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Check out an article on the Empowerment Community Garden at Morningside High School
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Empowerment Community Garden
The Social justice Learning Institute is dedicated to serving those living in poverty in the community and linking those in need with those who want to help. One of the ways the committee does this is by providing direct services to the students of Morningside High School through intervention programs geared to reduce gang violence, imprisonment/recidivism and death. SJLI’s previous experiences have demonstrated that a major obstacle in reducing negative influences is the lack of positive spaces that foster civic engagement and empowerment. Additionally, underserved youth often lack the social support and community encouragement that help give their lives momentum.
The Empowerment Garden Project is designed to help overcome these obstacles by giving participants the opportunity to work alongside each other and a network of volunteers and mentors. The garden would be structured as an all-inclusive program to employ the youth in a community garden. Local youth would apply to the program and after being accepted, they would plant, cultivate, and harvest their crop. Produce as well as value-added products would be sold to the local campuses and in local farmers’ markets. As a part of the program, participants would be guided in methods of effective money management and saving programs. For example, a portion of the income the group earns would be put into a community fund. The participants would decide as a group how to allocate this money, potentially investing in more capital or in the needs of individuals in the group.
Beyond focusing on developing the garden, the project would effectively address the issues of environmental sustainability and local food systems. The Empowerment Garden would teach and practice bio-intensive agriculture, which is an organic and remarkably efficient technique for small-scale applications. Bio-intensive agriculture (BIA) creates flourishing gardens by maximizing the use of available resources and minimizing waste and expenditures. Sustainability and soil health are at the forefront of BIA. For example, BIA uses compost – a natural and balanced fertilizer – to replenish soil nutrients, resulting in healthy plants that are better able to resist pests and diseases. Close plant spacing, mulching, and deep soil preparation make the most of land and water resources. Natural pest/disease solutions and using positive plant relationships would replace chemical additives that could harm human and soil health. In addition to employing all of these components of BIA, the Empowerment Garden would implement other sustainable practices such as rainwater catchment and organic beekeeping.
Training and job experience in these innovative garden methodologies will provide these youth with crucial skills for the current and future job market. Another way the program would prepare participants for the job market is by giving participants a means to establish their credibility. For example, participants would work according to a set schedule, demonstrating the reliability of program participants to future employers.
The goals of the Empowerment Garden Project include to:
- Provide participants with a source of income and an opportunity to accumulate savings.
- Build support networks and community for those involved in the project.
- Foster an environment that facilitates discussion and interaction between the students and the community at large, increasing understanding of the challenges faced by our youth today.
- Connect participants to a broad spectrum of social and medical services.
- Provide skills training, job experience, and resume building.
- Provide financial decision-making and management skills, encompassing savings, investments, and loans.
- Create the opportunity to maintain a productive lifestyle, giving participants the momentum needed to support their needs and build stability.
- Encourage the development of local food systems.
- Teach and promote methods of bio-intensive agriculture to program participants and the local community.
- Establish an employment network connecting program participants who have been trained in bio-intensive agriculture to Inglewood residents with home gardens.
This project would bridge the gap between the homeowners and youth in City of Inglewood by fostering collaboration and an environment of inclusion. Rather than a traditional volunteer system of the server and the served, homeowners and youth would work together with a common goal and a shared experience that would encourage genuine discussion and understanding of the issues facing youth and poverty. This connection will initiate solution-oriented action.
The ways in which the Empowerment Garden would be linked directly to the community include:
- Inviting community members to lease or sponsor a plot in the garden.
- Creating a common space for community enjoyment and as a venue for public events. The location would include a serenity garden with a gazebo, benches, barbeque pit, and a rose garden.
- Providing BIA training for the local community. This knowledge would encourage home gardens that would create a degree of independence from rising food prices. Furthermore, replacing lawn grass with home gardens spares excessive water, petroleum, and chemical use.
The Empowerment Garden would integrate the campuses and City of Inglewood through student internships, volunteer opportunities, and educational programs in the garden. Furthermore, the garden will provide students on campus with local and organic food options.
In the first stage of this project, the garden would hire a few youth to be the pilot program participants. Initially, Empowerment Garden plans to employ student interns through the SJLI to manage and supervise the garden. This partnership between the Empowerment Garden and the SJLI would provide the garden with consistent support and competent management. In the long run, Empowerment Garden also plans to provide a stipend to one employee who would manage the garden on a full-time basis. After successfully participating in the program, Empowerment Garden would link participants with employment opportunities that utilize their newly acquired skills in both commercial and residential settings.
Furthermore, SJLI will establish a committee of comprised of representatives from Inglewood Parks and Recreation, the Redevelopment Agency and the local campuses with renewed and increased membership each year. Recognizing that committee members will graduate, the committee will ensure that the project and committee participation in the project continues beyond the next few years and is maintained as a permanent initiative. SJLI will hire a Garden Coordinator annually to oversee interns, volunteers, and program participants. The Garden Committee will manage fundraising initiatives and function as a consistently strong volunteer base for the garden.
To become involved with our effort or to learn more, please contact our Food Justice Coordinator Danielle DeRuiter Williams at
ddwilliams@sjli-cp.org.
