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Gardens as Community Hubs

Community Garden Series (Part 1)

2025

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We are GrowNYC

Our mission is to empower all New Yorkers to equitably access fresh, locally grown food and neighborhood green spaces, reduce waste, and care for the environment.

We protect the environment, create green spaces, help people stay healthy, and give them opportunity to make a positive impact.

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We make it easy for you to have a positive impact.

We are providing outreach and education to increase participation in the city’s zero waste programs and help conserve natural resources.

We are bringing more green space to our city by building and rejuvenating community and school gardens.

We are fostering environmental stewards by providing thousands of children and adults with opportunities for meaningful interactions with the natural environment.

We are transforming our regional food system and ensuring that all New Yorkers have access to the freshest, healthiest local food.

Zero Waste

Conservation

Education

Green Space

Food Access and Agriculture

Our Work

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Meet Your Facilitators

Chantel Kemp

Education Manager

Jinkly Nogales

School Gardens Coordinator

Colleen Graves

School Gardens Coordinator

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Our Work

With a community first program we offer free gardening assistance, educational workshops, and green skills training.

These services are designed to be accessible and inclusive, serving all community members across generations.

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Community Agreements

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Respect comes first
One Mic
Listen to receive, not respond, nor retaliate
Be present
Allow learning moments
Think/Reflect Beyond Borders
Be Teachable
Speak from “I” not “We”
Take the lesson, leave the name

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In this workshop, we’ll learn:

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1. Building a Community Hub

2. Communication & Engagement

3. Q&A

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“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”

Margaret Mead

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Establishing A

Community Hub

Introduce yourself
Seek out Changemakers
Ask and respect Community voices & Community vision
Build the Collective Experience
Advocate for issues that impact the Community & motivate positive change
Build the future you want to live in
Be honest, be consistent, show up
Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

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Start Small

Examine your resources
Evaluate your growing area, time & labor
Implement a reasonable crop plan
Have realistic expectations
Craft your community outreach plan
Create and join partner networks
ASK FOR HELP!!! Don’t Drown!!
Start Small & Grow Bigger…later

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“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”

-Squire Bill Widener

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Examples of Resources

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Sticks and strings can be used to trellis

Keeping seeds from organic foods at farmers markets

Leaves, sticks and rocks can be used to fill planters

Getting cuttings for expensive plants

Old tires can be transformed into planters

Old pallets can be transformed into benches, tables or planters

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Dream Big

Make a plan
Find people & organizations that want to support you
Identify areas that need community support
Expand your vision
Think inclusively
Think Inside AND Outside the box
Think globally & beyond a western centered viewpoint

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Community Engagement

Community is a feeling of fellowship with one another, a shared experience, attitude, interest or goal. Community Engagement is the process of collaborating with groups of people for a respective goal or purpose.

The Four C’s of Community Engagement are:

Collaboration
Consultation
Communication
(Resolving) Conflict

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Community Engagement

Partners

Families
Schools: Administration, Staff, Teachers & Students
Garden Committees
Local Community
CBOs (Community Based Organizations)
Places of Worship
Neighbors & Neighboring Communities

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Gather Your Tribe

Attend existing community events
Invite community members to use the space for communal events
Present offerings to the community
Build a team to support the garden
Start a communication platform
Be open to “other” ways people can support the community garden

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CG

What do we mean by Gather your tribe? Essentially, you can’t do this alone! Keeping a garden growing and going takes a lot of work and we do not want you or anyone to burn out. Some tips are listed here for you to extend the circle beyond you and to let folks know they are welcome in the space. Don’t be afraid to let people know you need help—be very clear about what kind of support you need. Recognize too that support for a garden can be in different forms that gardening. Maybe you need help with planning events, spreading the word, taking pictures or writing grants. The community of a garden is much more than gardeners!

Also–be accessible and have ways for people to be able to reach out to you and connect w/you. That may take many forms whether it’s email, texting or group chats, letting folks know when you’ll be there to connect. Know your people and know how to reach them and for them to reach you.

eating lunch, sitting on the bench, birthdays, spoken word, spiritual events etc. Ask for help, let people know that you need support for the garden and be clear about what kind of support you need. Be accessible, have ways for people to be able to reach out to you and connect w/you. Communal events: inviting cultural/spiritual practices: marigold offering

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Canvassing Document

Summary of the Community Culture
Summary of Neighborhood Components
Identify Community Partners
Satellite View of the proposed space
Photos of the proposed space
Graphic of the garden design
Charts: names, emails, phone numbers etc.
Identify Community resources

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What is a Canvassing Document? What do we mean by that?

This is truly a document you are creating about the community and the neighborhood the garden is in–even if you’ve lived there for a long time. See the space as if you’ve just arrived and with a fresh perspective. You’re going to walk the blocks, noting all neighborhood components including nearby markets, food access sites, community centers, and any other access to green space. This is your information gathering moment to gather those potential future resources to lean on, to share garden plans and events with, to create a moment for the garden to be welcomed into the neighborhood. Canvassing document is your due diligence and blueprint. It establishes that you respect and value the community. It is important to have discernment and be mindful of what is going on in a community: Trauma, engagement (or lack thereof), awareness, capacity. You actively want to hear from residents and neighborhood stakeholders what is going on. You are building trust and understanding, that you are there to invest WITH the community.

