Community Gardening – Benefits

• Encourages Community Organizing
• foster community identity, sense of ownership and stewardship
• working with others of diverse backgrounds on common goals
• sharing information about neighborhood activities
• having a focal point for community organizing, leadership building

• Prevents Crime
• providing opportunity to meet and get to know neighbors
• increasing “eyes on the street” recognized as effective community crime prevention strategy
• studies have shown that as neighborhood green space increases, crime decreases

• Supports Youth Development
• offers unique opportunities to teach youth about:
• where food comes from
• practical math skills
• basic business principles
• importance of community building and stewardship
• issues of environmental sustainability
• developing life and job skills
• offers opportunities for:
• healthy, inexpensive activity bringing youth closer to nature
• interaction with each other in socially meaningful and physically productive ways

• Produces Food
• allows people without land to produce food
• provides access to nutritionally rich foods that may otherwise be unavailable

• Improves Health
• studies have shown that community gardeners and their families eat healthier diets than do non-gardening families

• eating locally produced food can reduce asthma rates because immunities can develop to manageable amounts of local pollen
• exposure to green space is therapeutic, increasing sense of wellness

• Creates Green Space
• garden space is less costly to develop and maintain than is park space and has been shown to increase property values
• garden space adds beauty to the community, heightening people’s awareness of and appreciation for living things
• garden space filters rainwater, helping keep lakes, rivers, and groundwater clean
• garden space restores oxygen to the air, helps reduce air pollution
• garden space provides a place away from noise and commotion of urban life