Funds Awarded To 26 Urban Agriculture Projects Led By Public Gardens And Community Partners
The United States Botanic Garden (USBG) and American Public Gardens Association (Association) are awarding support to 26 public gardens and their community partners
Kennesaw, Ga
March 22, 2024
Excerpt:
The funds will help programs in 26 states and Washington, D.C. integrate urban food growing and urban agriculture education while addressing food security challenges in their communities. The program seeks to leverage the strength of public gardens working with partners in their communities, ranging from schools, universities, and urban farms to food pantries, community gardens, local government agencies and nonprofit organizations. This year, the program especially sought to support collaborations involving smaller public gardens, as well as organizations demonstrating a strong commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.
Over the UARP’s previous four years, the program has awarded $1.57 million to 80 collaborations in 30 states and D.C. These programs have grown and shared over 690,000 pounds of produce, distributed more than 260,000 seedlings, and provided more than 46,000 hours of urban agriculture training to students, interns, and trainees.
“The collaborations supported through this year’s Urban Agriculture Resilience Program demonstrate many creative ways that urban agriculture can connect people and plants through food,” said Dr. Susan Pell, USBG executive director. “We are thrilled to embark on a fifth year of supporting such vital urban food-growing programs across the country and to expand the existing Urban Agriculture Resilience Program community with these 26 new projects.”
