[Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens
adam36055 at aol.com
adam36055 at aol.com
Mon Mar 5 19:57:23 EST 2007
Remember, we do need to be clear where the interests of the Community Food Security Coalition's Urban Agriculture Committee ends and where the interests of the American Community Gardening Association begins....
While we both want to raise as much food in our cities as we can for our hungry, and our selves, the American Community Garden's mission is also largely transformative:
Through...the organizing and empowering of urban residents to turn waste, or "set aside," land to create community, strengthen families, and give participants the very real understanding that America really "is our land,"; by transforming this land to community gardens, and actively advocating for our gardens as a distince and legitimate "land use," we are transforming ourselves from "clients," or "tenants," to active, participating partners in land use decisions, and, dare I say it, in our democracy.
The ACGA is more than urban food production, though I do love the tomatoes.
Best wishes,
Adam Honigman
Hell's Kitchen, NYC
-----Original Message-----
From: skyprice at gmail.com
To: adam36055 at aol.com
Cc: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org; NYC-GardensCoalition at yahoogroups.com; gwenne.hayes-stewart at mobot.org; richard at guerrillagardening.org
Sent: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens
I really appreciate all the time people have taken to point me in the
direction of further studies and to add items to the list. This list
is intended to serve as a partial basis for a much shorter bulleted
talking points paper to be presented to Congress (not local officials)
for revisions in the Farm Bill. There was no intentionality in the
order as I sent them out, since I will be boiling these points down
greatly to make them and other information fit on one page. In
addition, other people from the Community Food Security Coalition's
Urban Ag Committee are helping to contribute to the paper, so I'll
have a lot of reading and condensing to do. A first draft has to be
written as of today.
I mainly just put it out there to see if there were items omitted (or
substantial disagreement, which there doesn't appear to be), and I
intend to incorporate the omitted items which people sent me both on
and off list. I also do appreciate people' suggestions on what are the
more telling points (reflected in what they suggested as the
"lead-offs" and "end points").
So again, thank you all, and please feel free to contact me with other
points as well which may be incorporated in later drafts. (It has to
be complete before March 16 since Lobby Day is March 19 and there's
the Farm to School conference in between.)
Cynthia Price
Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
On 3/3/07, adam36055 at aol.com <adam36055 at aol.com> wrote:
> Some friendly suggestions and amendments:
>
> The first place you need to start, Cynthia, when creating a list of this
> sort, for the eyes of elected officials, governmental managers, the press,
> corporate and foundation funders is how "our thing," namely community
> gardening, best serves the municipalities and communites in which they are
> sited.
>
> It's the old negotiation mindset - you have to think, "what's in it for
> you," before you think, "what's in it for me."
>
> You know, perfectly well what you want, but you have to know where you can
> cast your nets, with your list of "benefits of community gardens," to catch
> the most fish.
>
> The main reason why the ACGA and this listserv is valuable to our
> coummunity of gardeners is that it helps us to think "beyond our garden
> gates," to keep us from wasting valuable non-gardening and "people
> organizing," time on "recreating wheels." With all due respect, there are
> some extraodinarily good wheels available on the ACGA website that you can
> attach to your wagon.
>
> 1) Please start with David Malakoff's great article, "What Good is
> Community Greening? Research Supports All Those Common Sense Answers You've
> Been Using for Years - But There is Still More to Learn:
> (http://www.communitygarden.org/whatgood.php). And then think of how you
> would best edit your list, and "pitch," thinking about "what's in it for
> you/what's in it for me?).
>
> 2) Currently, Gateway Greening's "Whitmire Study,"
> (http://www.gatewaygreening.org/WhitmireStudy.asp )
> is the first, and best study we have of community garden "quantifiables."
> ACGA Board member, and St. Louis Gateway Greening Director, Ms. Gwenne
> Hayes-Stewart has been the guiding force behind the creation of this
> invaluable and rigorous study of the effects of community gardens on their
> surrounding communities and it would be extremely useful for you, Cynthia,
> to reach out to Ms. Hayes-Stewart after you have read whatever you can find
> on-line about the study.
