Little Growers describes climate‑resilient food projects, asks city to partner on lagoon and park work

Camille Hadley, co‑founder and executive director of Little Growers Inc., told the City of Melbourne council that her nonprofit has expanded from a front‑yard gardening project into a set of climate resilience and food security programs that the group hopes the city will support.

Hadley described projects funded by federally supported grants and private foundations, and she outlined specific local activities that Little Growers is carrying out. “We began to teach through a series of workshops that we called Make a Green Noise,” Hadley said, describing an environmental and climate‑justice workshop series that she said reached about 150 residents per event and has had six sessions so far. “We are getting lots of weather information … and the residents are the ones that are collecting and reporting on that data,” she said, referring to 11 weather stations the group installed in South Melbourne and nearby neighborhoods.

The nonprofit is working with Florida Institute of Technology (FIT), the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council and other partners on brownfields assessments, food entrepreneurship, and climate data projects. Hadley said the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council recently received $1,500,000 in EPA funds that the council is leveraging to design a food‑entrepreneurship and climate‑resilience plan Little Growers is using in the community. She also said Little Growers runs a Department of Energy grant, which she said totals $1,500,000 and is funding climate data analysis.

Hadley described ongoing and planned local projects: a native prairie planting at Stone Middle School that Little Growers and FIT plan to begin installing on Aug. 6 (planting window she provided: 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.), an “earn and learn” summer program that paid its 13 participants between $500 and $1,200 dependent on role, and an integrated multi‑trophic aquaculture system funded by a priority communities grant from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary program that will allocate 10% of production to lagoon restoration. She said Little Growers recently received a National Coastal Resilience Fund award from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and will issue subawards to six community‑based organizations in Melbourne, two in Cocoa and three national partners.

Hadley requested city partnership on local restoration and resilience work, specifically mentioning Roberts Park and a Brothers Avenue/Crane Creek restoration project for which Little Growers said it will submit permitting materials. Vice Mayor Newman and other council members encouraged Hadley to submit a formal proposal and thanked the group for partnering with city personnel at past events.

No formal council action or vote was recorded during the presentation. Hadley fielded questions from council members about other community gardens, Roberts Park’s location and past collaborations with neighborhood groups; she said Little Growers generally starts projects, provides training and transitions operations to local residents and partner organizations.

Hadley also noted the group’s brownfields, weather‑station and community design work is intended to produce local projects and to reduce residents’ need to rely solely on government action for remediation and resilience.

Little Growers provided contact and volunteering details for the Stone Middle School planting and said its recurring “Make a Green Noise” workshops take place the fourth Saturday in May and the fourth Saturday in October. Hadley asked the council to consider partnering on permitting and site support for the Brothers Avenue restoration project.