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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.
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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
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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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