Owners of New Roots Cooperative Farm in Lewiston have been awarded two grants aimed at tackling systemic racism in Maine, bringing the farmers closer to their goal of owning the land they farm.
New Roots is a Somali Bantu-led cooperative farm that s been in operation since 2016, and sells produce both wholesale and retail to the Lewiston-Auburn community and in southern Maine. A $50,000 grant from the Elmina B. Sewall Foundation to the farm is part of the foundation’s emergency Twin Pandemic grant program, aimed at the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 and systemic racism have had on Maine’s communities, particularly Black, Indigenous and People of Color.