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March 2007: Gardening to Grow Communities
We at CYFERnet understand that growing community gardens can facilitate growth in lives and community. The March Hot Topic features info about community gardening programs for families, children and communities.
Check out the following links to find relevant curriculum on everything from teamwork to math skills, as well as tips for developing and working with community gardens. You’ll discover that community gardens not only help to beautify neighborhoods and to feed those in need, but also to feed the human spirit.
We hope you’ll explore these resources and plant a seed for future generations.
Community Greening Review
The feature article in this publication, from the American Community Gardening Association, describes community gardens’ applications as an academic tool for teaching a variety of subjects. The article also presents case studies of successful gardens and data on academic achievement gains by students who participate in school gardens.
Community Trees: Establishing a Community Tree Program 
This Extension fact sheet from Iowa State University explains the benefits of community tree programs and offers tips on how to start your own program.
Food for Your Community: Gleaning and Sharing
This Extension fact sheet from the University of Maine provides steps to setting up a crop-gleaning hunger relief project.
Food Assistance
This Extension fact sheet from North Carolina State University provides information on how food assistance programs can assist families in becoming more self-sufficient. Among the options for fulfilling food and nutrition needs is cooperation and sponsorship of community garden programs that give a portion of the harvest to food banks, soup kitchens and other food-recovery programs.
KidsGardening.org
From the National Gardening Association, this Web site features curriculum links and other information to get children interested in gardening. Details about funding to promote children’s learning through gardening are also included.
American Community Gardening Association (ACGA)
The ACGA is a bi-national nonprofit membership organization of professionals, volunteers and supporters of community greening in urban and rural communities. The association recognizes that community gardening improves the quality of life for people by providing a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, stimulating social interaction, encouraging self-reliance, beautifying neighborhoods, producing nutritious food, reducing family food budgets, conserving resources and creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy and education.
Starting a Community Garden
Also located on the ACGA Web site, this fact sheet gives many different groups the basic information they need to get their gardening projects started. Links to additional sources provide helpful hints for starting a community garden project.
Growing Ideas Classroom Projects Library
This Web site provides links to projects to get school age children involved in gardening. From creating herb gardens to making field journals, each project will inspire and educate young people.
National Gardening Association (NGA)
For more than 30 years, the NGA has worked to renew and sustain the connection between people, plants and the environment through gardening. This Web site provides links to programs and initiatives, and highlights the opportunities for plant-based education in schools, communities and backyards across the country. The NGA helps to connect people to gardening in five core fields: plant-based education, health and wellness, environmental stewardship, community development, and responsible home gardening.
For Other Hot Topics, check here.
