{"id":15075,"date":"2022-10-04T15:23:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-04T13:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/?post_type=purple_issue&p=15075"},"modified":"2022-10-04T15:23:30","modified_gmt":"2022-10-04T13:23:30","slug":"growing-a-brighter-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/2022\/10\/04\/growing-a-brighter-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing a brighter future"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An inspiring social enterprise offers horticultural training to improve prisoners\u2019 employability <\/p>\n\n

WORDS PAULA McWATERS | PHOTOGRAPHS LISA LINDER<\/p>\n\n

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A selection of the project\u2019s houseplants. The women are taught how to keep all the plants in tip-top condition and they repot them in custom mixed, peat-free compost.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
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Kali Hamerton-Stove, who co-founded The Glasshouse project with her friend Melissa Murdoch, outside the project\u2019s shop in Cranbrook. <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n

Clare is holding a healthy-looking umbrella plant (Heptapleurum<\/em> arboricola) <\/em>with her name on it. She has grown it on from a discarded broken stem and is nurturing it to give to her mum when she is released next year. Clare is one of a small team of prisoners at East Sutton Park women\u2019s open prison in Kent who are growing and tending houseplants as part of The Glasshouse project, a social enterprise co-founded by project director Kali Hamerton-Stove and social entrepreneur Melissa Murdoch. <\/p>\n\n

The scheme\u2019s aim is to help women rehabilitate when they leave prison by offering horticultural training and improved employment opportunities. Kali and Melissa hit upon the idea for it in 2019 when they learned that two of the glasshouses at the prison were largely unused, due in part to cuts in land-based training in recent years. Post-release, women can face significant problems finding a job and somewhere safe to live. The insecurity this engenders can lead to issues with reoffending and this is where Kali and Melissa felt they could do something to help. <\/p>\n\n

Tennessee-born Kali has a background in international marketing and ran her own caf\u00e9\/plant shop locally, so botanics were a natural fit. With Melissa, she formulated an idea to train up to ten women at a time to raise houseplants in the glasshouses and their initial business plan, supported by a \u00a350,000 director\u2019s loan, was based around plantscaping. This entails sending in a team to install and maintain houseplant schemes in corporate settings, which generates an ongoing income stream. To this they have added online sales, corporate gifting and now a smart plant shop (called The Glasshouse) in nearby Cranbrook, where the women gain experience working in a retail environment. <\/p>\n\n