to a generational impact. This includes both short-term benefits, such as free food and skill-building, and long-term benefits, such as green jobs and resources for understanding advocacy for sustainability. Additionally, a research project is underway, and the findings will be preserved in a community archive.

The research focuses on the history of edible plants and crops that have historically been part of the ecosystem of the land in Detroit. In early February, Ayanna-Grace had an appointment at the Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library to examine documents related to farming and agriculture. This will be one of many trips aimed at building a clearer picture of what the soil has historically ‘craved’ and what crops have been staples for those who occupied the land, dating as far back as the French colonial era (1701–1760).

One of the biggest challenges Ayanna-Grace faced was establishing initial connections and securing a school to launch City Sprouts. However, early outreach efforts to the school board in the City of Detroit proved to be a hurdle, which required some additional navigation and creative thinking While awaiting a response, she also began the process of becoming a program partner with the Detroit Public School System—a necessary step for anyone looking to do continuous events with students in schools. By mid-October, Ayanna-Grace had not heard back from her initial outreach efforts. Thankfully, she began meeting with Joanna from 8 80 Cities for extra support and transparency about her challenges. This allowed Ayanna-Grace to have someone to bounce ideas off and discuss possibilities in the meantime. Ayanna-Grace is currently looking into other avenues of mentorship within the KECC community.

As summer turned to fall and then winter, Ayanna-Grace continued to struggle with finding a space for City Sprouts. What initially seemed like a clear vision of finding a school to host the program, soon became a journey filled with anxiety and doubt about whether the program would ever come to life. Ayanna-Grace took a step back to reflect on the core elements of City Sprouts. She realized that teaching kids farming skills to “plant seeds” for green futures did not require a school. There are other ways to creatively connect environmental and climate justice to the food system and provide families with free food for a few months each year. With this realization, she let go of the need to secure a school and the expectation of including kids from every age group within the broad 5–18 range. She also acknowledged that City Sprouts’ first year did not need to mirror the long-term vision perfectly.

“Instead, I reframed my mindset, seeing it as a pilot program that functions as a valuable learning experience not only for the kids, but for herself as a leader and urban farmer”.

With this new perspective, Ayanna-Grace began looking for individuals and organizations in the North End who are already doing work around food production and community outreach.

The next six months will focus on rolling out City Sprouts with intention.

From February to April, the focus will be on discovery, curriculum development, and program operations. During this time, TJP and TUL will meet bi-weekly to ensure alignment on how, why, and what of project offerings. Ayanna-Grace will be utilizing her own seeds, as well as seeds from the TJP archive, to grow transplants and finalize her crop plan. For the discovery phase, Ayanna-Grace will incorporate strategic questioning, online polling, and surveys to gauge the wants and needs of the community. Additionally, she will be tabling at events in the upcoming months to qualify participants in other areas, thereby diversifying the reach and input for future programming.

From the end of April to May, the focus will shift to getting transplants and seeds into the ground, alongside digital learning. Pre-recorded Zoom classes will provide an overview of the skills needed for in-person meetings held on Saturdays. This will allow participants to watch and rewatch the lessons at their convenience. Saturdays will be dedicated to in-person meetings, where participants will get their hands dirty in the soil and apply the skills learned online. With the transition out of the school year and into summer break, in-person meetings will increase from once a week to three or four times per week. The hours will vary between 1 to 4 hours per session. During this time, participants will learn and practice skills such as watering, harvesting, weeding, and pest control.

About Ayanna-Grace King

Ayanna-Grace is an urban farmer, community organizer, and justice advocate based in Detroit, MI. Originally from New York City, she moved to the Midwest in 2022 to deepen her work in urban farming and environmental & climate justice—skills she now uses to structure and execute her business and vision, The Urban Lorax. In addition to her lived experiences in these fields, Ayanna-Grace actively seeks out other avenues of knowledge to help transform her professional experiences and passions into community-driven efforts for sustainability. Already certified in areas such as grassroots storytelling, digital organizing, and zero waste, she is currently working toward a certification in Black Liberation & Just Transition.

A strong advocate for work-life balance, Ayanna-Grace enjoys traveling, writing poetry, and dancing at least twice a day. When she is not indulging in her own hobbies, she loves spending time with her partner of six years, their two dogs—Mikey and Moon—and friends.

Social Media Handles & Tags

Follow The Joy Project on Instagram @joy_theproject and their website.

To follow City Sprouts and other happenings with The Urban Lorax, follow @theurbanlorax on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and @Ayannagrace on LinkedIn.

#CitySprouts313 #TUL #TheUrbanLorax #growfreefood #Localfoodsystem