Feature Garden of Hope
Feature Garden of Hope
Planting Seeds of Change
Empowering East Chattanooga Through Food and Faith
By Mara Watts
Poverty often passes from one generation to the next. Breaking that cycle takes more than a word of encouragement – it requires long-term investment, trust and a vision for something greater and stronger to create lasting change.
Hope for the Inner City( HFIC), based in Hamilton County, Tennessee, is working to meet the needs of impoverished and aging populations in East Chattanooga. Operating out of a nearly 19,000-square-foot facility on five acres, the nonprofit serves residents across 13 zip codes. The organization has served the area since the late 1970s and became HFIC in 2007, following the merger of two local ministries.
For Executive Director Anthony Watkins and Farm Coordinator Jordan Watkins, the father and son’ s mission is simple: to change lives through impactful programs and build a stronger community by learning, growing and working together.
Program Offerings
The programs provided by HFIC are designed to reduce poverty, empower people and foster community resilience in East Chattanooga.
Economic Empowerment
● Faith and Finance: Teaches individuals how to manage money and break cycles of poverty.
● Tech Goes Home: Provides digital skills training and offers Chromebooks at a significantly reduced cost.
● Work Life: Teaches individuals how to succeed in their professional journeys.
Health and Wellness
● Cooking Classes and Healthy Meal Planning: Offers instruction on how to prepare nutritious and affordable meals.
● Urban Garden: The cornerstone program that promotes sustainable, healthy living. Local residents can learn how to grow fresh food, gain practical gardening skills and use garden-grown ingredients in their home cooked meals.
● Food Distribution: Twice a week, the organization distributes healthy, balanced meals to local families in need. Supplemented with fresh produce grown in the Urban Garden, each bag includes recipe cards and food prepping tips.
● Vision and Dental Clinics
Community Engagement
● Summer Youth Camp: Educational and recreational opportunities for local youth.
● Urban Mission Team: Provides home repairs to ensure safe, stable housing.
Community Impact Starts With Food
According to Anthony, the Urban Garden plays a key role in how they reach and support underserved populations in East Chattanooga. He believes that, like many nonprofits, HFIC is uniquely positioned to bring the community together.
In 2024 alone, the HFIC Urban Garden grew and distributed nearly 360 pounds of fresh food – valued at just under $ 200,000.
“ If someone is hungry, they don’ t have much space to think about anything else,” Anthony explained.
“ Our garden creates a sense of security. They can see it and eat from it. Managing the food well allows for a relationship to grow deeper. People know they can come to us for food; they begin to trust us and then realize that we have other programs they can benefit from.”
About the Urban Garden
In 2023, Jordan began the Urban Garden with several raised wooden beds. The land had previously been used as a baseball field and was made up mostly of clay soil,
Hope for the Inner City’ s Annual Impact
• In 2024, volunteers spent more than 5,000 hours repairing and restoring 26 local homes.
• The Vision Clinic, held monthly, provides essential eye care to more than 500 East Chattanooga residents.
• The Urban Garden distributes more than 300 pounds of fresh, locally grown produce twice a week to more 2,000 community members.
• The Workforce Empowerment programs help more than 800 residents annually.
• Meals of Hope events, held twice a year, distributes more than 200,000 packaged meals to Hamilton County families.
making in-ground planting extremely difficult.
To overcome this challenge, raised beds were constructed from cinder blocks and filled with nutrientrich garden soil to grow truly organic produce. Starting from seed, Jordan plants and tends the garden with the help of volunteers, growing local favorites such as peppers, corn, okra, watermelon and tomatoes.
“ Over the last two years, I’ ve been talking with people, and okra is one of the things that they ask for the most,” Jordan shared.“ So, we definitely grow a lot of okra.”
Twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, HFIC strategically and thoughtfully packs and distributes 25 bags per day. Their goal is to provide participants with everything
18 AcreageLife September 2025 AcreageLife. com
AcreageLife. com September 2025 AcreageLife 19