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Looking for hands-on support during the growing season?
Youth Tillers from our Youth Empowerment Pipeline will be partnering with community gardens across the city in the spring and summer. Through this intentional program we hope community gardeners create intergenerational bonds with youth and find dedicated youth-based support and appreciation for their years’ of work. Learn more about hosting Youth Tillers for work shifts at your community garden here. Have questions about this program? Join us for an informal Q&A on on March 1 at 5pm.
Sharing Testimony
On January 27, 2021, we testified in support of a bill proposed by Council Member Diana Ayala that would require the City to undertake a detailed study of food production in community gardens, ways to support their food production, and channels for making neighborhood-grown food available to the community.
At the same time, we expressed concerns about the ability of the Department of Parks and Recreation to undertake and support such a study. We raised concerns that Parks leadership has not upheld the values of those working for Food Justice, particularly on the issue of composting in the city.
Many community gardeners are vital members of a larger movement towards food sovereignty, and have been working vigorously for the right to healthy, fresh, culturally relevant food; the right to green space and community land ownership; and the right to health. These values must be upheld in any study and set of recommendations made.
In testimony, we asked that the volunteer labor of community gardeners be acknowledged and honored. The most prolific and powerful community gardeners are often people of color, often from low-income communities, often women, often immigrants. Their work has tremendous community value, but lacks vital economic support.
We asked the city to increase support for community gardens as essential infrastructure for neighborhood food production – and to offer creative, adequate and community-affirming funding to ensure that they can provide increased health and environmental benefits to neighborhoods across the city.
You’re Invited: Fall Benefit Celebration 2020
Join us virtually at 7pm on November 12, 2020:
- * Honor the work of community gardeners this challenging growing season
- * Learn about environmental actions to protect community gardens
- * Unite with us in support of a new Green Guerillas program, the Youth Empowerment Pipeline: a youth-driven training program that creates a viable pathway to employment and leadership within the food justice movement for ages 17-21
- * Share messages of wisdom and encouragement with our incoming cohort of young people
Tickets for community gardeners & youth are free. Sliding scale tickets for those who are able to donate. Please register here.
“Pots of Love” for Linda Yang
With heavy hearts we mourn the passing of Linda Yang, long-time Board member and champion of Green Guerillas, who passed away on April 20 at the age of 83. Linda was an avid gardener, author, and former New York Times columnist. Her keen wit, insight, and knowledge of plants were greatly valued at Green Guerillas and are already deeply missed.
Patti Hagan, fellow Green Guerillas board member and journalist, shares memories of Linda in the May/June issue of The Urban Rock Gardener, the publication of the Manhattan Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society. Click here to read.
Resources Needed / Shared for NYC Community Gardens
Because of sudden cuts in our funding from the city, as the city fights COVID-19, our spring plant & supply giveaways are extremely limited this year. Other non-profits who assist community gardeners are also experiencing a diminished capacity to offer support this spring. This leaves community gardeners and the communities they serve vastly under-resourced during a time when the need to access and grow healthy foods for our communities is greater than ever.
Resource Share: If you have food-growing resources to share or if you need food growing resources, please let us know. We will do our best to match those in need with those who can give. This is the time for solidarity. Together we can create essential access to fresh foods in our neighborhoods.
Discussion & Information Forum: Visit our new forum for discussion and information about gardening during COVID-19.