OUR STORY

Our Name

We love the symbolism of bells because bellfounding - the art of bellmaking - is about taking a resilient element and shaping it into something with a strong voice. That's exactly what we help women do at Bellfound Farm.

In medieval times, when bells were made, bellmakers would dig a pit in the ground to create a space where they could safely work with the molten metal. We, too, do our work using the farm and the earth as a space where people can be safe as they undertake a challenging task.

Our Story

Bellfound Farm, an Initiative of Women's Fund of Central Indiana, is the first social innovation project to come out of the NEXT Initiative - a ten-year commitment from Women's Fund to address the needs of emerging adult women. Co-Founders Nekoma Burcham and Alena Jones met in their degree program at IUPUI's School of Public and Environmental Affairs. In a class during that time, there was a panel discussion on farming. One panelist was sharing how he had found economic success with small-scale farming - and another shared that there were 3000 acres of vacant land in Marion County proper. The idea for Bellfound was born.

Nekoma and Alena applied for the NEXT Fellowship Prize in 2014, were awarded the Fellowship in 2015, and began incubation in 2016. Over two years, with the generous support of Women's Fund, they worked to research and more fully develop the concept of Bellfound Farm. In early 2018, they formally launched the organization, becoming an independent 501(c)3 organization.

Bellfound Farm provides holistic supports (including housing and mental health care), to participants, who work to increase community access to fresh, healthy food in Indianapolis. We anticipate accepting our inaugural cohort in January of 2019.

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