Dear Andy, The 1996 ACGA survey is probably the last time a serious nose count was done of US community gardens - not that it isn't important, but that there has been nobody who has been seriously taking the stats - we're all either trying to save gardens in our own cities and towns. The links on our website are probably a 10th of all the community gardens in the US - many do not have a web presence or are one season, food security start ups.
That said, I believe that for the purpose of a "factoid" you could say that the number hovers, depending on bulldozings and new start ups, between 5 -8 thousand community gardens. A few CG's have been continually operated since their inception as Victory Gardens ( there's a 61 year old garden in Minnesota that has that distinction), a large number date to the early to mid seventies like the Clinton Community garden <A HREF="http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org/";>Clinton Community Garden</A> , and new gardens keep popping up every year. Demographically, there seem to be more volunteer food security focused community gardens poping up in the Southern part of the United States, like the CASA Community Garden in Alabama <A HREF="http://www.casagarden.com/";>CASA link</A> and Arkansas <A HREF="http://www.arkansashunger.org/gardens.htm";>Arkansas CG link</A> . Poor people and folks of good will and/or of faith based organizations in southern states seem to feel comfortable with growing food for the hungry on a volunteer basis to make up for governmental program short-falls. The other area of growth seems to be in middle class communities where community gardens become ad hoc volunteer run public green space in addition to their food security focus. Hope this has helped. Adam Honigman Volunteer, <A HREF="http://www.clintoncommunitygarden.org/";>Clinton Community Garden</A> ---------- Original Message ---------------------------------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 11:27:40 EDT >What's the latest information on the number of community gardens in the US? >The most recent information I have seen is from ACGA's website about a 1996 >survey. have there been any updates to this information? > >Thanks for your help! > >Andy Fisher >Community Food Security Coalition >POB 209 >Venice CA 90294 >310-822-5410 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
