Grassroots Gardeners
In concrete jungles across the nation, inner city gardening projects offer area residents productive work, fresh produce and a connection with nature.
March/April 2004
By Natural Home Staff
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Neighborhood youth and community members celebrate the completion of a mural project in the Bronx’s Neighborhood Advisory Committee Community Garden.
Photo courtesy Green Guerillas
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Green Guerillas: This New York City nonprofit helps grassroots groups turn vacant, rubble-strewn lots into vibrant community gardens—and helps protect them from new development. (212) 594-2155; GreenGuerillas.org.
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The Garden Project: By teaching gardening and tree care to prisoners of San Francisco’s County Jail, The Garden Project supplies organic food to the hungry and is a model for crime prevention. (415) 243-8558; GardenProject.org.
Cook County Juvenile Detention Center Urban Garden: Ten- to fourteen-year-old boys learn horticulture skills thanks to the University of Illinois Extension 4-H Urban Garden program. The kids care for houseplants, do worm composting, and grow flowers and vegetables in a raised-bed rooftop garden. UrbanExt.UIUC.edu/ annualreports/environment/cookjuv.html.
Denver Urban Gardens: DUG transforms vacant lots into urban open spaces and manages seventy metro-area community gardens and small parks that serve low-income people. It also provides free seeds and transplants. (303) 292-9900; DUG.org.