Sacred Earth Community Garden

Sacred Earth Community Garden is more than a garden—it is a place where young people work, learn, grow, heal, lead, and belong.

Based in Louisville, Kentucky, Sacred Earth is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit creating paid workforce-development opportunities for young people through our Youth Urban Gardeners (YUG) program. What began in 2022 with approximately 15 youth has grown into a community-centered program serving approximately 35 young people through urban agriculture, food access, entrepreneurship, wellness, leadership development, and community engagement.

Our YUGs don't simply learn how to grow food. They earn wages while developing responsibility, teamwork, customer service, leadership, entrepreneurship, and practical workforce skills. Through gardening, Tai Chi, yoga, meditation, physical activity, YUG Talk, and emerging youth leadership through Sacred Earth Youth Council (SEYC/SEEK), we support the whole young person.

Sacred Earth also works to increase access to fresh, locally grown, pesticide-free produce through our community garden, Farmers Market activities, high tunnel, and developing Sacred Earth Fresh Farm Stand.

Most importantly, Sacred Earth has become a place young people choose to return to—even when they are not working. They come to sit, talk, decompress, play in the soil, and spend time in a space they know belongs to them.

The job may introduce them to Sacred Earth. The relationships keep them connected.

Plant a Seed. Grow a Future.

Growing Youth. Growing Food. Growing Community.