Capital Roots

Capital Roots started in 1975 as one community garden and has grown to 55 gardens, feeding over 4,000 families across Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady, and southern Saratoga counties and expanded to include a dozen food access and urban greening programs. We cultivate and nourish communities by creating equitable access to fresh food and green spaces in support of a robust regional food system.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.

Community GardensOur Community Gardens offer plots around the Capital Region to anyone interested in growing their own produce. Gardeners receive nutritional, recreational, social and physical benefits from tending plots. Volunteer groups help with garden projects including building sheds and raised garden beds.Good Food MarketThe Good Food Market is a unique shopping experience offering farm-fresh food and goods from New York businesses at affordable prices. We make local, fresh-picked produce affordable and accessible to all. Volunteers assist store clerks by tidying and restocking shelves, sorting produce, and bagging groceries. Veggie Mobile®Our Veggie Mobile® is a traveling market that brings fresh produce (often locally grown) to thousands of residents in urban neighborhoods without access to healthy food. Volunteers assist at Veggie Mobile® stops by running the Taste & Take table, offering people samples of a veggie-filled recipe of the week and a free bag of the ingredients to make the recipe at home.Squash HungerEvery week, Capital Roots’ Squash Hunger program delivers thousands of pounds of fresh, locally grown produce to food pantries, shelters, and community organizations across the Capital Region. Volunteers help prepare orders of bulk fruits and vegetables in our Food Hub, or pick up and deliver orders to food pantries and shelters.Produce ProjectThe Produce Project is a job readiness program that empowers high school students by teaching them sustainable farming, business skills, and healthy eating habits. In addition to learning life, job and entrepreneurial skills, each student earns school credit, a stipend and a share of the farm’s bounty to share with their families. Volunteers can help with farm tasks or teach students how to cook a recipe using fresh vegetables. Urban GreeningFor more than three decades, Capital Roots’ Urban Greening Program has transformed neighborhoods across the Capital Region by planting thousands of trees and creating vibrant public landscapes. Urban greening plantings do far more than beautify a block, they cool our cities by providing shade and reducing energy use, improve air quality and help manage stormwater, and create welcoming green spaces that encourage community connection. Volunteers help with tree planting events in the fall and spring. Healthy StreetsOur initiatives are creating communities with complete streets, designed to accommodate the transportation needs of all residents, regardless of their method of travel. By increasing opportunities for improved transportation, the Capital Region’s cities are becoming more accommodating, accessible and safer places to live and work.   Volunteer with Capital RootsVolunteers power the work of Capital Roots. Every year, hundreds of community members help us bring fresh, healthy food to families, seniors, and neighbors across the Capital Region. Whether you can give a few hours or want to volunteer regularly, there’s a place for you here. Together, we’re building a healthier, more equitable local food system — one garden, one meal, and one neighbor at a time.