Growing Power nonprofit has dissolved

Founder of Milwaukee group retired last month

The website is gone. Its phone lines are disconnected. The Milwaukee urban farming nonprofit Growing Power has dissolved, according to the state’s Department of Financial Institutions.

The organization made the filing to dissolve Growing Power and protect its name. A former board member confirmed Sunday the filing was the result of a vote from the board of directors.

Green Veterans Group Inc. says it’s taking over the defunct nonprofit’s holdings and mission. Green Veterans posted on Facebook Thursday that the transition is in progress to turn the urban farm into a “new intermodal model of Urban Farm School, Small Farmers Coop and Trauma Resolution Center.”

The co-founder of Green Veterans, Brian Sales, has been Growing Power’s director of operations for less than a year.

The group lists its mission as “helping our Nation’s heroes learn about sustainable building and green living while helping ease the hardship of military-to-civilian transition.”

Green Veterans is registered as a not-for-profit corporation in Florida. It is not registered with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions. Sales could not be reached for comment Sunday.

Growing Power also had a Chicago offshoot, which announced on Facebook that the “Chicago team has left Growing Power and launched a new venture.” The Chicago team is now the Urban Growers Collective.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel first reported Nov. 20 Growing Power founder Will Allen was retiring and the organization faced hundreds of thousands of dollars in pending legal judgments.

Allen said Sunday he could not comment on the group because of pending litigation. Allen said he plans to make a statement after Jan. 1.

Since November, the group has paid some of its debts, such as a $10,114 judgment to the Department of Workforce Development.