What Does Community Wealth Mean To You?

What Does Community Wealth Mean to You?

Community wealth is created by people coming together and sharing their strengths in order to advance and lift up the entire community. It is something that has happened over and over in this country in both rural and urban settings, at Black churches and inside Jewish synagogues. At the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA), an important part of our work is to grow community wealth among our farmers, their families, and the larger Hmong and mainstream communities, and that starts with first recognizing that we all have gifts to share.

For many of our farmers, it’s their knowledge of farming. One way that this is clearly manifested is through the HAFA sponsored Community Supported Agriculture (CSA). CSA shares offer the opportunity for farmers and customer to engage in community building, where customers can know who is growing their food and farmers can see who is eating their fresh produce. A CSA share also helps us all reconnect to the earth and the seasons and remind us that we need each other to survive and grow.

So, what does community wealthy mean to you? How else do you see it manifested? And do you think it’s still relevant in this country nowadays?