sample1--GROW--about

History of GROW Board/Staff Services

Garden Resources Of Washington (GROW) is a 503(c)(3) tax-exempt, non-profit organization. Founded in 1982, our mission is to help people help themselves by providing opportunities for individuals, communities and community groups to produce food, beautify neighborhoods, and to become environmental stewards through the development and maintenance of community gardens and green spaces. GROW serves the District of Columbia, with a focus on lower income neighborhoods.GROW works with other gardening and community organizations, city agencies, and the horticultural industry to optimize use of available resources. GROW's activities are all designed to improve human health and well-being and to encourage sustainable community development.

Since 1982, GROW has helped start more than 45 gardens, only a few of which have closed due to commercial development. Community food gardens and beautifications helped by GROW total about 200 plots in more than 30 locations. These existing gardens provide a harvest to more than 400 city residents as well as enjoyment to countless other neighborhood residents who benefit from the visual and environmental improvement of their community. GROW works throughout the city, with focus on low-income neighborhoods, where both the need and benefits of community gardens are the greatest. GROW has helped start gardens in all eight wards of the city--on public and privately-owned vacant lots,

in public housing, on church property, at a non-profit senior citizens' home, at shelters, on a college campus, and a park land. New gardens are underway all the time. promote local food security through bio-intensive agriculture. Together, the tow organizations are enhancing hands-on environmental learning at Cardozo and Eastern High School by working with students to grow seedlings in their greenhouses, to start composting, and to create school gardens. At the third greenhouse, GROW and Community Harvest are working with public housing residents in a welfare-to-work project growing seedlings for sale as well as vegetables, flowers, and herbs to be sold at farmers markets and other venues.

National Recognition and Affiliations

GROW is a memeber of the American Community Gardening Association (ACGA), a network of community gardening programs nationwide. GROW Executive Director, Judy Tiger, served a three-year term on the ACGA Board of Directors (1991-94). Since 1992, GROW has been included in Renew America's national publication, "Environmental Success Index", a selection of models of solutions to environmental challenges. In November 1995, GROW was honored to receive on of four Distinguished Appropriate Technology Awards offered by the National Center For Appropriate Technology.

Board and Staff History Services

STAFF (1998)
Judy Tiger, Executive Director
Dawn Gifford, Gardening/Composting Educator
AmeriCorps Members--Rachel Agoglia, Matthew Cohen, Jon Kurtz, and Jane Lucas

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Sherburne Laughlin, Adjunct Professor, American University (President)
Steven Davis, Executive Director, American Horticultural Therapy Association (Vice-President/Treasurer)
Dare Johnson, Account Executive, AOL/Digital City Washington (Secretary)
Calvin Smith, Public Sector Executive, Browning Ferris Industries

ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Tanya Fedoruk Cook, M.A. Candidate in Education Policy, University of Maryland
Gordon Sheridan, Manager, Johnson's Flower and Garden Center
Holly Shimizu, Managing Director, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Services History Board/Staff

Serving as a resource, guide, facilitator , and catalyst, GROW has helped start more than 35 garden projects in all eight wards of the city -- on public and
privately-owned vacant lots, in public housing, at an after-school program, on church property, at a non-profit senior citizen's home, on a college campus, at an
elementary school, and on park land.
We assist groups in organizing their projects, providing services including:
Assessing potential garden sites
Securing leases and insurance
Scheduling workdays
Recruiting volunteers
Loaning tools
Sharing donated plants and other garden supplies
Providing resource referrals Technical Assistance--Helping People Help Themselves
People who want to clean-up vacant lots near home and start gardens to raise their own food or undertake beautifications to improve their neighborhoods often do not know how to get permission to use the land or how to gather tools and other resources they need. They often do not have experience organizing a neighborhood project. GROW provides these critical services. With the goal of developing community-based, community-managed gardens, GROW provides a wide range of technical assistance services needed. Among our services:
Starting New Gardens--GROW leads groups through the steps of starting a garden and trains them to take on long-term stewardship of the garden. GROW guides groups in assessing potential garden land, identifying the owner, securing a lease and insurance, developing a garden design, and scheduling plowing and fencing and garden installation.
Resource Referrals--GROW provides advice to both new groups considering community gardening projects and existing community gardens, such as workday planning considerations, location of in-kind materials, recruiting volunteers, and referrals to local horticultural resources. We maintain a current list of city-wide community gardens that we send to people seeking a garden plot in their own neighborhood.
The Community Tool Bank enables groups to borrow tools they need for neighborhood work days.
Through the Garden Exchange, GROW solicits donations of plants and other garden materials to redistribute to community garden projects.
Volunteer Services--GROW serves the "growing" community of volunteers-- the many individuals and groups (community, corporate, shool-based, alumni, religious,etc.) who seek to meet community needs and improve the urban environment while enjoying outdoor work. We provide opportunities for them to help with garden cleanups and installations as well as documenting our activities and helping with special events.
The Garden Partner Program links knowledgeable gardeners with projects-in-need. For example, B. Smith is a Garden Partner at the New Community After School and Advocacy Program. He visits weekly, guiding the children in planting and tending a vegetable garden and helping them plant trees and flowers along the street.

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