About Joy Grows

Who we are

Joy Grows (Annapolis Ag Inc.) is a small nonprofit in Eastport, Annapolis. Our hub is Eastport Community Farm: a 34,000-square-foot farm and greenhouse we built with neighbors, young people, and volunteers on land from the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis. Around it are neighborhood gardens in Harbour House, Eastport Terrace, and Robinwood, each tended by the people who live there.

Eastport is a USDA-designated food desert. We grow food with our neighbors, and we grow the skills that go with it: growing, building, cooking, and running a small business. People who come to pick vegetables become the people who grow them, then the people who lead.

This year, more than 300 people came to the farm, and we grew more than 2,000 pounds of produce for neighbors and food pantries.

A place to build a career

The farm is also a workplace, where people build their skills by doing real work. Randall Pitt Sr. and Kareem, both from the neighborhood, are on our staff. Eli, Joy, and Yessenia are just entering the workforce through Maryland’s Service Year Option and the Chesapeake Bay Trust’s Climate Corps. Eight New Village Academy interns spend every Wednesday with us. And in our 2026 fiscal year, volunteers gave more than 7,000 hours to the farm and our gardens.

How we got here

• 2022Joy Grows is founded. Matthew Wallace volunteers with the City of Annapolis’s Food Fridays program at the Pip Moyer Recreation Center, where he meets Craig Cussimanio.
• 2023Burnside Sanctuary, our first greenspace, and the Eastport Compost Hub. In November, Matthew and Donna “Ms. Peaches” Johnson both speak at an Eastport Civic Association meeting and start working together.
• Spring 2024Our first plant distributions. Matthew brings Joy Grows’ first plants to Harbour House while delivering surplus items from the Light House shelter to Donna Johnson. He is also a finalist in United Way’s Changemaker Challenge for Anne Arundel County, and Joy Grows receives its first contribution, from United Way.
• Spring 2025Matthew proposes a community farm at the Eastport firehouse. The fire chief doesn’t jump at it, but community leaders across Annapolis’s public housing, and especially in Eastport, are excited. Pantha sees Matthew’s Facebook post about it and asks Ms. Peaches to ask Matthew to start a garden at Harbour House instead. It becomes the Healing Garden, and the neighbors running it become our founding board.
• Summer 2025Our Garden at Harbour House, built with neighborhood youth.
• Fall 2025Robinwood’s Great Garden.
• Winter 2025Nana’s indoor microgreen farm in her grow tent, and our youth cooking program at Eastport United Methodist Church.
• Spring 2026We begin sponsoring the Barzal Community Garden in Victor Haven, and neighbors, youth, and volunteers build Eastport Community Farm.
• May 2026Eastport Community Farm opens, with the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis.
• Summer 2026The farm welcomes about 50 people a day and grows about 2,000 pounds of produce in three months.
• Fall 2026Our Service Year team and New Village Academy interns join the farm, and two new members join our board.

Who leads

Matthew Wallace founded Joy Grows and serves as Executive Director. About Matthew.

Lily Fauntleroy is our Director of Finance & Marketing.

Our board: Pantha Stansbury, Tamela Spencer, Donna Johnson, Dan Whitney, and Brian Stewart. Before 2025 we didn’t have a board. Healing Garden members and participants founded the Joy Grows board, and we held our first meetings at the garden. Dan Whitney and Brian Stewart joined the board this fall.

Our team: Kareem, our Farm Manager; Randall Pitt Sr., our Greenhouse Manager; Eli, Capital Projects; Yessenia Ayala, Programs; Joy, Marketing & Development; Dan Whitney, Capital Projects Coordinator; and eight New Village Academy interns. See who does what.

Board meetings: third Tuesday of every other month (next: December 15). To attend, contact Pantha Stansbury, Board Chair. Open seats: Secretary and Treasurer. We’re looking for a CPA and an HR expert.