Growing Opportunity

While the informal nature of community gardens makes it difficult to determine how many are out there, the American Community Gardening Association estimates that there are 18,000 community gardens in the US and Canada. At first, these gardens may seem like little more than a quaint patches that provide an opportunity for gardening aficionados to grow a few vegetables and perhaps socialize with others who share their hobby. And in fact, community  gardens would be great resources if their impact ended there, but groups around the country have recognized their potential to be much more and advocate for their use in ameliorating such issues as food access and obesity to youth development and  environmental sustainability.   

One program operating in Philadelphia aims to use community gardening not only to  improve neighborhoods and the lives of youth, but also to change the physical and civic landscape of the city. Teens4Good, operated by affiliates of the Greater Philadelphia Federation of Settlements, puts teens to work in urban vegetable gardens to help build their work and life skills as well as to beautify neighborhoods.  Participating teens manage the gardens and the distribution of the produce sold at farmer's markets and restaurants around the city. In addition to learning about managing a business and interacting with customers, teens learn about nutrition and new ways of incorporating healthy food in their diets. Proceeds pay the teens and are re-invested into the program.  In addition to providing affordable, healthy food in neighborhoods that have a chronic shortage of such options, a portion of the produce goes to neighborhood food pantries which have begun to focus on stocking more fresh produce.   

The program currently has six garden sites and more than 90 teen participants. The Federation of Settlements hopes not only to continue expansion in the city, but also to establish a model that is replicated in other urban areas. In addition to private sources, they are looking to state and federal agriculture extension as well as job readiness programs for support.

While Teens4Good is certainly an innovative program, this approach to community gardening is hardly new. Most of us know about the Victory Gardens common during World War II when labor and transportation shortages resulted in a scarcity of fruits and vegetables prompting the federal government to encourage citizens to create gardens. But local, grassroots efforts to use community gardens as a means of creating income opportunities, reducing blight, and, of course, addressing food needs, dates back more than 100 years in the city.  As early as 1897, the Philadelphia Vacant Lot Cultivation Association created garden plots in response to unemployment in the city. 

In a time when resources are so limited, we must identify opportunities to invest in programs that take a comprehensive approach and have the promise of broad and meaningful impacts. Community gardens have long been recognized as such an opportunity.

-- Jennifer Egmont, Project Manager