About We Grow NYC

We Grow NYC is rooted in education.

Adam Goldner, CEO and Co-Founder of We Grow NYC, spent more than two decades working in New York City schools. He began as a paraprofessional and later served as a special education teacher and administrator. Across those roles some facets of NYC became evident; talent and potential are everywhere, but access to opportunity is not.

As New York’s legal cannabis industry began to take shape, Adam saw a familiar challenge emerging. A new economy was being created, but many of the communities most impacted by prohibition still did not have equal access to the knowledge, skills, networks, or opportunities needed to participate in it. At the same time, he had developed a genuine passion for growing. Cultivation taught Adam much more than how to raise a healthy plant. It required patience, observation, problem-solving, consistency, science, and the willingness to learn from mistakes. As an educator, the pursuit became a way to combine passions.

What if growing could become a doorway? A doorway into science and environmental education. Into careers and workforce development. Into entrepreneurship and economic opportunity. Into conversations about responsible cannabis use, legal rights, health, and community safety. And simply into the confidence that comes from learning how to create and care for something yourself.

That idea became We Grow NYC.

We started by helping everyday New Yorkers understand home cultivation in a practical, accessible way. But the vision quickly became bigger. Today, we bring education directly into communities through workshops, public events, partnerships, workforce experiences, starter kits, cultivation education, and connections to farms, legal businesses, and industry professionals.

One of the principles that continues to guide us comes directly from Adam’s years as an educator: you meet people where they are, and then you help create a pathway forward. That is why We Grow NYC shows up in neighborhoods, community events, NYCHA developments, retail spaces, farms, conferences, and other places where New Yorkers already gather. We want education and opportunity to feel accessible, not exclusive.

And that is why the name matters. When we say We Grow NYC, we are talking about much more than plants. We grow knowledge. We grow confidence. We grow skills. We grow careers. We grow entrepreneurs. We grow connections. We grow community.

The plant may be where the conversation begins. People and community are what we are really trying to grow.