Boulder nonprofit educational farm Dharma’s Garden is attempting to raise $100,000 after a promised federal grant was pulled earlier this year.
In February, Dharma’s Garden was picked for a $100,000 grant funded through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The money was intended to pay for an apprenticeship program for teens and young adults ages 14-30 to learn about regenerative agriculture.
Then in May, the EPA announced it was canceling the grant, organizers wrote on a GoFundMe post.
“For our tiny nonprofit, the consequences have been enormous,” they wrote. “This grant would have supported infrastructure improvements, educational resources, stipends for apprentices, guest expert educators in the field as well as a full-time staff position — all of which are critical for the success of our program. Just weeks before we were set to welcome our first cohort, we were left with no funding to make it happen.”
A website for the mountain region of the grant program reads, “On Friday, May 2, the MAP EJ Grants Hub received official notice of project termination from the EPA. As a result, the Hub is now formally closed.”
The grant program was part of the EPA’s $3 billion Environmental and Climate Justice Program, created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The grants were an early target of Trump’s; a lawsuit was filed last week by a coalition of nonprofits, Tribal leaders and local governments seeking to restore the funding.
Dharma’s Garden is attempting to pay for its planned apprenticeship program with private fundraising. The farm had already received applications when the funding announcement came in May, organizers wrote on GoFundMe.
“We believe integrity matters, and this program is too important to abandon,” they said. “If you value local farms, climate justice, environmental stewardship, community resilience, food equity, sustainable agriculture, and opportunity for our youth, help us to fund this program and transform this broken promise into a story of resilience, responsibility, and hope.”
As of Wednesday, the organization had raised $36,603 of its $100,000 goal, primarily from an anonymous $20,000 gift.