Young City Growers

01/21/2026

Registration for tomorrow's in-person event is full! We are looking forward to seeing everyone! If you missed the in-person registration but are still interested in participating, there is still time to register to join us online!

01/19/2026

REGISTRATION CLOSES TODAY!

For community members/practitioners/students connected to the topic of youth mental health, don't miss your opportunity to register today for this week's presentation of Waterloo Region's first Black & Indigenous Youth Mental Health Practice Model!

REGISTRATION CLOSES TODAY!

We're looking for are looking forward to hosting community members at an open community meeting this Thursday evening to share Waterloo Region's first Black & Indigenous Youth Mental Health - Practice Model.

Register TODAY to ensure your spot! Dinner is included. See the flyer below for more details!

08/13/2025

Shout out to some of the YCG crew who made it out to the event last night!

07/24/2025

This summer, one of the local ACWI urban farmers and community leaders, George Kachambwa has been volunteering to support our youth in their land-based learning. This month at the Steckle Heritage Farm site in Kitchener, George supported our youth in developing their hand-tillage skills. Hand-tilling is practices in traditional African gardening and common among East, Central and Southern African farmers. George worked with the youth on some ridging. Ridging has been a part of ancestral African farming and is a practice that boosts crop yield, supports soil care and water retention. It also proved to be great exercise for our crew of young growers! All our youth are descended from generational African farmers and benefit from opportunities to reconnect with their heritage. Thank you George for sharing your knowledge.

07/16/2025

What a wonderful start to the week. On Monday evening, YCG youth that are part of the African Community Wellness Initiative Black Youth Wellness Circle had an awesome, fun, land-based work and learning session at our new Kitchener gardening site Steckle Heritage Farm. The young crew did a great job prepping the soil for some mid-season planting with support from ACWI staff and volunteers. Big thanks to our Indigenous-led land partner Wisahkotewinowak and Steckle Heritage Farm for welcoming us on site this year and supporting Black youth-led urban agriculture! And congratulations to our amazing youth for doing a great job!!

07/11/2025

A BIG WELCOME to the 2025 YCG new cohort of interns! What an amazing crew of young people who did a great job clearing some plots this week for mid-season summer planting at the Northdale Site. This years gardening sessions are part of the African Community Wellness Initiative's Black Youth Wellness Circle that provides youth the opportunity to connect to the land while learning about mental wellness. This past Monday the new crew had an awesome work session supported by YCG Land-Based Practitioner, Chantal Niyochuti. We look forward to our next session on Monday!

Thank you to our land partner Laurier Sustainability Office for extending the space to our youth.