"Our Roots" was founded in 1992, to manage a community garden and build a greenhouse. Today it manages 7 community gardens, 2 youth gardens, a stand at the Farmers’ Market, an organic bread bakery, a youth leadership program, a new farmer training project, a testing program with UMass Extension services for herbs and vegetables in Latino cuisine, and a Centro Agrícola—a center for small businesses and community education, with a small greenhouse, restaurant, commercial kitchen, resource library, meeting and cultural event space, and a landscaped plaza. Such enterprising business activity, grounded in farming, in which 95 families in the Puerto Rican community of Holyoke have deep cultural roots, is an extremely successful “private initiative for public good,” undertaken by members of that community for the whole community’s benefit. Holyoke has the largest percentage of Puerto Rican population (38.6%) of any city in the United States. The downtown population is 75% Puerto Rican; unemployment rate 27%; 75% of the children grow up in poverty. Holyoke has among the state’s highest rates of teen pregnancy, high school dropouts, and substance abuse. Puerto Ricans are underrepresented in government: 3 out of 16 city councilors, and one member on the School Board though 80% of the students are Latinos. Nuestras Raíces—people helping themselves—will be a key to the future of Holyoke, and your help is urgently invited.