NRPA 12 Good Reasons to Include Community Gardens

1. Community gardens benefit everyone by creating safe and healthy recreational activities within parks and other city-owned lands.

2. Community gardens encourage individuals to be part of a community that shares the efforts and benefits of gardening and provides volunteer stewardship for parkland.

3. Community gardens provide skill-building and positive recreational opportunities that are accessible to a diverse range of people of all ages who take responsibility for organizing and managing the garden area.

4. Community gardens foster youth employment and volunteer activity.

5. Community gardens beautify public spaces, help restore natural areas and encourage communities to spruce up everywhere.

6. Community gardens revitalize and reclaim public spaces that may have been subject to vandalism and illegal activities.

7. Community gardens are welcome sites for local celebrations and educational demonstrations about planting, composting, prunign and other community greening activities.

8. Community gardens are great outdoor classrooms, laboratories and field trip destinations for school and home-schooled students, scouts, families and organizations.

9. Community gardens produce healthy, accessible food for the gardeners and the entire community when shared with schools, food banks, shelters and other hungry people.

10. Community gardens are urban green spaces that provide oxygen, cooling shade and welcome community oases for meditation, recreation and relaxation.

11. Community gardens improve the quality of life for gardeners and the communities in which they garden.

12. Community gardens are economical, practical and enjoyable sites that contribute to community building while producing friendships, flowers and food.