We recently met with Amy Klein, CEO of Capital Roots.

Watch the video here:

Capital Roots started in 1975 as a community service project of Garden Way, the former manufacturer of Troy-Bilt Lawn and Garden Equipment.

Their vision for the future is of a Capital Region where every person has access to fresh, affordable, healthy food.

Today Capital Roots works to reduce the impact of poor nutrition on public health in New York’s Capital Region by organizing community gardens, providing healthy food access, offering nutritional and horticultural education for all ages and coordinating urban greening programs in Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and southern Saratoga Counties.

Amy explains that the organization really tries to bring healthy food to people who don’t have access to it and they really support local farmers, as about 55% of the food is locally produced.  She says, “The Veggie Mobile serves about 60,000 people per year, and produce is about half the cost of what you can buy it for in the supermarket.” In addition she says, “Capital Roots as a whole will serve about 300,000 people in 2019.”

One of the agency’s programs is the Urban Grow Center, which is a regional food hub where the power of local agriculture is being channeled for the social, economic, and physical benefits of the entire Capital Region.

Through increased and improved produce storage and distribution capacity, the Urban Grow Center enables Capital Roots to supply more people with more food from local farms, improving access to nutritious food in urban areas while helping regional farmers cost-effectively reach new markets. The facility also includes a produce stand which serves a neighborhood without access to fresh food.

Other programs that Capital Roots offers include: Produce Project, Taste Good Series, Farm to School, and Squash Hunger.

Amy says, “There are so many ways to get involved with Capital Roots, whether it be volunteering on the Veggie Mobile, or at the Urban Grow Center, getting involved with our expansion project…We are really the kind of organization that you can really dig in with, and we look forward to have you part of our family.”

For more information on Capital Roots, visit here.