GrowingChange
- Program Representative Interviewed: Noran Sanford, Executive Director and Founder
- Location: Wagram, North Carolina
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Program Overview: GrowingChange is a
nonprofit organization addressing several complex SDOH in rural North Carolina by helping to
prevent juveniles from serving sentences in the criminal justice system. GrowingChange offers
at-risk youth the opportunity to fulfill community service hours working on a sustainable farm
where they learn job skills and work cooperatively with others. In addition, GrowingChange
provides informal case management, connecting youth to educational resources and support from
clinical social workers.
Through a coalition with the Department of Corrections, the State of North Carolina, and community members, GrowingChange took over a decommissioned prison and is in the process of turning the site into a sustainable farm. Through the farm, GrowingChange plans to provide valuable agricultural job training and education to youth. The program will also improve the surrounding environment by cleaning up a hazardous brownfield site and helping food insecure populations by improving the local food system.