We continue gathering information about community gardens in public housing. Here’s a reminder why…
These gardens serve as models for affordable housing communities with information about: siting, navigating bureaucrazy (um, bureaucracy), community sharing and building, health benefits. We want housing authorities to support community gardening and urban farming.
And, that’s it. That is the goal of this “census.” As we continue to do our own work at the Nickerson Gardens public housing garden, we see first hand how residents manage each of the above goals. There are, of course, many individual residents who raise plants on their own, but our search focuses on sites designated by local housing authority as community gardens (remember, we want to know how folks navigate the bureaucracy).
In our first post we identified gardens in 18 states and talked about our process. In our second, we talked more about the importance of even keeping count. In part 3, we added nine states! This time, we’ve added 38 gardens and have added Florida to reach a total of 30 states! The following are of particular note.
In Florida, the Miami-Dade Public Housing Authority has established an edible garden in the Liberty Square Housing Project; while you’ll find them at Dixie Court Apartments in the Fort Lauderdale Housing Authority. We’ve added Ingersoll Houses to New York City Housing Authority’s large number of recognized gardens. And, Ohio’s Geauga Metropolitan Housing Authority is using the community garden model at all its public housing. The Housing Authority of Portland has added a garden to its St. Johns Woods development. While, in Massachusetts, we found gardens at the Somerville Housing Authority’s Mystic Housing Project. Oh, and as a follow-up to our Part 3 post, the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District in Alabama has installed demonstration gardens in its Park Place development, and is working with Jones Valley Urban Farm to bring even more healthy options to residents!
It’s always so exciting to find more gardens in low-income communities. If you know about any gardens in public housing, please let us know!
home&community inc 
I found your site while doing a search for Reginald Fagan….I am very interested in all things edible gardening! I haven’t seen your complete list of gardens in low income housing communities…but do know of a few in my area. LA CO has an incredible facility in Long Beach called the Growing Experience, and another project is at the Cabrillo Center….both in LB. Love to chat about your mission….good stuff!
Thanks Kelli, yes, we gave a shout out to Growing Experience in Part 3. Long Beach is definitely doing some things! Hope to talk with you soon about your work, too!
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