Community Gardens and Access

About The Stop

… Basically a community centre that’s all about Food

About The Stop

… Basically a community centre that’s all about Food• Food Services: Food Bank, Drop-in meals, perinatal programs, good

food market.

• Community Cooking: Nutritional programs, Healthy Meals, Sabor Latino, Men’s Cooking Group, Shovel & Spoon

• Social Justice and Civic Engagement: Community advocacy, social justice campaigns (Put Food In The Budget, Do The Math)

• Education: Grade 5 program, Food Leadership for Youth, Workshops, women & trans* skillshare, After School Program

• Urban Agriculture: Community Gardens, Greenhouse & compost demonstration, Global Roots Garden, Yes In My Back Yard.

Hillcrest Community Garden

Hillcrest Community Garden

• Large impact on community• Little impact on food security• Shared Gardening• Shared Produce• Heavily Facilitated• Snacks• Transit• Education

The Global Roots Garden

The Global Roots Garden• Meaningful impact on

food security • Migrant seniors and youth• Gardening in small groups• Less facilitation• Snacks• Transit• Intergenerational

education• Intercultural community• Translation• Honoraria

Yes In My Back Yard (YIMBY)

• Most meaningful impact on food security

• Unfacilitated• Means of production

provided (land, fertility, tools, knowledge)

• Substantial space per gardener

• Requires substantial self-motivation.

• Community building more difficult

YIMBY• Outreach, outreach, outreach• Gauging gardener capacity• Community building• Great place for people who

have learned in our other programs and are ready to “go it alone”

Access: Physical

Raised garden beds, water, food, shade, slow pace, time for rest, wide pathways, seating, location, advertised ASL interpretation, facilitation.

Access: To FoodUnpacking: “increased access” vs. a meaningful impact• Participant support

vs. production• Scale• Input & Output• Honestly assess

your goal, is it food production?

Access: To Gardening• Individualized

solution - systemic problems

Access: To Gardening

• To whom is this solution available?

Access: To Gardening

• Your own investments?

Food Access:

• Be clear about your goals• Scale up but start small• Invest in soil• Stable access to land• Hard work!

Garden Access

• Physical accessibility (can people move around the space)

• Snacks and Transit support• Outreach (especially via other services)• Does your organization reflect the

community?• Assess individual needs