Spotlight On an Urban Farm Helping Refugees and Immigrants Build Community
San Diego’s MAKE Farm is the launch pad to a fresh start for dozens of women each year.
By Sheila Pell
Modern Farmer
March 5, 2025
Excerpt:
According to the American Immigration Council, women slightly outnumber men at over 23 million female immigrants in the U.S. But while immigrants move by choice, refugees have been forced to flee their homes due to violence, war, hunger and climate change. Some need items as basic as shoes. At MAKE, these women are offered not just support, but a launching pad to their new lives in the US.
MAKE Projects, which stands for Merging Agriculture Kitchens and Employment, is a spin-off of the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, and provides the women three months of paid worker training through a community garden, kitchen and 16-table café.
“While not all refugee and immigrant women have a strong connection to farm, everyone has a strong connection to foods that evoke memories, nostalgia or just an important sense of cultural identity,” says Anchi Mei, MAKE’s executive director and founder.
Source: https://cityfarmer.info/spotlight-on-an-urban-farm-helping-refugees-and-immigrants-build-community/
