Mahindra Automotive North America (MANA) has awarded $127,000 in funding and equipment from its Urban Agriculture Grant Program to eight southeast Michigan nonprofits in Detroit.

This year’s recipients and the programs the grants will support, including five that received Mahindra funding previously, are:

• American Indian Health and Family Services, Inc. ($10,000): To create the Sacred Roots garden at Romanowski Park in SW Detroit, where individuals may cultivate crops indigenous to their native cultures.
• Boggs Education Center ($10,000): To rejuvenate the urban gardens surrounding Boggs School and create a mobile food stand to take fresh produce to area residents.
• Eastern Market Corporation ($25,500): To purchase two Mahindra Retriever utility vehicles to support operations, including the weekly farmers’ markets that showcase locally grown produce.
• Full Circle Foundation ($8,784): To fund a summer intern employment program for special needs teens and young adults (2015, 2016 & 2017 grant recipient)
• The Greening of Detroit ($20,000): to support food production and operations at Lafayette Greens. (2015, 2016 & 2017 grant recipient)
• Keep Growing Detroit ($20,000): To assist in the relocation of the group’s garden and other programs to a new site. (2015, 2016 & 2017 grant recipient)
• Micah 6 Community ($8,144 ): To convert nine vacant lots into a fruit orchard and public garden spaces. (2017 grant recipient)
• Pingree Farms ($25,000): To install the Mahindra Agriscience Learning Center to support educational programs. (2017 grant recipient)

“It’s an honor to be affiliated with each of our urban agriculture grant recipients,” says Richard Haas, MANA’s president and CEO. “Their services are truly making a difference, and we couldn’t be prouder of the impact the company’s support is having on increasing accessibility to fresh, nutritious produce at affordable prices to residents throughout the city of Detroit and in Pontiac.”

Since the program’s inception in 2015, Mahindra has donated more than $425,000 in cash and farm equipment to 13 non-profits in support of sustainable farming and gardening in Detroit and Pontiac.

More than a million pounds of fresh food have been grown and distributed to Detroit residents through the efforts of the groups that received Mahindra grants or equipment over the past three years. Other uses of Mahindra’s grant funding have included installation of software that enables purchasers to use state-issued EBT cards and development of a prototype irrigation system for small gardeners.

Mahindra’s RISE mission  is to work for the betterment of the communities in which it operates.

“Mahindra is committed to empowering and celebrating the communities in which we operate,” says Anand Mahindra, chairman of the Mahindra Group. “There are few better examples of our RISE philosophy in action than the work Mahindra Automotive North America is doing in Detroit. MANA’s pioneering Urban Agriculture Grant Program continues to empower Detroit residents by giving them access to fresh, sustainable produce and inspiring work opportunities for the underserved.”

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