By 
Battle Creek, Mich. – After waiting patiently in the cold for the doors to open at Sprout BC, Duane Walters was among the first in line to fill his bag with food.
Walters was there for the nonprofit’s free food giveaway. Laid out on the table was a colorful blend of Michigan-grown produce, including fresh McIntosh apples, beets, fingerling potatoes, rainbow carrots and bags of pasta.
“My mom is on social security and I am on disability right now with some medical problems, so this pretty much helps us subsidize what we do with some good food,” Walters said. “I was told to come here by my (endocrinologist) who told me I needed something healthier than canned goods. It’s fresh food and you meet a lot of nice people here. And with the price of food nowadays, every little bit helps.”
The fresh food giveaways are just one way Sprout BC is working with the community to reshape the food system in the greater Battle Creek area. Headquartered in the city of Springfield – an enclave of Battle Creek – the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) grantee has adapted to meet the changing needs of the community while staying true to its mission and vision to increase ownership of the food system in a way in which everyone can thrive.
“Community formed this idea called Sprout,” said Jeremy Andrews, executive director for Sprout BC. “Everybody wants good, healthy, clean food. So, we got started.”
SPROUTING A MOVEMENT
It was January of 2010 when a grassroots effort took shape after Andrews and other community organizers hosted a meeting to discuss and plan action steps for improving the food system of Battle Creek. More than 100 community members attended the meeting, surpassing expectations.
“We don’t have any great ideas, but we think that together, we all have great ideas. We want to hear from you and what you have to say,” Andrews recalled. “What do you think are the most important things to you as a community? We will form a nonprofit and we will start seeking some grants.”
After receiving nearly 100 responses, organizers narrowed the list to six community goals: more community gardens; the creation of a backyard gardener network; more community education around food; greater involvement of youth in the food system; an increase in healthy food access; and a food cooperative.
Following that initial meeting, Sprout Urban Farms received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status and began leading the grassroots initiative by organizing workshops such as making rain barrels, cooking and canning fresh vegetables and planting fruit trees. An all-volunteer collection of loosely organized fresh-food enthusiasts would create 12 new community gardens in the first year alone, eventually bringing the total number in the city to 30.
Devon Gibson, the first employee hired by Sprout Urban Farms as its operations manager and a member of the WKKF Global Fellows Network, said the nonprofit recognized early the importance of listening and adapting to the community’s wants and needs.
“It was never, ‘Do it the Sprout way.’ It was, ‘Do it your way and we’ll support it,” said Gibson, who has since left the organization. “We didn’t want to have any type of control over (community gardens). What are we going to do to not stagnate where people get sick of Sprout and it goes away? What can we do to continuously evolve?”
In 2012, Sprout Urban Farms purchased a 2-acre plot of land on Kendall Street in Battle Creek’s Washington Heights neighborhood from the Calhoun County Land Bank Authority. It would till the land using draft horses and then build a hoophouse for season extension and training purposes.
With the Kendall Street location serving as its headquarters, interns and additional staff composed of young farmers were brought in to work the land, making it the first youth-run urban garden in Battle Creek. That incubator farm would be sold for $1 in 2020 to former Sprout intern Devon Wilson, a WKKF Community Leadership Network fellow, whose Sunlight Gardens continues to promote healthy food access to underserved populations.
The focus on connecting youth to their food continued through internships, workshops and partnerships with local school districts, child care centers and preschools. The food education programs not only served to promote interest in gardening and farming but emphasized the relationship between eating right and improved health outcomes.
Sprout Urban Farms eventually pivoted from building community gardens to launching the SproutBox food delivery service. As part of the transition, the organization rebranded as Sprout BC and moved its headquarters to the former Springfield Farmers Market.
“We had this farm and we were selling these products that we grew, but there was a demand for more, and so we started buying from other farmers that had helped us learn how to farm,” Andrews said. “So we started aggregating and distributing food from other farmers and became a food hub.”
