ABOUT GROWGOOD
GrowGood is a nonprofit employment social enterprise (ESE) located in Los Angeles.
Working at the intersection of food equity, environmental sustainability, holistic wellness, and job readiness GrowGood uses urban agriculture to transform communities and change lives. Through unique collaborations with social service organizations, we operate urban agriculture projects that create supplemental programs that aren’t available through the core provider, yet are needed for long lasting and effective solutions. GrowGood has developed holistic programming purposefully designed to address the myriad of challenges that vulnerable populations face by assisting them along the path to stability and self-sufficiency.
GrowGood operates two urban regenerative farms:
The Bell Farm: A 1.5-acre regenerative farm located adjacent to The Salvation Army’s Bell Shelter, one of the largest homeless shelters in the US.
The VA Farm: Located within a 15-acre parcel of land at the VA Greater LA Healthcare System Campus.
THE PROJECT
In 2025, GrowGood established a partnership with the VA Greater LA Healthcare System to support the VA’s Whole Health Department with revitalizing and operating a 15-acre parcel of land on West LA VA’s Campus called The Veteran’s Garden that, until 2021, had been vacant for several decades.
The project brings together three core partners who each provide expertise in their respective areas of work: The VA Whole Health Program, UCLA Health, and GrowGood. Together, we are creating an impactful solution through urban agriculture that will address some of the most critical issues our Veterans are facing.
The Veteran’s Garden and Farm Project will build on the successful foundation of the currently operating Veteran’s Garden Program, which utilizes a small area of raised garden beds within the 15-acre parcel to offer Gardening for Whole Health classes for Veteran patients. The site will eventually be transformed into a flourishing urban farm that will feature an outdoor classroom, demonstration kitchen, greenhouse, orchard, regenerative farm, herb & scent garden, and Farmacy. Once completed, it will be the largest farm integrated within a health system in the United States.
Veterans in LA face high rates of food insecurity, suicide, homelessness, and unemployment, and through the Veteran’s Garden Project, we empower Veterans to improve their health, promote Veteran nutrition security and community-building, and support Veteran transitions to new employment, fostering a sense of purpose and belonging in their post-military lives.
GrowGood will establish a regenerative farm at the site – growing and distributing thousands of pounds of organic produce each year to the VA’s Food Hub for food-insecure Veterans. We will also be operating a job & skills training program for up to 30 Veterans each year that will provide operational support to the entire site. The training program provides Veterans with meaningful paid transitional employment, an opportunity to learn new & transferrable skills while gaining a comprehensive understanding of urban agriculture.
Funding is needed to support the job and skills training program, which is fully funded by GrowGood and through private donations (we currently do not receive any public funding for this program).
The cost for each trainee to go through the program is $10,000, which includes their wages & payroll costs, specialized urban agriculture & life skills trainings, program supervision.
The annual cost for 30 trainees to complete the program is $300,000.
