Greensgrow’s new community project fund is honoring its founder’s legacy

It was this past August when we learned of the sad news that Greensgrow Farms founder Mary Seton Corboy had passed away.

Corboy, alongside business partner Tom Sereduk, was the woman who started the Greensgrow model for innovative urban farming in the Kensington neighborhood in 1997. Now, a legacy project in honor of Corboy and the organization’s upcoming 20th anniversary has just been announced in the form of Mary’s Community Fund.

Created from financial support and donations made in Corboy’s memory, the fund is set to provide small grants to individuals or organizations in the Kensington, River Wards and West Philadelphia neighborhoods, where Greensgrow’s work is most established.

To qualify, projects must seek to “improve neighborhood public spaces, beautify the community and nurture a shared sense of neighborhood identity and community pride.”

Each applicant can request up to $1,000. Think you have a project in mind that lines up with Corboy’s values? Applications and budget worksheets are due by March 11.

“The idea of the fund is to continue Mary’s work, that is how we created the criteria — to fund the kinds of projects that would continue her vision,” wrote Bryn Ashburn, graphics and media coordinator at Greensgrow, in an email. “We believe that continuing to expand and run Greensgrow and all of our programs to the best of our ability is honoring Mary’s legacy.”

Those selected to receive the grant will be notified on March 18 and later announced at Greensgrow’s 20th anniversary opening event on March 25, where Greensgrow will also be unveiling a mural in Corboy’s honor, Ashburn said.