The Grant Houses Community Garden will primarily serve to provide low-income, Grant Houses residents access to nutritious and sustainable food. The garden will also increase interaction between the Grant Houses (a public housing complex just north of Columbia University) and Columbia University communities, which though physically close to each other are culturally and socially distinct. The current American food system entails high environmental costs from long-distance transportation, refrigeration, processing, and packaging. Furthermore, modern agriculture relies on large-scale, government-subsidized agro-businesses that use pesticides and fertilizers synthesized from fossil fuels. Health consequences result, including food contamination and poor nutrition. High-quality, locally-grown food can reduce the societal costs of food production by improving the physical well-being of consumers and their environments. However the monetary cost of such food often proves prohibitive for low-income individuals. Demographic and health data reveal that as New York City resident incomes decrease rates of obesity and other diet-related problems rise. Data on Central Harlem is consistent with this trend. Columbia University’s planned expansion into 17 acres of northern Manhattan further exacerbates existing rifts within the Morningside Heights and Harlem neighborhoods. This imminent gentrification threatens the livelihoods of Grant Houses residents. Columbia’s plan includes compensation for area residents negatively affected by redevelopment, but members of the Grant Houses contend that the plan neglects residents of public housing.

As someone who has spent time farming and developing environmental education programs for children in low-income neighborhoods and as a resident of upper Manhattan and a student at Columbia University I feel it is my responsibility to help promote sustainability and environmental justice in my own neighborhood.

This project is meant to be a partnership so it is extremely important to generate sustained interest from both Columbia students and from Grant Houses Residents. This part of the project has already been achieved; both students from Columbia’s Food Sustainability Project and residents, both young and old, from The Grant Houses, have remained committed to the project throughout the fall semester. To reach more students and draw on the intellectual resources of the university, CUFSP has formed a variety of partnerships with professors and other student groups and organizations. In addition to generating interest, our efforts throughout the first half of the year have been focused largely on establishing an understanding of what sustainable community development and sustainable agriculture means and why it is important. We have done this by conducting various field trips to gardens and farms throughout New York City and by hosting a communal meal in November for which most of the food was donated by local farms. This part of the project is critical, especially for many of the kids who live in the complex and have never been to a garden, witnessed food be grown, or spent much significant time in green spaces. Our efforts in this area have continued throughout the winter months through the development a weekly nutrition and ecology education program for 30 kids in the Grant Houses after-school program and through continued planning meetings and lunch-ins between residents and students. These various aspects have all contributed to the solidification of the idea that this project is a partnership, lead to the cultivation of personal relationships between university students and Grant Houses residents, and helped to shape a collective vision. In addition to working with Grant Houses residents to create a design and vision for the garden we have worked with landscape design students at the university and people with gardening expertise to come up with a concrete design for what the garden will look like. Our next step is to actually construct the garden. This will entail building a fence to enclose the garden, constructing raised beds, compost bins, a storage shed, and other permanent structures, as well as planting seeds and hosting gardening workdays and workshops. We are also working to create a plan to ensure the maintenance of the garden. Most ongoing labor will be free, contributed by students and residents, including daily garden maintenance. Our largest labor cost, an outside garden consultant, will ensure the success and productivity of the garden’s growth. If we were to receive a Do Something Grant the money would primarily go towards the infrastructure and material costs of the initial implementation of the Garden. The money will go towards the purchasing infrastructure materials such as lumber and fencing, tools such as shovels and hammers, and planting materials such as fertilizers and seeds. While we have estimates for the costs of the items if purchased new, we plan to request donations-in-kind from businesses and the broader community. There will, however, undoubtedly be items that we are unable to get donated and a Do Something Grant would ensure that such items can be purchased and that we can build a well-constructed and beautiful garden. Only if the garden is well-constructed can it truly impact the day-to-day lives of Grant Houses residents by providing a consistent source of fresh, nutritional food and a space for community interaction.

We are always looking for volunteers, especially for the garden-work-days coming up in April! Donations-in-kind and donations-in-time are always welcome!