>
> Then you should re-edit your list, again....
>
>
> My thoughts:
>
> While, I believe that while the food harvested in our urban community
> gardens is both useful and helpful in augmenting the diets of some urgan
> gardeners, their families and a few local food pantires, it is not of
> significant quantity at present to have made a substantial enough
> contribution in our national fight against hunger to be "lead-off" on your
> list.
>
> In future years, especially when transportation of fresh foods with fossil
> fueled tractor trailers becomes prohibitive for agricultural corporations,
> urban agriculure, and our gardens will become a more important "lead off."
>
> Now, I think, that:
> 1) stabilizing communities through community gardening,
>
> 2)the promotion of block safety through community gardening,
>
> 3) the recruitment of urban greening and park volunteers and leaders
> through community gardening
>
> 4) community education in healthy eating, diet, education, and the life
> sciences (i.e., food grows and you can grow it in this garden), and
>
> 5) the creation and nuturing of healthy, self-sustaining, urban greening
> communities through community gardening, with minimal a minimal outlay of
> public and private funding
>
> are better "lead offs".
>
>
> And, with the use of the quantifiables listed in the studies above, would
> be more use in explaining to elected officials, governmental managers, the
> media, corprorate and foundation funders, how "our thing," namely community
> gardening, best serves the municipalities and communities in which they are
> sited.
>
> And using the "what's in it for you/what's in it for me," strategy getting
> the seed money, water, and zoning our gardens need to serve our communities.
>
> Best wishes,
> Adam Honigman
> Hell's Kitchen, NYC
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: skyprice at gmail.com
> To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Sent: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 6:06 PM
> Subject: [Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens
>
> On behalf of the Urban Ag Committee of the Community Food Security
> Coalition (which many ACGA folks like Betsy Johnson, James Kuhns and
> Rodger Cooley serve on), I would like to ask people to please comment
> on this list of CG benefits. Greater GR Food Systems Council developed
> it over the years for a variety of purposes, but obviously there are
> things that could be added. I'm also wondering if people think there
> are items that are wrong or should be stated differently.
>
> Please feel free to reply just to me if you'd like. Also, sorry for
> duplicate postings.
>
> Thanks for looking at this!
>
> Cynthia Price
> Chair, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
>
> Benefits of community gardening:
> --fresh fruits and vegetables taste better, making healthy eating easier;
> --there is more nutritional value in food that has not come a long
> distance causing nutrient deterioration;
> --the short distance of consumer to food eliminates long-distance
> shipping, with its negative consequences such as global warming gas
> emissions and continual replacement of road (and other)
> infrastructure;
> --generally uses little or no pesticides and builds the soil organically;
> --provides the carbon dioxide fixation effects of plant growth;
> --diminishes the "heat island" effect in urban areas;
> --may capture and reuse stormwater runoff;
> --is generally more intensive in yield per acre and therefore
> "consumes" less land;
> --gives people more control over what goes into their food;
> --provides an opportunity for exercise and fresh air;
> --brings people together and builds relationships;
> --improves mental health thru a variety of factors, including social
> contact and the sense of accomplishment in growing good food;
> --provides youth a constructive outlet for their energies;
> --provides opportunity for small-scale entrepreneurial activity;
> --promotes local economies, including the non-monetized economy;
> --creates beauty and tranquility;
> --may reclaim abandoned spaces;
> --connects people with nature and the seasons;
> --connects people with their communities;
> --is a great education tool for both youth and adults on how nature works;
> --teaches people how to provide for themselves, increasing homeland
> security (as well as being less vulnerable to disruption than other
> aspects of the current food system);
> --helps create a community presence which may deter crime;
> --reduces cost of obtaining food;
> --often reduces hunger due to location in low-income communities;
> --promotes less dependence on the global/corporate food system with
> all of its environmental and social harms.
>
> _______________________________________________
> The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's
> services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find
> out
> how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org
>
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>
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