Homesteads for Hope offers farm life for all

At first glance, one might think Jennyrae Brongo helped build Homesteads for Hope because of her relationship to the construction industry. But that’s not quite true.

“My brother is my muse,” says the 29-year-old co-founder and CEO of the not-for-profit farm that serves a population seldom seen in agriculture. Brongo also runs the family business, Brongo Contracting & Supply.

Homesteads for Hope is a community farm that caters to young adults with all abilities as a sustainable and inclusive place to learn, work, live and grow, Brongo explained. The organization was founded in 2013 by Brongo and her mother, Luann Brown, who had struggled for decades to find supports and services for her son, Chucky, who has autism.

In 2013, Chucky was aging out of high school and the traditional supports for children on the autism spectrum. Brown and Brongo knew that he could thrive in a natural environment.

“It’s not just about a bed in a group home. It’s not about a seat in a day program. And it’s not about these horizontal learning experiences for workforce development,” Brongo said. “It’s about really growing. And that’s what the farm’s about. We don’t just grow tomatoes, we grow people.”

Homesteads is a 55-acre farm on Manitou Road on Rochester’s west side. Located on the scenic Erie Canal, the property features farmland, barns and an 1871 home facing the canal.

“We call it 55 acres of possibilities,” Brongo said. “It’s a big, three-face vision: classrooms to learn in, businesses to work at and lifestyles to enjoy and live.”

Brongo’s vision also includes a 30-acre housing development, as well as a certified teaching kitchen, a multi-purpose classroom and an apartment and bed & breakfast respite in the historic home.

“I hear from a lot of parents and their kids, whether their kids are adults or they’re transitioning out of high school, a lot of these kids don’t want to sit in a classroom,” said Rebecca Bruno, Homesteads’ program coordinator. “As adults, they don’t want to sit at a desk and play games. They want to actually work and learn how to work because that’s what they feel like they’ll flourish at. And we’re here to provide something like that.”

Homesteads offers a number of ways individuals and families can participate in the farm experience. In addition to learning experiences, individuals and families can purchase an annual membership, which offers the opportunity to enjoy the site with a picnic on the canal, other daily leisure opportunities, discounts on farm store merchandise and the opportunity to build and tend their own garden boxes.

Homesteads’ Ready! Set! Work! program is a vocational and community-based experience that develops a deeper understanding of the kinds of jobs that are available on and off the farm. Students learn agricultural skills that include greenhouse propagation, planting in the fields, composting, small animal care, product manufacturing, harvesting and farm market skills.

“We spent that last two years developing our main program, Ready! Set! Work!, and that’s for ages 18 and over, of all abilities, to learn to work in nature’s classroom,” Brongo explained.

Homesteads can serve 20 people daily in the Ready! Set! Work! program, but the farm also offers field trips and other classes. Brongo said soon the farm will be able to reach more than 100 students a week.

Acquiring the farm wasn’t easy, but Brongo and her mom had a lot of help. Brongo had searched online for farms for individuals with autism and found a number existed around the country, but there were none in the region. After visiting 15 farms, Brongo attended a conference in Chicago where she met Charlie Hammerman from the Disability Opportunity Fund.

“Basically he bridged me a mortgage and a loan to buy this farm,” Brongo said. The loan was for $1 million.

“We wanted something that the public will come shop at, the public will come rent a kayak in a couple of years. They’ll have lunch here. They might book their wedding here. We wanted something that was sustainable with its business model,” she added.

The community has stepped up to help Brongo in her quest for supports for those with disabilities. Homesteads has received grants from the William and Sheila Konar Foundation and the Karpus Family Foundation, as well as help from Wegmans Food Markets Inc.

The Donald F. and Maxine B. Davison Foundation last fall presented Homesteads with a $200,000 matching grant, which will be used towards necessary capital improvements, particularly on the historic estate home on the site.

And a $100,000 grant from the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, secured by Rep. Joseph Robach, R-Greece, will be used for new site utilities including water, septic, gas and electric needs.

“But really, it’s the grass-roots initiative and people stopping by and believing in us,” Brongo said. “There are days that we walk around here and see 100 tomato plants chilling in the greenhouse with a little card saying they were donated from the farmer up the street. Or we had about 15 brand new green plastic water jugs sitting on our step and a Facebook message later saying ‘found these on clearance, thought the farm needed them.’ It’s because people want to do anything they can to participate.”

To that end, in September, Homesteads will hold its largest fundraising to date, “Harvesting Hope: A Celebration of Growing Abilities.” The event will include an annual barbecue at which Brongo expects to host 300 or more families.

A new farm store that includes restrooms and a classroom recently was constructed with the help of more than 30 businesses and organizations, including the Rotary International groups on Rochester’s west side, Gatti Plumbing Inc., Home Depot Inc., 84 Lumber Co. and Isaac Heating & Air Conditioning Inc., among others.

That backing also has allowed the organization to hire staffers, including Bruno, a seasonal farmer and others. Two urban fellows will join Homesteads this summer from Americorps.

“They’re going to be supporting curriculum development and storytelling of what we offer,” Brongo explained. “By summer we’re going to have six people, plus our many active volunteers.”

Homesteads has a number of community partners. Western Monroe & Orleans Counties Career & Technical Education Center has a land lab at the farm and Homesteads works collaboratively with the students to expose them with authentic work experiences, from utility work to snow plowing. And Edison Technical High School students from the greenhouse and carpentry program attend the farm two days a week to help the crew grow products.

The fruits and vegetables Homesteads grows will be sold in the new Rotary Farm Store and Classroom, as will other handmade items. To fill time on rainy days, Brongo said, students may use a carpentry classroom—built by students in the Holley Central School District’s “Geometry in Construction” class— to make items that can then be sold in the store.

“Ready! Set! Learn! students get the first opportunity to learn and work in nature’s classroom, and they will go through a process to learn the farm store,” Brongo said. “They’re going to do the inventory. They’re going to figure out what new T-shirt brands we need to have. They’re going to talk to the customer. They’ll read the suggestion box. They’re involved in every process.”

And students will be able to intern, fill out applications and submit their resumes to work at Homesteads in the evenings or on weekends for a paycheck. Eventually students will have the opportunity to work in a café and bakery Brongo plans to have onsite, or in the mechanics barn she plans to have.

Homesteads has a volunteer board of 14, including a young man with autism and parents of individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities. The board’s new vice president is Brian Brase, who comes to the organization with 50 years of agricultural experience.

“Just like the volunteers that come, we have some great special needs teachers. We’ve got farmers. We have phone-call away support,” Brongo said of her team.

For all of her verve and glass-half-full enthusiasm, Brongo also has seen her fair share of setbacks, even prior to Homesteads’ opening. But she is not inclined to let them slow her down.

Two months after her graduation from Alfred State University her father suddenly passed away. That left Brongo to attend to the family business, a plan she already had set in motion with her degree from Alfred, but sped up as a result of her father’s death.

And last August, Brongo’s mother lost a 10-month battle with lung and liver cancer, which meant Brongo again would take the reins, this time for Homesteads. But it is a task she gladly took on, for Chucky.

“I watched my brother, who was assumed to have lots of ‘behaviors,’ having such a therapeutic experience in a sunflower field,” Brongo recalls of her brother’s experiences with nature. “Like watching the ducks fly in, seeing the bees very close to him in that sunflower field and not being scared. The smells … it was a therapeutic environment. I thought man, I could get used to this.”

And so she did.

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