Adding to the canvassing doc from a new hire & fresh eyed perspective.

Neighborhood components include nearby markets, food access sites, community centers, and any other access to green space. It is important to have discernment and be mindful of what is going on in a community: Trauma, engagement (or lack thereof), awareness, capacity. Canvassing document is your due diligence and blueprint. It establishes that you respect and value the community. You actively want to hear from residents and neighborhood stakeholders what is going on. You are building trust and understanding, that you are there to invest WITH the community.

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“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”

-James Baldwin

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Legacy Planning

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Collective Leadership supports everyone. Make space for the future and plan for additional support, education, outreach, communications, garden planning, execution & more.

Plan in ways that promote the garden to always be growing towards sustainability & collective community stewardship.

CG - Legacy planning is long term planning for the future stewardship of the garden. There will be those very real moments when it will be time to pass the leadership role and it’s important to plan for that early rather than at the last moment or suddenly! Involve folks in Story sharing, passing along garden logs, passing along old crop plans. Never stop Doing community outreach to recruit new people and bring new people in the space. Community outreach is on-going and continuous. There are always opps to build partnerships and new relationships. Sometimes people move away, people’s interests change and you always want to make space. Legacy planning also supports the main stewards from experiencing burnout, and supports folks who may have other physical, mental and time constraints.

Story sharing, passing along garden logs, passing along old crop plans. Doing community outreach to recruit new people and bring new people in the space. Community outreach is on-going and continuous. There are always opps to build partnerships and new relationships. Sometimes people move away, people’s interest change and you always want to make space. Legacy planning also supports the main stewards from experiencing burnout, and supports folks who may have other physical, mental and time constraints.

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Honoring The Plan

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Honor your word
Plan a garden orientation every growing season to train the team and new members
Communicate about calendar for events, site visits & meetings
Solicit feedback
Spread the wealth & share your knowledge “Train the Trainers (TOT)”

CG - pass to CK after this slide

When you show that you care about what is going on w/people, it opens space for them to care about what is going on w/you and what you are seeking to accomplish.

Always ask what could have been done better!

Gardens are really about growing people. Keep the communication open, share any changes, comings, goings and announcements, a thing that has helped me is sharing bad news early and communicating when I’ve made a mistake.

You can also explore a Year in the Life of the Garden to get a better idea of the time commitment that goes into maintaining a space.

When you show that you care what is going on w/people, it opens space for them to care about what is going on w/you and what you are seeking to accomplish.

Always ask what could have been done better!

Gardens are really about growing people. Keep the communication open, share any changes, comings, goings and announcements, a thing that has helped me is sharing bad news early and communicating when I’ve made a mistake.

You can also explore a Year in the Life of the Garden to get a better idea of the time commitment that goes into maintaining a space.

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Language Justice

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Language Justice is a social justice approach that aims to create inclusive spaces for people to participate authentically in their own way.

This can include:

Signage and flyers in another language
Signage and flyers using pictures or symbols
Coordinating with bilingual speakers in the community
Incorporating sign language interpretation
Using translation services
Using phrases, terms, & vocabulary that positively represents the community and speaks to the people.

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Adding Multicultural

Layers to Hub

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Signage & Surveys

Signage and surveys in multiple languages or with easily identifiable images

Cultural Crops

Growing food, flowers & herbs specific to your community & that reflect the Diaspora: Okra, Gadules, Peppers, Mint

Representatives

Utilizing community members that speak the language of the community.

Honor & Space

Recognizing unique events, holidays or customs reciprocating agency for members to utilize the land/green space.

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“It’s not MY Garden, it’s a COMMUNITY Garden”

Chantel & DK

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Garden Programming

Hybrid Learning: Virtuals & In-person classes in the garden

Food Justice
Ancestral Foods
Sensory Health Experiences

Castle Hill Family Day
Anti-Violence Initiatives
Annual Christmas Block Party
Community Volunteer Days

Garden Beautification
Harvesting Days

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Always Remember…

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Collective leadership
Communicate, Communicate, Communication!
Be honest, consistent, & show up
Be intentional, personable, welcoming & kind
Check in with each other
Celebrate the wins
The “L” is a lesson, not a loss. Keep it moving
Embrace the differences
Incorporate multilingual and multicultural
Make the space accessible for all
Read the room, be open to pivot & adjust
Have FUN!!!

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Resources

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Next Session:

Gardening 101

June 11th

4pm -5pm

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Garden Engagement Survey

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Questions?

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Chantel Kemp

Manager

ckemp@grownyc.org

GROWNYC PRESENTATION TITLE HERE

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grownyc.org

@GrowNYC

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Growing With The Garden

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2020

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