The Seeds of 2022

Dear Friends,

Pop-Up Day of Service in Honor of MLK, Jr. , Crofton, MD

This past year, 2022, was a year of euphoric highs and sobering realities regarding the energy it takes to build a local movement and infrastructure from the ground up … with barely any ground to stand on.

Whoo chile!

I granted myself grace on the getting out an “end of year” or “new year” letter. I was tired, y’all.

After weeks (okay, months) of a slower pace, I'm feeling more rested and recharged, especially after spending quality time nurturing long-time and brand-new connections that fill my cup (hopefully a mutual feeling)!

You are receiving this update because you have specifically and directly impacted the work of enBloom since this journey began on November 10, 2021.

Please read on to learn all that we’ve been able to accomplish so far together.

— Joi

Ciara at the Schools enBloom Georgetown East Elementary garden.

enBloom is a grassroots effort of business owners, parents, volunteers, start-ups, and change-makers with a shared vision for a holistically healthy and thriving community powered by climate-smart agriculture. Collectively, we address the opportunity gaps and disparities in generational wealth, educational achievement, and physical and mental health of our most vulnerable and historically disadvantaged residents by prioritizing their needs for community-based healing and care. enBloom’s programming and offerings are created by, for, and within the communities in which we live.

"If it is true that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, isn't it also true a society is only as healthy as its sickest citizen and only as wealthy as its most deprived?" - Maya Angelou

Our vision is for community members to have access, exposure, and training to the tools needed for a balanced and sustainable well-being. enBloom is the first of its kind in Anne Arundel County, MD.

In our first year, we have

Established a new, community-based resource in Anne Arundel County
Hosted nine events that served 98 community members in Anne Arundel County, Bowie, and DC
Held 21 board meetings
Had over 50 volunteers contribute significant time and talent to our growth
Logged 20,443 minutes of transcription notes in more than 160 networking and planning Zoom calls

will lead a Kwanzaa art activity! Children and adults learned the significance ears of corn through a Muhindi craft for Kwanzaa led by Alicia Robinson, experienced art educator and creator of ArtFrikka.

In the past six months, we have

Raised $30,605 in grant funds from three (3) organizations and six (6) individual contributors
Received $25,860 in pro-bono professional services from nine (9) subject matter experts
Commissioned our first educational support training for families that will be released in first quarter of this year
Applied to six (6) grants, three (3) of which we were awarded (and one (1) pending notification, send us grant-winning vibes!)
Regranted $3,200 to local non-profits and educators that will help grow local food, increase experiential educational offerings and create paid student internships
Tended to eight (8) 4x8 raised garden beds
Harvested 15 lbs of veggies and herbs
Relaunched one public school garden that will serve more than 300 Anne Arundel students

We are only getting started!

Funds Raised

Our proudest and most significant accomplishment to date has been to earn the trust and support of the local community! enBloom’s founding members are committed to leveraging our professional experience and networks to build accessible, equitable spaces and programming that will strengthen the community’s economic, environmental, social, physical, mental, and occupational health — starting with the most historically oppressed individuals in Anne Arundel County.

We are grateful for the hundreds of encouraging conversations over the past year with community members, parents, elected officials, healthcare and wellness professionals, and funders that share our enthusiasm and urgency to address generations-long social inequities.

enBloom Concept Campus. Rendering by EnviroCollab.

enBloom’s long-term vision is to steward land at the historic Crownsville Hospital that was purchased by the state of Maryland in 1910 as a hospital site for the “negro insane”. Since being turned over to Anne Arundel County in late 2022, plans have been announced for the 544-acre property to become “... a center for healing, a place where mental health and, really, all health is promoted and encouraged,” according to County Executive Steuart Pittman. The enBloom Collective could not envision a better home for our offerings to be shared with the community and honor the more than 1,700 black lives of patients whose remains were laid to rest on the campus.

To continue this work, in 2023 we need

Reliable building space for wellness offerings and programming in the Crofton/Gambrills area
Access to land in Anne Arundel County to grow food and educate residents
Program funding to expand reach to more individuals and further improve community health

Schools enBloom Georgetown East Elementary launch.

Over the next three months we will

Apply for more than $229K local, federal, and foundation grant support
Beautify and prep the garden at Georgetown East Elementary
Increase social media outreach across multiple channels with technical assistance from OurSpace

Help amplify our efforts

Sign up to hear about the next community volunteer day
Join the journey on Instagram. Help us reach our first 100 followers!
Write a brief letter of support for grant funding
Interested in joining the enBloom Collective? Email be@enbloom.life

Yours in Community. ÀṢẸ!*

— enBloom Founding Members

*àṣẹ is a philosophical concept defined by the Yorùbá of Nigeria to represent the power that makes things happen and produces change.

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