Description of the Urban Homestead Project:

For years, Showing Up for Racial Justice New Jersey (SURJ-NJ) has helped to support a network of grassroots, community gardens and farms throughout New Jersey (and neighboring states) organized by a collective network of Black and Indigenous organizers. The fresh food produced by this farming has gone to ecologically provide organizers and their constituents sustainably grown, healthy food. Organizers have also provided fresh produce to local homeless outreach and food justice efforts throughout the area, to give the people most impacted by food insecurity, fresh, quality nutrients.

UHP is a project that aims to establish sites for outdoor, as well as indoor gardens, that will enable year-round, sustainable growing. The vision for these spaces is for it to provide a wide variety of green and healthy food to the organizing network and its constituents, as well as a space for healing, education, and community-building events. UHP is intended to become a model for other communities that want to grow fresh food in urban settings.

Last year, this network expanded to include an urban location as the first full Urban Homestead Project (UHP) space, and with the help of supporters we were able to kick off our outdoor growing this past spring and summer at this location and a number of satellite locations, and has already began being able to supplement community food distributions with fresh healthy produce from this Fall’s harvest.

To continue making this vision a reality there is a lot of expensive work that needs to be done. Over the last year, with your support and that of the community, we obtained funds to support the establishment of UHP, including start-up costs for the space and security for the property!

Now, we are asking you to support us to grow UHP to its full potential! After a successful outdoor growing season we are looking to continue our food production into the fall and winter by continuing to acquire and set up eco-friendly indoor lighting systems and the infrastructure for aquaponics systems; planting seeds and seedlings in indoor trellises, and further preparing and establishing the homestead as a welcoming, community space. On top of that we are looking to go into this season with the capacity of expanding and improving our outdoor growing efforts.

On top of expanding the produce production and length of growing period, UHP is looking forward to adding beekeeping to the project. Introducing bees to the UHP gardens will help the gardens flourish as honeybees are perhaps the best pollinators; pollinating over 80% of crop species. In addition to being excellent pollinators the bees will provide UHP with honey that the project will distribute, in addition to fruits and vegetables, to the communities it supports. Honey is known to have a wide variety of positive health effects including being rich in nutrients and antioxidants, promoting heart health, having various mental health benefits such as having anti-anxiety and antidepressant effects, and more.

In order to reach these goals, SURJ-NJ is collecting funds to purchase equipment, including: soil, seeds and seedlings, vertical wall planters, garden climbing lattices, grow boxes, raised beds, grow bags, tiered gardens, planter boxes, and other garden equipment, as well as covering transportation costs for moving both people and equipment to, from and between all the garden locations.

How You Can Help:

1. Make a one-time or monthly donation here on Fundrazr. Please consider making your donation monthly to support the ongoing costs of this project (click "Yes, I'll contribute monthly" during payment).

2. Buy an item off of our Amazon UHP Wishlist.

3. Make a financial contribution directly at @SURJ-NJ (Venmo) or surj-nj@protonmail.com (PayPal, use "friends & family option") and mark "UHP One-time" or "UHP Monthly."

4. Share this Fundrazr with your friends, family, anti-racist groups, garden collectives, and anyone that believes in food justice

All donations raised here will go directly to the project costs for UHP. Help us grow this critical, grassroots, community project led by Black and Indigenous organizers! Please consider making your donation monthly to support the ongoing costs of this project (click "Yes, I'll contribute monthly" during payment). You can also buy an item from the  UHP Wishlist   or make financial contributions directly at @SURJ-NJ (Venmo) or  surj-nj@protonmail.com (PayPal, use "friends & family option") and mark "UHP One-time" or "UHP Monthly."

In addition to donating funds, you can also support the project by growing food in your backyard or patio for UHP. Organizers from the project are looking to help set up and establish home gardens throughout the state, where a portion of the food grown can go to the constituents of the UHP network. Please contact us at

surj-nj@protonmail.com with questions or inquiries.