2024 COMMUNITY IMPACT REPORT

Table of ContentS

Grow
Cook
Share
Community Engagement
Systems Change
Financials and Supporters

LETTER FROM THE CEO

Dear friends,

As I reflect on this past year, I am filled with immense gratitude for the vibrant community that  sustains and propels the work of The Nashville Food Project. Together, we have overcome challenges, celebrated milestones, and made meaningful strides toward nourishing our neighbors  and cultivating community through food. 

In 2024, our shared commitment to community food security translated into impactful numbers:  hundreds of thousands of nourishing meals prepared and shared, tons of fresh produce grown and distributed, and countless moments of connection fostered across tables, gardens, and kitchen spaces. But beyond the statistics, the true measure of our work lies in the stories of  resilience, collaboration, and hope that emerge from every corner of our community. 

This year, we deepened our partnerships with local organizations, amplifying the reach and  impact of our collective efforts. By working together, we have expanded access to healthy food, supported local growers, and empowered individuals through education and shared resources. These partnerships remind us that we are stronger together, and they inspire us to dream bigger about what we can achieve. 

None of this would be possible without you — our volunteers, donors, partners, and advocates. Your unwavering support sustains our work and reminds us that a community nourished in body  and spirit is a community capable of transformative change. As we look ahead to 2025, we do so with renewed energy and a steadfast belief in the power of food to bring people together  and build a more just and equitable world. 

Thank you for being an integral part of this journey. Together, we will continue to plant seeds  of hope, nurture connections, and harvest the fruits of a more connected and compassionate Nashville.

With gratitude,
C.J. Sentell

Gardens are the place where food begins. From seeding all the way to harvest, growing our own food connects us more deeply to the land, our food system, and each other. Our gardens are thriving ecosystems of plants and people where community members gather to grow the foods they want and need.

2024 Big Wins for Community Gardens

• The focus at Mill Ridge and McGruder is expanding land access for community gardeners. 

• Almost 10,000 sq/ft of space was added and plots will be allocated to the waitlist for 2025.  

• We were also able to connect a production farmer to land at Mill Ridge.  

• We plan to expand affordable land access to production gardeners and farmers next year.  

• At McGruder we added 12 raised beds as part of an ADA compliant expansion by MNPS.

Growing Together

Growing Together is an urban farm where Burmese and Bhutanese farmers, who came to Nashville as immigrants and refugees, transform land into opportunity. In 2024, seven farm families grew fresh, culturally significant produce, selling to restaurants, food access partners, and Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) customers — earning income and building community connections.

2024 Big Wins for Growing Together

• Increased CSA sales by 66.8%.

• Increased wholesale sales by 48%.

• New $7,744 in CSA subsidies from Vanderbilt University Medical Center Growing Good  Health partnership.

• 30 interpreted farmer support sessions held  (education workshops, skills development,  process improvement, resource distribution  sessions, apprentice trainings).
  

What We Accomplished Together

Cooking brings us together to nourish one another. Recipes tell stories that connect us to places and people, and by sharing dishes, we share ourselves. Our kitchens use recovered, donated, and garden-grown food to prepare and cook made-from-scratch meals that nourish our community and create new stories around the table.

Community Meals

In our kitchens, recovered and donated foods become nourishing meals, crafted with care and fresh ingredients. With help from our dedicated volunteers, we prepare dishes like  pastas, casseroles, and salads. These meals are then shared through more than 45 poverty disrupting, community-building organizations  across Nashville, ensuring good food reaches  those who need it most as part of a broader  effort to address systemic challenges.  

2024 Big Wins for Community Meals

Food connects us, nourishes us, and strengthens our community. In North Nashville, where access to fresh food is limited, The Nashville Food Project plays a vital role in the Heart of Nashville program to improve health outcomes. Through nutritious, heart-healthy meals and education, we’re addressing issues like uncontrolled hypertension while  supporting wraparound care in partnership with NashvilleHealth and Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center. 

What We Accomplished Together

We share food with partner organizations across the city to support their vibrant work. Whether a youth program providing an afterschool meal or a refugee support group offering veggies to newcomer families, we believe food is most powerful in community.

Food Access

As food access disparities continue to grow, our work is more critical than ever. In our community, we share nourishing meals in partnership with local poverty-disrupting nonprofits and community groups. Our goal is long-term  community food security where everyone in Nashville has access to nutritious food.

2024 Big Wins for Food Access

Our ProduceRX pilot program succeeded, proving a need to expand our Food as Medicine program. Along with the Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, ProduceRX uses fresh produce, scratch-made meals,  and culinary education to combat chronic health disparities. The center already identifies food insecure patients through regular screenings and gives them supplemental, non-perishable items. TNFP supplements this with heart-healthy  prepared meals and organic produce,  including an innovative line of culturally  appropriate meals branded as “heart-healthy soul food.” 

Nourish fundraiser

This year, Nourish achieved record success, raising over $260,000! This was made possible  by our sponsors, chefs, donors, and everyone who made this unforgettable night a reality.  

This one-of-a-kind dining experience featured a collaborative dinner from Julio Hernandez of Maiz De La Vida, Leina Horii and Brian Lea of Kisser, Tiffany Ortiz and Andy Doubrava of The Catbird Seat, Vivek Surti of Tailor Nashville, Levon and Kim Wallace of FatBelly Pretzel, and Colby Rasavong of Bad Idea. It was a true honor for us to share a connection over a beautiful meal with so many friends, volunteers, community members, and supporters.

volunteers

Volunteers are the heart of The Nashville Food Project. From tending gardens and caring for bees to baking bread, chopping fresh produce, and packaging meals, our volunteers are integral to everything we do. Their time, skills, and passion help us cultivate not only food, but a more just and sustainable food system for Nashville — one that nourishes our entire community.

Why Food Systems Change?

Nashville residents face all kinds of inequities: limited access to healthy, affordable food; persistent health disparities; the loss of agricultural land; food waste; and environmental degradation. All of these challenges are interrelated, caused by a food system that doesn’t work for farmers, grocers, restaurants, or eaters — which, of course, is all of us.

A systems change approach leverages community engagement and cross-sector collaboration to address these challenges. By integrating this approach to our work, we’ll better understand why food-related challenges persist, and how we can work together to create a food system that actually works for everyone in our city.

Over the next few years, you will see this approach informing our work. From convening key food system stakeholders to hosting neighborhood meetings, we are counting on your engagement to create lasting change in our city.

Together, we can achieve our vision of vibrant community food security, where everyone in Nashville has access to the food they want and need through a just and sustainable food system.

2024 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

THANK YOU TO OUR 2024 SUPPORTERS!

$1 Million

Yield Giving

$100,000+

Dettwiller Foundation 

USDA—National Institute of Food and Agriculture

Whole Foods Foundation

$50,000+

Boedecker Foundation 

The Healing Trust 

The Memorial Foundation

Christy & Michael Moberly

West End Home Foundation

$25,000-$49,999

Anonymous

Andrea Waitt Carlton

Family Foundation

David Belvedere & Olivia Burcel Enterprise Holdings

Fifth Generation, Inc. (Tito’s Handmade Vodka)

The Giving Grove

HCA Foundation

Jackson National Life

Melinda & Jeff Balser

Messer Construction

Nissan North America, Inc

TN Department of Agriculture: Division of Forestry

$10,000 TO $24,999

 Download a PDF copy of the 2024 Community Impact Report for The Nashville Food Project