The Farm & Forest Climate Initiative (FFCI) aims to create local programs on agroecosystems and forests and their ability to address climate change. Healthy ecosystems store carbon, support biodiversity, climate resilience, and equitable well-being for human communities. FFCI collaborates with leaders and participants from diverse backgrounds. We believe that our Roots of Resilience project to reinvigorate a community garden supports our goal. At the core of this project is a part-time Lead Gardener & Coordinator; we hope that one applicant will be an African American woman who lives in Marlboro and led successful gardening efforts in 2021. We will also offer paid internships in the garden this summer for students in the Welcome to Campus program supporting young refugees from Middle Eastern and African nations as they prepare for college this fall.  FFCI helped conserve 200 acres of adjacent forest land in 2024; we hope to learn from Vermont’s Indigenous leaders to create a land acknowledgement. FFCI teaches a session for socioeconomically and racially diverse students from a California community college STEM program. FFCI’s big picture goal is to blend together nature-based climate solutions, local engagement and leadership, and our developing practices of environmental justice. Our desire to do this stems from a belief that climate change is a critical issue of our time and that successful climate change solutions must be environmentally just.