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Small farmers and early-stage food entrepreneurs face numerous challenges as they work to build sustainable businesses and create or strengthen local food systems. At the earliest stages, these businesses may be perceived as too risky for traditional financing or may lack the capacity and network relationships needed to obtain sustainable funding. Small financial boosts, such […]

For many years, the Rose Garden at MSU Tollgate Farm was one of the oldest and most beloved gardens on the property. The garden produced rose blooms for decades and was a favorite of visitors and volunteers. Kate Harper, long-time Americana Board Member and granddaughter to Adolph and Ginger Meyer, said that the garden always

The Board of Trustees of the Americana Foundation welcomed three new members at its recent meeting in August: Denene De Quintal, Liz Kirkwood, and Kathryn Underwood. All three bring substantive expertise and a deep commitment to Americana’s program work and will help to guide the Foundation’s strategy in the coming years. Americana’s Board looks forward

Citizens for a Safe & Clean Lake Superior (CSCLS) is a grassroots organization that was formed in 2020 to engage the citizens of the central Upper Peninsula to protect and improve the coastal habitat, shoreline, and fresh water of Lake Superior. CSCLS uses investigation and research, public education and outreach, community engagement, and legal advocacy to

In May 2024, the Americana Foundation honored two long-time colleagues upon their retirement from the Board of Trustees. Gary Rentrop, a resident of Cross Village, MI, retired in December 2023 after serving on Americana’s Board of Trustees for nearly 44 years. Gary, an attorney in the partnership of Rentrop & Morrison, was a close advisor

We are in an era marked by a significant decline in civic engagement, especially among young people. A 2022 study from the American Historical Association found that knowing history is correlated to higher levels of civic engagement, but according to the Institute for Citizens and Scholars (formerly Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation), only 27% of young

A landmark exhibition co-organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art will focus on the work of Black potters in the 19th-century American South. The exhibition presents approximately 60 ceramic objects from Old Edgefield District, South Carolina, a center of stoneware production in the decades before the Civil War,

A new web-based program is moving across the state to preserve Michigan farms and farming communities by shepherding land to the next generation of stewards. When you think of Michigan’s largest economic drivers, what comes to mind? Automotive has topped the list for decades, but agriculture is an important second. Michigan’s diverse food and ag

Since 2016, the Soo Locks Children’s Museum, a registered 501(c)(3) organization, has been working with community partners to create a museum to serve nearly 4,000 children in a rural three-county region in the Eastern Upper Peninsula. The area features tremendous natural resources but has a nearly 30% child poverty rate and few organized and affordable

Detroit has long been home to a vibrant urban farming community, and many Detroiters and neighborhood associations have created green spaces to make their neighborhoods more attractive, healthier, and more sustainable. Still, many of the vacant lots in Detroit remain overgrown and neglected. According to Detroit Future City, Detroit has 24 square miles of vacant