In response to Ana Rasmussen's question, I am sure that this is not an uncommon question. It is certainly a positive goal if more people are to participate in community gardening.
Here in Forsyth County, in North Carolina (Winston-Salem, Kernersville, etc.), the Forsyth County Cooperative Extension service has a full-time staff member and a program area in community gardening. This has been going on for about four years and before that it was a portion of a staff member's portfolio. It is funded by the state and by the Winston-Salem Foundation. It's website is: http://www.forsythcommunitygardening.com/Programs.aspx I would also affirm Betsy Johnson's suggestion that the ACGA garden mentors curriculum would be excellent for leadership training and good organizational practices. Our Forsyth County community gardening program offers regular garden mentor training. Ellen Kirby Coordinator, Food Bank Garden, Winston-Salem, NC [email protected] 32600 On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 12:00 PM, <community_garden-request@list. communitygarden.org> wrote: > Send Community_garden mailing list submissions to > [email protected] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > [email protected] > > You can reach the person managing the list at > [email protected] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Community_garden digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. how to go from a small nonprofit CG program to a county-wide > one (Ana Rasmussen) > 2. Re: how to go from a small nonprofit CG program to a > county-wide one (Betsy Johnson) > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Ana Rasmussen <[email protected]> > To: "[email protected]" < > [email protected]> > Cc: > Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2015 06:18:48 -0800 > Subject: [Community_garden] how to go from a small nonprofit CG program to > a county-wide one > I'm the director of a small nonprofit community agriculture program. Since > 2011 we've started 8 gardens and 3 orchards with 240 low-income families. > We've been able to find funding (local grants, inspired individuals) to > help launch each new site. However, now that there are so many gardens and > burgeoning interest in starting more across the county, we're having a hard > time finding funding build organizational capacity. We operate on a > barebones staff and really can't continue to grow without more help at this > level, even though there is a lot more families in other neighborhoods who > would like to participate. > > One of our supportive elected officials has suggested we create a > county-wide community garden program with more reliable, steady funding and > staff. Sounds GREAT to me! He is pulling together a local who's-who think > tank to explore how to to this. My charge is to find out about similar > existing programs and how they are funded. > > I've attended the last 4 ACGA conferences and, among, the many other things > I learn there, always come away with a "how do all these other > communities/cities/counties have Community Garden programs while in our > county we have one because I, one person, started it and continue to do the > lioness's share of the work/thinking/grant writing/collaboration > building/materials delivery/outreach...?" > > I would very much like to hear from those of you working in Official > Community Garden Programs: > > - who is the governing entity (city, county, food bank, nonprofit, etc) > - how did it come about > - how is it funded > - how many people/families served by the program > - how many people on staff > > > We live in a smallish county, for California, with 270,000 pop, so > suggestions from places around that size are especially welcome. > > Thank you, > > Ana > > > > > *Ana Rasmussen, MSWDirector * > > *Mesa Verde Gardens * > > *831.325.3560* > *[email protected] <[email protected]> * > > *I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the > environment than that of gardening. Wendell Berry* > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20150205/d0ba5f74/attachment.html > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: Betsy Johnson <[email protected]> > To: Ana Rasmussen <[email protected]> > Cc: ACGA Listserv <[email protected]> > Date: Thu, 5 Feb 2015 10:34:08 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Community_garden] how to go from a small nonprofit CG > program to a county-wide one > This is main focus of ACGA’s Growing Communities Curriculum and workshop. > Consider hosting the workshop. > https://communitygarden.org/programs/growing-communities-workshops/ < > https://communitygarden.org/programs/growing-communities-workshops/> > > Betsy Johnson > 31 Mattoon Street > Springfield, MA 01105 > 413-301-5387 > [email protected] > > > > > > On Feb 5, 2015, at 9:18 AM, Ana Rasmussen <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > > I'm the director of a small nonprofit community agriculture program. > Since > > 2011 we've started 8 gardens and 3 orchards with 240 low-income families. > > We've been able to find funding (local grants, inspired individuals) to > > help launch each new site. However, now that there are so many gardens > and > > burgeoning interest in starting more across the county, we're having a > hard > > time finding funding build organizational capacity. We operate on a > > barebones staff and really can't continue to grow without more help at > this > > level, even though there is a lot more families in other neighborhoods > who > > would like to participate. > > > > One of our supportive elected officials has suggested we create a > > county-wide community garden program with more reliable, steady funding > and > > staff. Sounds GREAT to me! He is pulling together a local who's-who think > > tank to explore how to to this. My charge is to find out about similar > > existing programs and how they are funded. > > > > I've attended the last 4 ACGA conferences and, among, the many other > things > > I learn there, always come away with a "how do all these other > > communities/cities/counties have Community Garden programs while in our > > county we have one because I, one person, started it and continue to do > the > > lioness's share of the work/thinking/grant writing/collaboration > > building/materials delivery/outreach...?" > > > > I would very much like to hear from those of you working in Official > > Community Garden Programs: > > > > - who is the governing entity (city, county, food bank, nonprofit, etc) > > - how did it come about > > - how is it funded > > - how many people/families served by the program > > - how many people on staff > > > > > > We live in a smallish county, for California, with 270,000 pop, so > > suggestions from places around that size are especially welcome. > > > > Thank you, > > > > Ana > > > > > > > > > > *Ana Rasmussen, MSWDirector * > > > > *Mesa Verde Gardens * > > > > *831.325.3560* > > *[email protected] <[email protected]> * > > > > *I can think of no better form of personal involvement in the cure of the > > environment than that of gardening. Wendell Berry* > > -------------- next part -------------- > > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20150205/d0ba5f74/attachment.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20150205/3ca8679d/attachment.html > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > -- *Ellen* *Ellen Kirby* *Food Bank Garden* *jimandbettyholmesfoodbankgarden.shutterfly.com <http://jimandbettyholmesfoodbankgarden.shutterfly.com> * -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20150205/0918df99/attachment.html> _______________________________________________ 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: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
