Our Coalition of Community Gardens approached the Hillsborough County Transportation Organization in 2016 to sponsor a grant application for the Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge. The Challenge was launched in partnership with the American Public Health Association (APHA) and the National Association of Counties (NACo), empowering fifty (50) small-to-mid-sized cities and counties nationwide to make measurable, scalable improvements to public health issues in their local communities. Since its inception, the Challenge awarded a total of $1.5 million USD$ in grants and prizes to the fifty (50) participating programs to support their efforts to tackle the most pressing health issues facing their communities.
The initiative for our grant application (Tampa, Florida, USA) was named 'Garden Steps. The Coalition of Community Gardens became the citizen-based organization seated at the table with several government agencies that constructed the initiative and helped to implement the money from the $10,000 USD$ seed grant awarded in 2016, one (1) of fifty (50) finalists across the country. The initial challenge and seed money was a two-year (2) competition to “support communities in their collaborative efforts to become healthier places to live, work, learn, play, and pray.”
Our Garden Steps Initiative seeks to create community gardens with easy pedestrian and bicycle access in identified food deserts in the city of Tampa (Florida). Wikipedia identifies a food desert as, "an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis." The goal is to improve health equity and population health by increasing easy access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
On February 12, 2019 after two (2) years of hard work, Garden Steps was selected as the first (1st) runner-up in the Healthiest Cities & Counties Challenge and the initiative received an additional $50,000 USD$ to continue its work to improve health equity in the city of Tampa.
An action plan was created to demonstrate how we would spend the money on the Garden Steps initiative. I have included a portion of that action plan (paraphrased in parts) and a report on some of the work we accomplished to provide you with some inspiration for what is possible with your gardening community.
Garden Steps Action Plan
Goal 1: Expand access to community gardens in an identified food desert.
Task 1: Create two (2) new gardens to address food deserts in the city of Tampa.
The coalition of Community Gardens reports that we have exceeded this goal with three (3) new gardens:
1. The Coalition installed two (2) new gardens at Middleton High School in January 2021. There are eight (8) raised beds built by the students during the first week of January. A pollinator garden was installed in the courtyard of Middleton High School the second week of January with ESE (Exceptional Student Education) Science students and their buddies.
2. The 22nd Street Demonstration Garden was installed on December 1, 2020 with the help of Garden Steps partners and members of the community. The demonstration garden has seven self-watering wooden container gardens, approximately twenty-four by twenty inches (24”x20”) and four (4) half-barrel self-watering container gardens. Multiple harvests of vegetables has happened since.
Garden Steps Action Plan Goal 2: Task 2: Create community education and programming for children, teens, and seniors on the benefits of vegetable gardening and practical knowledge and methods.
The Coalition of Community Gardens Reports the following accomplishments:
Ten (10) community workshops were organized, publicized, and held at the 22nd Street Demonstration Garden.
The City of Tampa’s East Community Redevelopment Agency and Hillsborough County Commissioner Gwen Myers assisted with notification to community members.
The Coalition of Community Gardens is building its mailing list with these projects and programs and notifies the community as well.
Thirty-five (35) community members attended these workshops, which included two (2) on veggie tasting.
List of workshops
26-Jan-2021 1:00 PM
Make Your Own Salad Dressing
30-Jan-2021 6:00 PM
Make Your Own Salad Dressing
09-Feb-2021 6:00 PM
Spring Gardening
20-Feb-2021 1:00 PM
Spring Gardening
23-Feb-2021 6:00 PM
Nutrition from the Garden
27-Feb-2021 1:00 PM
Nutrition From the garden
09-Mar-2021 6:00 PM
Moving Into Wellness
13-Mar-2021 1:00 PM
The Garden, Your Health, Ease/Reverse Chronic Disease
23-Mar-2021 6:00 PM
Good Bugs/Bad Bugs
27-Mar-2021 1:00 PM
Good Bugs/Bad Bugs
26- April-2021 11:00 am - 2:00 PM
22nd Street Earth Day Event
8-May-2021 10:00 AM
Labels and Recipes
13-May-20217:00 PM
Plant and Tree Grafting
22-May-2021 10:00 AM
Pollinator Gardening
10-June-2021 6:30 PM
Labels and Recipes
24-June-20216:30 PM
Shade Gardening
Additionally, presentations on the value of community gardens have been made at the Middleton Agriculture classes by our Spring Intern and Garden Coordinator in March.
Garden Coordinator Karen Elizabeth has been invited by the Hillsborough County School Board’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Task Force to give a presentation on gardening and science; she is now a member of this group.
Garden Steps Action Plan
Goal 1 and 2:
Task 3: Create Front Yard Veggie Gardens to address food deserts.
The Coalition of Community Gardens reports the following accomplishments:
A total of thirteen (13) gardens have been installed in front yards throughout East Tampa.
Each garden is a half-barrel self-watering container garden similar to the ones located at the 22nd Street Demonstration Garden.
Each participant received four to five-inch (4"-5") vegetable plants along with a Healthy 22nd Street sign to spread the word on this activity.
Additionally, two (2) container gardens have been installed at the HOPE Learning Center and two (2) container gardens have been installed at Dr. Carter G. Woodson Elementary School.
The goal of ten (10) front yard gardens for this first year of Garden Steps has been exceeded.
The adage a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step has proven to be so true for the Coalition of Community Gardens. Simply getting like-minded gardeners together, talking to our local government, and chasing what seemed like an impossible dream at the time has yielded something none of us could imagine when we first began five (5) years ago. And it can be for you too.
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Next week - Community Gardens - For Your Health, Your Community, The Planet - Simply Start
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