Hilltop Urban Farm

Hilltop Urban Farm’s vision for farming and housing will produce food, grow food-related businesses, and foster community on a 23 acre former public housing site. evolveEA assisted HUF with their strategic plan to advance their goals and expand their effectiveness.

Hilltop Urban Farm is at a pivotal time in its history, with much successful impact upon which to grow and a rapidly changing landscape full of potential threats and opportunities. evolveEA worked with Hilltop Urban Farm to develop a Strategic Plan that identifies and prioritizes the organization’s core activities, partnerships, and opportunities while considering a number of scenarios impacting the HUF community.

Hilltop Urban Farm’s next phase will be defined by the growth of established programs and places, powered by stable ecological, human, and financial resources to enable a robust yield. We assessed programming, staffing & capacity, funding, infrastructure development, board governance, and land management & compliance to distill a guiding vision and principles with recommended actions as well as metrics to measure progress.

• The resulting plan establishes the following key actions:
• Expand programs to address community needs and capture economies of scale for staffing, site development, and fundraising.
• Set a 5 or 10 year horizon for programs and projects to allow for the extended establishment period.
• Hire key staff to enable leadership for strategic tasks. Structure board committees to assist with program expansion and property transition.
• Develop Hilltop Urban Farm’s Equity Vision and Principles to make explicit the organization’s values and guide the organization’s actions.

Excerpt from the Hilltop Urban Farm Strategic Plan