Frederick Griffin - Ebony Tree Farms
It all comes back to food.
Frederick Griffin and his wife, Anna, recognized a crucial link while working through their nonprofit, Ebony Tree Council, to support youth education: Access to nutritious food significantly impacts school performance, behavior, and overall physical well-being.
Yet many children in socioeconomically challenged neighborhoods live in what are called food swamps. Different from food deserts, where there is no access to food sources, food swamps provide access to unhealthy food choices like fast food chains or convenience stores.
“There’s a direct connection between a healthy nutritious diet and school performance—and the behavior that comes out of having diets that increase stress or increase anxiety because it’s stuffed with sugar and other types of preservatives that trigger that in the body,” says Griffin, a former Navy Chief Petty Officer.
The Griffins wanted to get at the root of the issue. So they decided to retool the nonprofit to create a for-profit business, Ebony Tree Farms, that would grow nutritious food such as leafy greens, herbs and mushrooms through hydroponics, help others set up modular micro farms, and train individuals and organizations in advanced agriculture.
Grow Something Better
The Griffins decided to transform their nonprofit into a for-profit venture, Ebony Tree Farms, focusing on growing nutritious produce like leafy greens, herbs, and mushrooms through hydroponics. They also aimed to train individuals and organizations in advanced agriculture while helping set up modular micro-farms.
Griffin reflects on the early challenges: “We made several mistakes,” he admits. “It was because we were doing things based on our own understanding, instead of learning from an entity with experience in guiding startups.”
After trying various small business programs, Griffin was advised to reach out to theClubhou.se for its entrepreneurial certification program. He received support through a partial scholarship and immersed himself in the program.
“We look at this as a model that’s needed not just in the CSRA but across the country.”
At Make Startups, Griffin says he found a “wealth of knowledge” in coach and instructor Michael Newton. With Newton’s guidance and the support of the rest of his cohort, Griffin built his operations and established processes, not based on what he thought he knew but vetted by an expert and by other third parties going through his same situation. It was the foundation he needed, giving him clarify of focus, goals and milestones to achieve.
Ebony Tree Farms is still at an early stage; the Griffins are working to raise capital and find a location. Through connections at theClubhou.se, they’ve secured a marketing firm, Make Startups graduate, Kinnabar Marketing, and built an advisory board. Right now, they’re working to build a buzz around what they’re doing, including pop-up restaurants featuring local foods cooked by Anna, who recently presented a sampling of her mouthwatering dishes at theClubhou.se’s Demo Day event. And they’re continuing to help build community gardens and support at-risk youth through the nonprofit Ebony Tree Council.
“We look at this as a model that’s needed not just in the CSRA but across the country,” says Griffin. “Both my wife and I grew up in the projects—she grew up in the projects in D.C. and I grew up in the projects in Atlanta. … From the outside looking in, now we can see the impact even on how we were raised. We just didn’t recognize it at that point. We want something better for people.”