“Without PitE, I would do none of the things I’m doing today,” says Jacob Inosencio (BS ’20), a graduate of the University of Michigan undergraduate Program in the Environment (PitE).

Inosencio graduated from PitE during the height of COVID-19, after exploring different majors and working in Mexico, and discovering that environmental science was the perfect fit. Now, Inosencio is the founder and executive director of Grow Jackson, an urban gardening and food access nonprofit, and a second-year master of social work student at the U-M School of Social Work.

In PitE, Inosencio concentrated on botany and forestry and enjoyed his newfound community. “I love the collective commitments to problem solving and improving things,” says Inosencio, adding that there was one class in particular, Intro to Environmental Politics with Omolade Adunbi, that inspired him to create Grow Jackson. 

“The class flipped on its head my understanding of environmental politics and environmental justice,” says Inosencio. “It was a life-changing class for me, and probably the most important class I will ever take because it totally shifted my worldview and my understanding of food justice and healthy equity.”

Growing up volunteering at food pantries, one specific instance stayed with Inosencio, becoming another factor that led him to his current path. 

“I distinctly remember a moment where this mom was coming through the food pantry line, and under the pantry requirements, she was given one can of formula and two cans of vegetables. She asked if she could have more formula and not take the vegetables. I was 12 or 13, and it struck me that’s an insane decision to have to make—do I feed my older kids or younger kids?”

After graduation, Inosencio moved back to Mexico to spend time in nature, and planned to be there for 6 months, but he couldn’t get the ideas of food justice, access and gardening out of his head. While still in Mexico, he began to take the necessary steps to start a business. He moved home to Jackson, Michigan, after six weeks and started Grow Jackson in October of 2020.

By the spring of 2021, Grow Jackson planted its first gardens. Now, after five years, it has grown to 21 gardens, expanded community engagement and is impacting many lives. Community engagement is Grow Jackson’s primary line of work, with gardens of all sizes and scales connecting to schools and community centers through various programs. 

“At the schools, we often partner with the science teacher, and we join that school six times in the spring and six in the fall, teaching hands-on science, standards-aligned lessons in the garden. The students are learning about where their food comes from, while helping to plant, manage, and harvest the garden,” explains Inosencio. “We also work with justice-impacted adults, [those who are formerly incarcerated or who are directly tied to formerly incarcerated individuals], adults in sober living communities, adults with mental health diagnoses or who are in active substance use disorder, employees at hospitals and residents at a senior living center.”

A newer Grow Jackson program, the Urban Agriculture Workforce Development internship, hires students from lower-income, justice-impacted, housing-insecure families who face barriers to entering employment after high school graduation. The student interns spend 20 paid hours a week in the gardens and with the youth programs, and spend eight unpaid hours a week participating in the environmental literacy curriculum, exposing them to “green-collar jobs,” or careers focused on environmental sustainability. 

Part of this environmental literacy curriculum includes field trips to “teach them about careers in the environmental sector that don’t require a four-year degree,” Inosencio says. They visit places like water treatment plants and energy companies. When the 10-week internship is over, the students leave with an official workforce certification from the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Showing no signs of slowing down, Inosencio says that he’s now turning his attention to a new project which will bring a Food Hub to the Jackson area to “strengthen the food system, better support farmers, better increase local procurement and local food access.” 

Grow Jackson is also in the process of opening a farmers market in a new, unexpected location within the city on the grounds of Jackson Prison, Michigan’s first state prison. Hoping to launch in the spring of 2026, Inosencio has developed a five-year plan that includes, in each phase, a farmers market, a farm stop, a mobile market, an accelerator kitchen and a food hub.

Inosencio credits his PitE experience for much of the work he’s doing today. “PitE gave me the passion and belief, but also gave me the tools and skills that I brought into my work,” he says. “It’s always better to do what you love and believe in over what might seem expedient or profitable.”