Community Hydroponics

Levo has partnered with communities in Hartford, New London, Waterbury, Bridgeport, and New Haven to provide households access to hydroponics. Levo supports community gardens, food pantries, and household growers. 

Examples of Community Projects: 

Hartford Hospital Food4Health Clinic & Garden:

Knowing that nutrition is a pillar of good health, Hartford Hospital (HH) created an on-campus Food Is Medicine program in 2022 that promotes healthy lifestyles and behavior to address the social determinants of food insecurity. The Food4Health clinic is a proactive approach to HH’s mission to improve the health and healing of the people and communities it serves. The program is prescription-based; clinicians and medical staff from 22 partnering clinics at HH (e.g., Advanced Heart Failure Clinic, Bariatric Surgery Clinic, Diabetes Life Care Clinic, Women's Ambulatory Health Services) screen patients for food insecurity, low-income markers and diagnoses that can be improved with better nutrition. Eligible patients are then referred to the Food4Health clinic, located within HH’s Brownstone Building on Retreat Avenue, where they can shop weekly for the healthy food needed

for their household. In addition to helping patients improve their overall health, HH’s Food4Health program teaches patients how to better select, prepare, and cook nutritious foods. The Food4Health clinic is designed to look like your local grocery store, except only healthy options line the shelves. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, clean proteins, and healthy pantry items are stocked regularly, so food sourcing is critical. In addition to sourcing food products from local farmers, the Food4Health program has partnered with HH's food service Compass One, CT Foodshare, and CTown Supermarket on Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford to offer eligible patients access to quality produce, among other items, free of charge. With the understanding that providing food is not enough,

the Food4Health program also includes educational components (e.g., cooking classes) provided by HH's nutrition team.

As of August 2023, the Food4Health clinic has been open for 15 months, serving more than 450 patients, 4,500 patient visits and 2255,000 pounds of healthy food distributed. The clinic currently serves 100-120 patients weekly.

In July 2023, Food4Health also opened a rooftop hydroponic garden to help supply healthy fresh food to the patients and staff visiting the F4H clinic and expect to harvest 2000-3000 pounds of fresh tomatoes, peppers, green beans, and heads of lettuce by the end of 2023. To date, we have gathered more than 100 pounds of fresh vegetables which has been distributed to Food4Health patients. Patients have been very excited to get the incredibly fresh vegetables. Hartford Hospital staff have embraced the new garden, and many have volunteered to help harvest and maintain the garden! We are looking forward to expanding our growing with our partner Levo International to increase the amount we can give to patients.

Hispanic Health Council Hartford (HHC):

Ever seen a hydroponic rooftop garden? Levo and the Hispanic Health Council partnered to put 6 Victory Gardens on their Main Street offices roof. The produce is used for their community produce distributions, and Levo expects to expand this rooftop garden in 2022. Hydroponics is so water efficient that hundreds of pounds of produce can be grown on this roof, despite not having access to water.

Levo staff brings several hundred gallons of water to start the systems each year to the roof to fill the system. Each week water is added from the bathroom sink on the top floor and from the rain barrels on the roof.

To get hydroponics at your business or organization, click here.