VINES will soon be expanding their youth employment program after getting $100,000 from the City of Binghamton's youth fund established in 2022 with ARPA funds. 

Today's funding announcement will help VINES hire more young adults and teens in their Grow Binghamton program, which provides employment experience during the summer at their Urban Farm. 

Executive Director Amelia LoDolce says they plan to add two youth program assistant positions to support their farm manager in growing operations. They also plan to make their administrative coordinator full time. 

"The number of grow Binghamton positions that we're able to provide at this point really is limited just by our administrative and supervisory capacity," LoDolce explained. "By investing ARPA dollars into these positions, we're going to help address those limitations and pave the way for more youth employment opportunities in the future."

She added they're exploring ways to expand the program further to serve more youth given the need in the community. 

Grow Binghamton has employed over 130 young people since 2010 and the Urban Farm has helped provide produce to more than 250 households each year.