Who We Are
The West Middle School Garden during it's first season of production in 2010.
Our history & Mission
Community Mercantile Education Foundation (CMEF), a 501(c) (3), was established in 1999 for the purpose of extending the educational outreach being done by our sister organization, The Merc Co+op. CMEF’s mission is to nourish and inspire personal well being, strengthen community connections, and support sustainable, local food systems. We fulfill our mission by creating beautiful and productive gardens, developing youth leaders, and using food as a transformative path to health.
Growing Food Growing Health is a project of the Community Mercantile Education Foundation (CMEF) which is dedicated to improving the health of youth by creating school gardens that act as living classrooms, inspiring hands-on education, and connecting students to locally-grown fruits and vegetables. Now in it's ninth season, GFGH tends to over 14,000 square feet of gardens on school grounds at West Middle School, and helps support gardens at neighboring Hillcrest Elementary and Sunset Hill Elementary.
This year CMEF is broke ground on a new garden, Growing Food Growing Hope, at DCCCA First Step at Lake View, a residential drug treatment facility for women and their children.