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Sprout expanded the SproutBox food delivery service to serve more communities in need. Meanwhile, it began discussions for developing a community-owned cooperative grocery store.
“They have been extremely creative and willing to be flexible as the community’s needs have changed in order to accommodate the highest needs of the community,” said WKKF Program Officer Jamie Schriner. “Food delivery wasn’t really something that was on a lot of folk’s radar at that point. And then they very quickly pivoted during the pandemic and transformed that into something that ultimately became a lifeline to a huge number of people in the community. They’ve been a strong food-based partner and looked at starting initiatives from the ground up.”
NURTURING BUSINESS GROWTH
Since Sprout’s inception, Andrews says that the nonprofit doesn’t grow food, it grows relationships.
Operating under that mantra, Sprout has helped foster a supportive ecosystem for small businesses in Battle Creek through sponsorship of food-based events such as Food Prize, a pitch competition where 12 regional food entrepreneurs compete for part of a $40,000 prize pool.
Sprout explored new avenues to help the community prosper beyond its support for community gardens, education initiatives and serving as a regional food hub when it opened its incubator kitchen to assist food-based entrepreneurs of color, offering training and technical assistance.
Benjamin and Denise Young had been running a cottage food business from their home while juggling the demands of parenthood and full-time jobs. The married couple began using Sprout’s licensed kitchen to launch their catering business, Mitts 2 Pits.
“It allowed us the space and the opportunity to test things,” Denise Young said. “With them being able to get locally grown farm food, we’ve been able to get produce from them to help our business. And the produce we use is sometimes what you don’t see in the grocery store in bulk. And it’s an additional resource with them participating in the different festivals around town because we didn’t know how to get into the events, and it’s helped get our name out there and the different resources available in the community.”
After spending two years in Sprout’s incubator kitchen growing their customer base and perfecting their business plan, the Youngs will soon officially open Mitts 2 Pits at 78 Calhoun St. in Battle Creek. Benjamin Young said that using the incubator kitchen empowered them to continue serving customers as they transitioned to the new building, and he was grateful for the community support in helping them realize their dream.
“Being at Sprout, you can start off small and don’t have a big overhead and see if your idea can work and if it has legs,” he said. “It gave us the confidence that we could go out and get a brick and mortar. All these different steps throughout the years, them helping us and us working hard to get our name out, one thing led to another as we consistently worked.”
INNOVATING FRESH FOOD ACCESS
The SproutBox delivery service ended in 2023 as Sprout refocused its energy on supporting entrepreneurs and developing a cooperative market and deli.
The organization has remained committed to improving access to regional produce through its fresh food giveaways, partnering with Bronson Battle Creek Hospital for “Nutrition and Wellness Popups.” Held on every first and third Thursday of the month, community members can receive free local produce, get their blood pressure and blood sugar checked and can speak with health educators about nutrition and eating well. Any food not distributed during the giveaways is donated to local food pantries.
Fresh food access continues to be a barrier for some in the Battle Creek area, especially those living in and around downtown after the central business district’s lone grocery store relocated to a different part of the city in 2021.
In filling that void, Sprout has followed through in its effort to develop a community-owned food cooperative by partnering with Restore 269 to redevelop a long-vacant downtown building into Uproot Market and Eatery.
Food cooperatives are essentially owned by the people who shop at them. Decisions regarding the production and distribution of food are made by members, who typically pay an annual fee for a share in the company.
The cooperative grocery store and deli began as a project of Sprout BC, and is now a fully autonomous legal entity, with Sprout BC subleasing the space and equipment to Uproot Market & Eatery. It is expected to open in the spring of 2025.
Andrews said the opening of Uproot Market & Eatery represents the realization of the “last dream from our community” from the 2010 meeting where Sprout was birthed.
“Building this co-op is a natural evolution of our work,” Andrews said. “By evolving into a food hub, we dipped our toes into those waters successfully, building a sense of community around food.”
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