Farmhouse in the city

One New Humanity is buying a house. It was an idea that came two years ago working out at Sylhet Farm that has not gone away. We mentioned it in our annual update and shared it with friends. The timing was bad two years ago, but the opportunity resurfaced at the end of 2021. We call it the farmhouse project because it is a small house adjacent to Sylhet Farm. The backyard of the home is the farm. We will be using it to run our water, electrical, internet, and all sorts of things needed to continue growing the community gardening efforts in the Banglatown neighborhood. Sylhet Farm is a partnership between One New Humanity and another non-profit called the Hope Center. The house comes with two side lots and a third we can acquire through the Detroit Landbank.

We will create future projects using these side lots as resources come available. We will be using the house immediately to store inventory to run Joy Thrift pop-up extensions to people in the neighborhood. Even though Joy Thrift is less than a mile down the same main street of Joseph Campau, it is still inaccessible to some with no transportation and other mobility issues. We will create a place to wash and store vegetables, allowing greater food access to people who need it.

It was a little overwhelming, but our board decided to step out and take on the challenge. We agreed to a 60k asking price, and we had 15k available. We needed to fundraise 45k to purchase. Considering we just did a crowdfunded campaign a year ago to start Joy Thrift, we were unsure of the response. We are ecstatic, but we met our goal thanks to three donors. We will be closing in the next two weeks. We still need to fundraise around 20k in materials for significant renovations, but the timeline is more flexible. We have secured funds to pay a contractor to help us oversee the work.

If you want to contribute towards the renovation materials, you can use this giving link.