Team of young adults standing in vegetable garden.

Come join our Mission

Bringing bee hives to community gardens and vacant green spaces, equitable employment opportunities to local youth, and raw honey & beeswax products to you

Huneebee Project is a 501(c)3 non-profit social enterprise that promotes equitable job preparedness amongst our most resilient youth and environmental conservation in disinvested urban neighborhoods through bee hive installation, pollinator habitat restoration, and educational workshops.

Youth Development

By age 21, 49% of former foster care involved youth are unemployed, 23% of former foster care involved youth do not have a high school diploma, and 54% of former foster care involved youth present with mental health needs. Because of this, at Huneebee, we prioritize training and hiring youth and young adults with past or present child protective or foster care involvement.

The healing and therapeutic aspects of beekeeping are combined with wrap around case management services, connection to community supports, personal and professional development speaker series, somatic awareness, and creative outlets.

Environmental conservation

Bees play a critical role in our food production system and support healthy ecosystems, yet they are dying at alarming rates. 1 in 4 species of bees are at risk of extinction. Further, as urban areas tend to be warmer than surrounding landscapes, these areas are experiencing an exacerbation of the effects of climate change on pollinators.

Huneebee engages in environmental conservation by adding honey bee hives & native bee houses to community spaces, by restoring pollinator habitat, and by planting pollinator-friendly flowers, shrubs, and trees. The majority of our apiaries and gardens are in disinvested urban neighborhoods. Selection of sites is intentional and meant to address environmental disparities and to offer equitable opportunity for pollinator stewardship.

community engagement

Huneebee Project strives to instill a sense of investment and shared responsibility in our community’s role in both youth development and in the health of our planet and pollinators. We offer youth-led community based workshops on honey bees and native bees, garden tours to encourage planting for pollinators, and a unique hive sponsorship and planting program.

We partner with businesses and organizations to amplify our reach and to enhance our youths’ network of support. A youth-operated marketplace makes individual connection to nature accessible, attainable, gratifying, and mutually healing.

Shop the marketplace

All purchases give back. Proceeds are reinvested to fund programming such as our 15-week Beekeepers in Residence job-skills training program, monthly Alumni Dinner Series, youth employment, and community-based workshops.