This week on Sustainability Now!, your host, Justin Mog, digs into youth empowerment through gardening with Velvet Welch, Executive Director of Sacred Earth Community Garden, at 41st & Market, whose motto is ”Growing Food. Growing Leaders. Growing Hope." (https://www.sacredearthcommunitygarden.com/) Velvet is a daughter of Shawnee. She moved to Shawnee when she was six years old. Her mother raised eleven children as a single parent, and Shawnee became the place that shaped her life. She attended Shawnee Elementary, Shawnee Junior High, and Shawnee High School. As a young girl, she even worked in the very building where Sacred Earth Community Garden now operates. Today, she has the privilege of giving back to the same community that invested in her. Velvet served over 20 years in the United States Army and retired as a Sergeant First Class. During her military career, she served in Administration, as an Inspector General, and in leadership positions that taught her organization, discipline, accountability, and how to care for people under pressure. Those experiences prepared her for the work she does today—leading youth, managing programs, solving problems, and building teams. Sacred Earth Community Garden was born during COVID in 2022. What started as an anti-violence initiative became something much bigger. Velvet realized young people don't simply need someone to tell them what not to do. They need: someone to believe in them, somewhere safe to belong, something meaningful to build, and someone willing to walk beside them. The garden became that place. The Mission is to use gardening as a tool to teach: A. Leadership, B. Responsibility, C. entrepreneurship, D. Food justice, E. Mental wellness, F. Conflict resolution, G. Environmental stewardship, and H. Community service. They’re not just growing vegetables. They’re growing healthy young people. Sacred Earth continues to grow because of incredible community support. Some of their partners and supporters include: Metro’s Office of Violence Prevention; Ursuline Sisters; Sisters of Loretto; Metro United Way; Kroger; Home Depot; West End Women Collaborative; Unity East; Locust Grove; Christopher 2X; Tech Boss; and countless family members, volunteers, neighbors, and individual donors. Every donation—large or small—helps change a young person's future. As always, our feature is followed by your community action calendar for the week, so get your calendars out and get ready to take action for sustainability NOW! Sustainability Now! is hosted by Dr. Justin Mog and airs on Forward Radio, 106.5fm, WFMP-LP Louisville, every Monday at 6pm and repeats Tuesdays at 12am and 10am. Find us at https://forwardradio.org The music in this podcast is courtesy of the local band Appalatin and is used by permission. Explore their delightful music at https://appalatin.com
