By Oona Mackesey-Green
Northside News
In December Community GroundWorks (CGW) and Center for Resilient Cities (CRC) announced that they were merging to become Rooted, a new organization uniting their missions while continuing current programming.
Both groups engage youth and families in hands-on experiences through food and natural areas and have been at the forefront of urban agriculture work in Madison. Their programs are neighborhood-based: CGW at Troy Land & Gardens, and CRC at Badger Rock Neighborhood Center and Middle School.
CRC executive director Marcia Caton Campbell is now the executive director for Rooted. She emphasized that the initiatives both organizations are known for will continue. “The things that we do so well in our respective places, we’re hoping to cross-pollinate and bring that richness of the work across Madison.”
This year, Rooted will begin strategic planning for the future of the merged organizations. The planning follows a year of preparation for the merger that included a racial equity and inclusion process facilitated by trainers at the YWCA. Caton Campbell said their hope was that process “would enable us to plan for our future in a more intentional and more grounded way that reflected community interests and desires.”
As they begin their first year as Rooted, they are building their foundation on changes to address racial equity within the organization’s culture and practices. At the same time, they are continuing a shared history between CGW and CRC that dates back to the land trust created on Troy Drive nearly 20 years ago to keep the grounds in the hands of its neighbors.
“We have certain strengths that we can bring” to a community as a nonprofit, said Caton Campbell, “but our goal has always been to hold the work lightly. The community is in the driver’s seat. They are leading with their vision, and truth be told, we learned how to be that way from the work we did at Troy Gardens.”
Read more about Rooted and look back at over two decades of Community GroundWorks and Troy Gardens at northsidenews.org.