Salem High School Educator Matt Buchanan Named Recipient of SAFE Local Climate Champion Award
Mr. Buchanan honored for flourishing City, school gardens, mentorship
SALEM (Nov. 12, 2025) – Matt Buchanan, a Connect for Success program educator at Salem High School, was named the recipient of the Salem Alliance For the Environment (SAFE) 2025 Local Climate Champion Award, announced SAFE Executive Director Bonnie Bain recently.
Mr. Buchanan will be honored Thursday, Nov. 13 (6 p.m.) at the second annual SAFE Fundraiser and Community Awards at Cinema Salem (doors open at 5:30 p.m.). Mr. Buchanan will receive his honor alongside Stacy Kilb, the Sustainability Engagement Coordinator & Energy Coach for the City of Salem, who is the recipient of the 2025 SAFE Speak Up! Award.
The fundraiser will also feature a screening of the documentary “Emergent City” centered around the conflict between residents, city officials and planners regarding the plans for a Brooklyn industrial space.
General admission to the fundraiser is $55.20 and $17.85 for students. A limited number of tickets for $28.52 are available for those financially constrained.
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Mr. Buchanan, an educator at SHS for 25 years, has been steadfast in his commitment to maintaining local farms, reducing food insecurity in the City and introducing his students to the vital role local growing and farming plays in the community.
“It’s an amazing honor to be selected,” said Mr. Buchanan, who has long worked with SHS students in the former Bridge Academy and currently the Connect for Success program which focuses on at-risk students in the District.
While caring for the City’s gardens, he has provided jobs to many of his students, including SHS graduate Jorge Mueses who oversees the Salem YMCA GreenSpace at Palmer Cove.
“It’s a seven-day a week commitment for eight months out of the year and fulltime in the summer, but it’s important work for the City,” he added. “I’m honored to be recognized for seeing the environment in terms of food security and investing in our young people. I’ve always been very passionate about getting these kids to work.”
Under former mayor Kim Driscoll, now the Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor, Mr. Buchanan and his company, Homegrown Urban Abundance Gardening, planned and helped construct Mack Park Farm, a 10,000 square foot municipal food farm in Salem which opened in 2020.
“Mayor Driscoll wanted a farm in the city, so we spent a whole year planning, finding the best location, and performing soil tests,” said Mr. Buchanan. “Everything we grow goes to the people of Salem. And any remaining food goes to The Salem Pantry.”
Mack Park Farm continues to provide organically grown fruits and vegetables distributed between its own farmers market and The Salem Pantry. Outside of the winter months, the farm stages a weekly volunteer day each Saturday as well as a free farmers market every other week for Salem residents.
“I’m really proud of (Mack Park Farm),” he noted. “Local food never leaves Salem. It goes right to our people. By growing locally, our food tastes better, it’s more nutritionally dense, and we’re burning far less fossil fuel.”
In addition to Mack Park Farm, Mr. Buchanan oversees gardens at Lifebridge Community Shelter, the Salem YMCA GreenSpace and several others around the City. He has also played a significant role in maintaining gardens at each of the Salem Public Schools.
Mr. Buchanan is a 1999 graduate of Stonehill College and earned his master’s degree in School Administration in 2011 from American International College.
A native of Gloucester (Gloucester High School, Class of 1995), he lives in Salem with his wife Luisa.
About Salem Public Schools
Salem Public Schools is an urban public school district in Salem, Massachusetts, a small, diverse city with a proud maritime and immigrant history. Our leaders and our teachers are passionate about education and understand the urgency of improving student achievement with equity and social-emotional needs as the lens through which we view our work. We respect and value the racial, cultural, and linguistic diversity of our students and their families, and have a strong commitment to the Salem community. Salem Public Schools staff unconditionally serves each of our 4,000 students across 11 schools regardless of ability or language.
